Lutharo is a melodic death metal band from Canada formed in 2014, releasing to date three E.P.’s – ‘Incarnadine’ (2015), ‘Unleash The Beast’ (2018) and ‘Wings Of Agony’ (2020), and two full-length albums – ‘Hiraeth’ (2021) and ‘Chasing Euphoria’, released in 2024…
…featuring eleven songs in a little under fifty fast and ferocious minutes – the Canadian four-piece roaring louder than ever to deliver a bone-breaking, neck-snapping, cataclysmic cacophony of thrash come death come power come traditional heavy metal! Yes readers, you read that right, Lutharo dip their boots into four different genres of metal – boots that stamp the ground menacingly, every song a ground shuddering, earth rupturing romp of all-out brutality, and immense melodious intent! And after listening to – and reviewing – the latest Arch Enemy album ‘Deceivers’, I have found myself developing an increasing love for female-fronted melodic death metal – something my good friend (and former work colleague) Vincent “Death Metal” Maylen will be very surprised to hear! ‘Cause for all the years we worked together, he always tried to get me into death metal, regularly greeting me with a howling death metal growl! And for years I always said “Never gonna happen mate” – well knock me down with the proverbial fucking feather Vincent, how times and tastes change eh…for here I am reviewing a second melodic death metal album in the space of just eighteen months! But don’t hold yer breath for a review of the latest Cannibal Corpse, Aborted or Deicide albums anytime soon – I ain’t that far into death metal territory! Yet unlike my previous and constant denial of “never gonna happen” – well I just don’t fucking know any more!
But until (maybe) that day comes – right here, right now, the latest release from Lutharo ‘Chasing Euphoria’, is blasting outta my stereo, shaking walls, annoying neighbours, and causing the floor under my feet to vibrate! The band set their new album on its way with the one-minute eerie effects-laden and tension-fuelled ‘Gates Of Enchantment’, building a knee-trembling level of anticipation for ‘Reaper’s Call’ to come hurtling forth at a hundred fucking miles an hour! The band are ferocity unleashed, lacerating the skies with a blistering barrage of savagery, and one helluva howling, scowling growl of a roar from singer Krista Shipperbottom – ‘Reaper’s Call’ proceeding to bludgeon listeners’ ’round the head with formidable force and immense intensity! And the vocal range of Krista – OM-fucking-G, changing from growled to clean and back again in the blink of eye! Simply incredible!
An absolutely stunning start to the album gets even better with the roaring ‘Ruthless Bloodline’ – quickly into its stride with menacing vocals and a head bang ability higher than the Ishpatina Ridge (in Ontario, Canada). Lutharo has been on fucking fire across the album opening brace, melting steel and ripping the space-time continuum to pieces! There aren’t just four dimensions anymore – there’s five! Lutharo dimension the brand new one, solely for fans of the aggression fuelled melodic death metal dished out by the Canadian outfit – the speed of ‘Ruthless Bloodline’ faster than the speed of fucking light! I tell ya, readers, neck muscles are gonna be torn to pieces by the time ‘Chasing Euphoria’ comes to an end – ‘Time To Rise’ picking up the baton, and rather than running with it, smacks everyone around the head with it! Lutharo are one helluva brutal proposition, I for one wouldn’t wanna meet ’em on my lonesome in a dark alley in the dead of night – no fucking way! But back to ‘Time To Rise’, the changing tempo and feel is incredible, the band scowling one minute and soothing the next, even little hints of hard rock rise high in the air.
The variation on offer is so fucking wide it’s jaw dropping, but then that’s what melodic death metal is all about – in a nutshell “the aggression and menace of thrash and death mixed with the melodious intent of traditional heavy metal”. What a blend, and one I’ve been slowly warming to for a while now, Lutharo planting their collective feet firmly on the monitor of old school metal for the galloping ‘Born To Ride’, the sound of the iconic NWOBHM pouring outta my speakers like lava pours out of an erupting volcano! And just as red fucking hot too, ‘Born To Ride’ one of those genre-hopping songs that crushes border walls into dust – the album rampaging on with a more hustle and bustle nature than heard anywhere else courtesy of the speedy ‘Bonded To The Blade’. Violently rocking heads back and forth, ‘Bonded To The Blade’ is a neckbreaker straight outta the top drawer, Lutharo ensuring both death metallers and metal traditionalists remain hooked – hooked on a fabulous blend of four metal genres! Is ‘Chasing Euphoria’ heading for the Album Of The Year title this year – ’cause surely it’s a safe bet that it’s gonna be right up there come the end of year celebrations!
The title song ‘Chasing Euphoria’ keeps the pedal well and truly pressed to the metal, along with the howling, scowling vocals of Krista continuing to scare the fucking shit outta many listeners – listeners who keep diving for the relative safety of behind the sofa! But nowhere’s safe from the savage onslaught by Lutharo, the band are gonna get ya, no matter how far! So keep on hiding you lesser mortals – the die-hards among us are standing tall and willing the band to hit us with more! And hit us hard Lutharo do, with the blistering speedster ‘Creating A King’, the band changing gear and tempo a few times along the way but not the ferocity! Mind you, the level of ferocity oozing from the album has been sky fucking high from the outset, ‘Chasing Euphoria’ (the album) one of those “must listen to more than just the once” albums because there’s just so much to take in! And pounding the ground harder than any other song heard so far, ‘Strong Enough To Fall’ shatters the sound barrier with a brutal aural attack, the band emitting more force than the Earth’s gravitational field! The intensity of the album has been top notch all the way, the musicianship on show top level, and the band a relentless, menacing metal machine not to be fucked with! Think of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cybernetic assassin from the 1984 science fiction action film “The Terminator” for how relentless a metal machine can be!
And as the album enters its final furlong with just two more songs to go, I urge everyone to know exactly where the replay button is, for that’s the one button that needs to be pressed time and time again – otherwise, how are you gonna listen to ‘Chasing Euphoria’ (the album) all over again! “constant repeat” I hear someone shout! Yeah, that’ll work too – ‘Paradise Or Parasite’ entering the fray to continue the all-out pummelling nature of the album up to this point! In fact, ‘Paradise Or Parasite’ has more melodious intent on display than any other song on offer, Lutharo maintaining their incredible prowess at seamlessly melding a number of different metal genres together into one glorious aural assault! The album is brought to a close on a bit of a tangent, ‘Freedom Of The Night’ lifting the band’s musical horizons on to another plane completely. Listeners are treated to a wealth of exploration and discovery as ‘Freedom Of The Night’ ventures into a slightly melancholic vibe – for the first minute or so anyway, the band more sedate than at any other time on the album, resuming the blistering pace and all-out aggression as ‘Freedom Of The Night’ gets going proper.
Overall, a red hot scorching rampage of fast-paced savagery and immense melodious intent, ‘Chasing Euphoria’ is an incredible mix of four different metal genres.
TRACKLIST
Gates Of Enchantment
Reaper’s Call
Ruthless Bloodline
Time To Rise
Born To Ride
Bonded To The Blade
Chasing Euphoria
Creating A King
Strong Enough To Fall
Paradise Or Parasite
Freedom Of The Night
Lutharo: Facebook
Release Year: 2024
Label: Atomic Fire Records
Category: Album
Country: Canada
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
