Album Review: Dormant by Hiraes (Napalm Records)

Germany’s melodic death metal formation, Hiraes, strike back with their second studio album, Dormant, due for release on the 26th of January via Napalm Records.

The modern melodic death metal band, featuring former members of Dawn of Disease and Critical Mess, are ready to kick off this New Year in a blaze of fire and fury with Dormant. Compared to their lauded 2021 debut, Solitary, it’s immediately evident that Hiraes did not only grow within their sound due to countless live appearances, but have invested more time and energy into developing their sophisticated songwriting and production, leaning further into their own unique sound profile. Due to the use of varying keys and sonic elements, Dormant is undoubtedly fresh without sacrificing the nuances that caused their first album to connect so successfully with fans.

With Solitary, Hiraes created an exciting new melodic death emergence, built upon a brutalized vocal attack, intense melodies and aggressive guitars.On Dormant, Hiraes flexes their own trademarks in an intensified way, ranging from versatile drumming, catchy riffs and hymn-like melodies to enthralling soundscapes and an impressive vocal onslaught by singer Britta. Dormant’s lyrical themes explore the struggles and resilience of society amid modern challenges,and inspires listeners to find calmness and strength by focusing within themselves.

Hiraes are Britta Görtz on vocals, Christian Wösten on bass, Mathias Blässe on drums and both Oliver Kirchner and Lukas Kerk on guitars. Dormant was mixed by Jens Bogren and Ricardo Borges, and was mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden.

Dormant brings us 10 tracks and around 46 minutes of metal to get stuck in to starting with the album opener, Through The Storm. An opener that doesn’t surprise stylistically, you mostly know what you are going to get with melodic death metal, but really showcases a band on form. Voclas are vicious and pack plenty of power while the drums rain a fiery storm upon everything. The riffs are strong, the tmepo is raised and the lead guitars drop blazing melody over everything, especially standing out when coming in for the catchy chorus. A slight misstep with the as far from smooth as possible transition from the second chorus into a rhythm section throws you off kilter but you quickly find solid ground again as the drums, guitars and vocals return to blaze away and get your blood pumping.

This energetic and adrenaline filled assault continues across the whole of Dormant with plenty of stand out moments. The synth intro and outro to We Owe No One just adds a little bit of additional spice with the intro coming just before it transforms into a frentic track with a banging solo and intense drumming throughout. The gorgeous, slower melody of Undercurrent sucks you in and when the verse starts with clean singing, you are definitely caught unawares. That clean verse is the perfect foil for the transition into harsh vocals. A little layering in the second section sees the cleans and harsh vocals cross over a little too and I love that sound.

Just try not headbanging to the start of Chance To Fail – that’s a song worthy of those YouTube challenges. The evolving start to About Lies is so hypnotic in how the drum taps, the finger tapping on the frets all start to join up before exploding into a furious track that may also be the heaviest song on Dormant. Even in that heaviness, there is time to be expansive though and the drop down into an almost folk like clean singing section is about as expansive as you can get. I suppose Nightflight may also lay claim to that title of “heaviest track” on Dormant. It’s the track you always hope you will get – still bringing melody at points but this one mostly exists to rip up venues and destroy mosh pits with it’s shorter, relentless assault.

Hiraes have choruses locked down too. Simple, effective, catchy and bringing melodic hooks that hold your attention. Through The Storm, We Owe No One, Nightflight and the song Dormant are just some of the tracks on here that really hook you in with their quality choruses.

And of course, we cannot have a melodic death metal review without commenting on instrumental sections and solos. Of course there are plenty, all of them top notch and standing out in some way. I particularly love the outro minute of Undercurrent which just hits in a different way with full riffs and intense drumming. Chance To Fail really captures your imagination with some neat melodies in bridges and prechoruses. About Lies really brings it in the last minute as well with a huge outro packed with riffs and beats and melody combining in the most energising way. Ocean Child has a cool solo and mesmerising melody in the chorus, in particular and Nightflight has possibly my favourite straight up solo on Dormant though Red Soil pushes that close.

The sub two minute Come Alive is a pure intrumental which absolutely kills it and really acts as an extended intro to the track that follows in, Ocean Child. It’s not a completely smooth lead in, there is a brief stop, but they fit each other well. Ocean Child does see the vocals reach deeper and darker depths and has a slightly off kilter chorus I’m not 100% sure on but you can’t deny the quality of instrumentation and vocals.

The title track, Dormant, closes out the album and does so in memorable style. A track that delivers in many ways and has a touch of epicness to it. Gentle melody in the intro builds before exploding into life. The verses drop down a little before it comes back with more layers of lead guitars and drums that are unbelievable in their speed and style. A wicked chorus, a fiery dual harminising solo, headbanging sections, it has it all and as it fades out then turns into a gorgeous piano melody to the close, you can’t help but be impressed.

Dormant is a really strong album and, while I am a huge melodeath fan anyway, that doesn’t make me biased. If anything it makes me more critical as I listen to a lot of this genre and believe me, this is top quality stuff. There is obviously a lot of quality and skill in the band. The drumming is on another level. Like Orbit Culture levels. And the vocals are so powerful and, being able to drop in those little moments of clean singing, just adds another layer of depth to an already layered album. There is so much greatness in the way of riffs and of course the album is oozing in gorgeous melody and fiery lead guitars.

On top of that, I love the clear and modern sounding production and the overall structure and flow of the songs, and the album overall. Hiraes have hit new levels with Dormant and are definitely a band on form and with a huge future ahead of them.

Grab your preorder of Dormant from Napalm Records, here.

Hiraes Links

Website – Bandcamp – Facebook – Instagram – Spotify – Apple Music – Amazon Music – Napalm Records