Lowen are an English heavy metal band formed in 2017 by Nina Saeidi and Shem Lucas. The daughter of refugees of the Iranian Revolution in England, Saeidi wished to start an act that would allow her to perform metal with Middle Eastern elements. The duo was formed after meeting at an Akercocke show and they have released one EP and two albums, the latest being ''Do Not Go to War With the Demons of Mazandaran'' (2024).

History

The band was formed in 2017 by Nina Saeidi (lead vocals, folk instruments, lyrics; born to parents who fled the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

) and Shem Lucas (guitars, bass) after they met at an Akercocke show. The name Lowen is partially inspired by the

Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal The royal Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal is shown on a famous group of Assyrian palace reliefs from the North Palace of Nineveh that are now displayed in room 10a of the British Museum. They are widely regarded as "the supreme masterpieces of Assyria ...

and constitutes "a bastardisation of the Germanic word for lion", according to Saeidi. The name also symbolizes a balance between the East and the West, with the lion symbolizing chaos and power to the former, and pride to the latter. With drummer Louis Suckling, they debuted in July 2018 as a trio with the album ''A Crypt in the Stars'', which was recorded in just 12 hours, except for some overdubs added later, and released independently with Saeidi handling most of the non-musical work, as well. It was almost entirely written over the course of 9 months of

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

s, drawing inspiration from

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

and the

Ziggurat of Ur The Ziggurat (or Great Ziggurat) of Ur ( Sumerian: "Etemenniguru", meaning "house whose foundation creates terror") is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the city of Ur near Nasiriyah, in present-day Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. The structure ...

. In 2021, they released the EP ''Unceasing Lamentations'', consisting of acoustic folk improvisations. It was originally performed for a live stream in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

and then sent to Magnus Lindberg of

Cult of Luna Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå founded in 1998. Their style of music is similar to contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. Cult of Luna was signed to Earache Records in the early 2000s and released five albums, including th ...

for mastering. Their second album, ''Do Not Go to War With the Demons of Mazandaran'', was released on 4 October 2024 via Church Road Records featuring Cal Constantine on drums. It is inspired by

Div-e Sepid In the Persian epic of Shahnameh Div-e Sepid (, lit. White Div), is the chieftain of the Divs (demons) of Mazandaran. He is a huge being. He possesses great physical strength and is skilled in sorcery and necromancy. He destroys the army of Kay K ...

of the ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

'', its title taken from one of the poem's chapters, while also alluding to contemporary matters such as the

Woman, Life, Freedom Woman, Life, Freedom (, (), ) is a popular political Kurds, Kurdish slogan used in both the Kurdish Nationalism, Kurdish independence and Democratic confederalism, democratic confederalist movements. The slogan became a rallying cry during the ...

movement. The album was promoted by the singles "Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran" (the native equivalent to the album title), released on 3 May 2024; and "The Seed That Dreamed of Its Own Creation", released on 5 July, coinciding with the album announcement. In March 2025, they were announced as a supporting act for Zakk Wylde's Zakk Sabbath's European tour.

Musical style

Lowen perform a blend of progressive,

doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (1934–2020), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitche ...

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

and

stoner metal Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Slee ...

with

Middle Eastern music The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East, the Iranian traditions of Persia, the Jewish music of Israel and the diaspora, Kurdish music, Armenian music. Azeri Music, the varied traditions of Cyp ...

. The duo consulted musicologists to discuss their approach, including Richard Dumbrill, who warned them that playing

microtonal music Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...

on Western instruments "couldn't be done"; after studying folk music from Egypt,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, Shem Lucas managed to recreate microtones using quarter-tone bends, pre-bends and slurred phrasing, seeing a connection between the rhythmic nature of Middle Eastern folk music and how guitars are sometimes used for percussion in

brutal death metal Brutal death metal is a subgenre of death metal that privileges heaviness, speed and complex rhythms over other aspects, such as melody and timbres. The genre was pioneered in the early 1990s by Suffocation and other groups from New York including ...

. Sammy Urwin and Justine Jones of Employed to Serve (owners of Lowen's label Church Road Records) defined them as "world prog". Nina Saeidi sings in English,

Farsi Persian ( ), also known by its endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoke ...

, Akkadian and Sumerian and is influenced by traditional and contemporary Iranian music, employing the Tahrir technique. Lowen's lyrics draw inspiration from ancient mythology, science fiction and fantasy. Saeidi discovered heavy metal as a teenager and was influenced by Akercocke and System of a Down, whose incorporation of music from their native Armenia inspired her to follow a similar path. She was initially the band's bassist and didn't even consider singing, but Shem Lucas encouraged her to do it after listening to her guide vocals. Lucas is influenced by Mike Scheidt of YOB and Tom G Warrior of

Celtic Frost Celtic Frost () was a Swiss metal music, heavy metal band from Zürich. They are remembered for their strong influence on the development of several metal subgenres, particularly extreme metal,Bukszpan, Daniel. ''The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal' ...

, citing the latter's ''

Monotheist Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...

'' as a particular favorite. He says Lowen's sound incorporates

maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...

, Iranian folk music and North African music and frequently explores

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

s other than .

Discography

Studio albums

* ''A Crypt in the Stars'' (2018) * ''Do Not Go to War With the Demons of Mazandaran'' (2024)

EPs

* ''Unceasing Lamentations'' (2021)

Singles

* "Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran" (2024) * "The Seed That Dreamed of Its Own Creation" (2024)

Members

Current members

* Nina Saeidi – lead vocals, folk instruments (including:

santur The santur ( ; ) is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origin.--- Rashid, Subhi Anwar (1989). ''Al-ʼĀlāt al-musīqīyya al-muṣāhiba lil-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī''. Baghdad: Matbaʻat al-ʻUmmāl al-Markazīyya. History The santur was invented ...

daf Daf (), also known as dâyere and riq, is an Iranian frame drum musical instrument, also used in popular and classical music in Persian-influenced South and Central Asia, such as in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, many ...

, shruti box) (2017–present) * Shem Lucas — guitars, bass (2017–present) * Cal Constantine – drums (2022–present)

Session members

* Louis Suckling – drums

References

External links

* {{Authority control Progressive metal musical groups from London Doom metal musical groups from London English death metal musical groups Oriental metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2017 2017 establishments in England Church Road Records artists