Melodic Metal powerhouse Hiraes are set to release their sophomore studio album Dormant on January 26th via Napalm. The band’s vocalist Britta Görtz and guitarist Lukas Kerk took the time to talk with Metal Express Radio about their upcoming album, their latest single “Through The Storm”, plans for the new year, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: Your band, Hiraes are set to release their second album entitled Dormant on January 26th, what can you tell fans about the upcoming release?
Kerk: Our upcoming album Dormant is an intense Melodic Death Metal album that emerged from a lot of hard work and emotional energy. We are far beyond happy to share our music with you and cannot wait to receive your reactions! Dormant really is an album that combines various elements from different kinds of (Melodic Death) Metal.
MER: How was the writing and recording process having this being your band’s second album together?
Kerk: Compared to our first album Solitary one of the central differences is that we had the opportunity to work together. Our first album was released in the midst of the pandemic and due to this we were forced to do most of the work via the internet. With Dormant we had the possibility to meet, play shows together and talk about the songs. I would say that due to these circumstances the songs got the chance to mature a bit more than on Solitary.
MER: You recently released a song from Dormant entitled “Through The Storm”, what kind of feedback have you received?
Görtz: The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive! We couldn’t be happier. We received so much great feedback about the song, the energetic vibe and also the music video. Both our fans and our label love it – what more could you ask for?
MER: Do you feel “Through The Storm” gives fans an idea on what to expect from the full album?
Görtz: “Through The Storm” is definitely one of the cornerstones of our album. Together with the other two singles it forms – figuratively speaking – the head, heart and guts of the album, while “Through The Storm” is probably the guts. We also chose the song as the opening track for the album. We want to throw the listener right in and “Through The Storm” is a perfect opener.
MER: What do you see as far as plans for you and the band after the album release?
Görtz: We really can’t wait to perform the new tracks live. We played so many shows after our first release, but were of course limited in our setlist as we only had this one album out. So right now we are preparing us and our gear for our small release tour in January and February and work on more tours and shows.
MER: Who do you hope to tour with that you haven’t and why?
Kerk: There are so many bands that we would like to tour with! Hypocrisy, Insomnium or Dark Tranquillity are just three that I can name. Their music influences us a lot and I bet that many of their fans would also like our music. So, touring with bands like these would simply be awesome!
MER: What we’re some of your favorite releases of 2023?
Görtz: Hmm I don’t think listened to so much new music in 2023 – which is the usual for me when I am involved in an album production. I kinda don’t want to explore or dive into too much new stuff. But I really enjoyed Sylosis – A Sign of Things To Come a lot and also wanna mention The Ocean – Holoscene and Crypta – Shades Of Sorrow.
Kerk: Two of my favorite releases in 2023 are Insomnium – 1696 and Vomitory – All Heads Are Gonna Roll. But I also do not listen to that much new music to be honest.
MER: Do you feel fans of Dawn of Disease [some of the members previous band] will also be into Hiraes?
Kerk: I hope so! Although Hiraes is a slightly different kind of music and a bit more “open-minded”, I am still the main songwriter as it was the case back in the Dawn of Disease days.
MER: How would you describe the Metal scene in Germany?
Kerk: The metal scene is a very vivid one. There are many metalhead’s here in Germany listening to all kind of metal genres and you will not find a single day without a concert somewhere. In addition, we have a huge number of music festivals like Wacken or Summer Breeze – to name only the biggest ones.
MER: What are your hopes for the band’s future?
Görtz: Hiraes is a really good team. My first a foremost hope is that we keep pulling on the same string together and that we have fun creating music and playing live. Through our music we have a great connection with our fans – we would love to expand our territory so to speak and tour our asses off.
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