Blending doom, death metal and prog with traditional Iranian music, London’s Lowen are a colourful pot of heavy sounds. For singer Nina Saeidi, it’s also a way to express and explore her heritage, as well as taking a stand…
“This band is a defiant act for me,” says Nina Saeidi. “It’s my way of connecting with my heritage and celebrating it. That Iranian element is core to who we are.”
The daughter of refugee parents who left Iran following the revolution in 1979, Nina partly wants to use Lowen as a way to celebrate her roots and the music that’s been around her all her life. The band also serve as a raised fist against the strict controls the government in her parents’ homeland puts on its subjects.
“I was basically born in exile, so I can never go to Iran,” she explains. “If I go now, as a musician and as someone who’s also in the LGBTQ community, I would be killed. It’s illegal to play metal in Iran. It’s illegal for women to sing. So this is defiance, it’s rebellion.”
Lowen’s new album, Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran, has this vibe writ large. The music combines doomy riffs and the crushing power of Bolt Thrower with Middle Eastern instrumentation, scales and rhythms, plus Nina’s incredible voice. The enormous concept, meanwhile, is drawn from Iranian folk stories and legends, captured in the vivid colour of Hervé Scott Flament’s artwork.
“It’s my way of connecting with my heritage,” she says. “The government is not the same as the people, and the laws do not reflect the culture and heritage of Iran. I want to celebrate that, and connect it with the culture and heritage of the country that I grew up in.”
Nina says she first encountered such a bridging of worlds as a teenager, seeing System Of A Down in Kerrang!. Hearing the Armenian elements – a country that neighbours Iran – it made Nina feel she actually had a seat at the metal table.
“I remember hearing their music and crying. It never occurred to me that there was room for me,” she admits. “I always felt like I was on the outside, even of this subculture. That made me realise I can have a ‘Fuck you’ attitude and be myself.”
When Nina and guitarist Shem Lucas wanted to try such a mix for themselves, though Nina had Iranian music “drummed into me” from being around it, it was a job making it all work together.
“It took years,” Shem laughs. “Middle Eastern music is a completely different system. You have quarter tones, and there’s different quarter tones for different countries. Iranian quarter tones are different to Turkish quarter tones…”
Going to an ethnomusicologist helped. More than a trip to a singing teacher did for Nina, once her educator realised what she’d be using her voice to sing about.
“She went, ‘What do you mean when you’re talking about demons?’” says Nina. “I explained, and she said, ‘I’m really Christian, I can’t have songs about death and blood in my space.’ I felt like I was breaking up with someone!”
But themes come to a positive on the new record. Nina reveals that it’s a cautionary tale about the folly of greed, based on a chapter of the ancient epic poem Shahnameh, featuring turns into women’s liberation, Middle Eastern history and musings on the mark we truly leave on the world. Oh, and a Babylonian incantation for summoning ghosts. Recording it with Lewis Johns (Employed To Serve, Svalbard, Pupil Slicer), things started getting weird…
“I got goosebumps watching Nina doing it,” remembers Shem. “It was really odd.”
“I was alone in the recording room, incanting, and I started really freaking out,” Nina laughs. “I started thinking, ‘What if this actually works?’”
What if? Either way, Lowen will definitely cast a spell on you.
Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran is released today via Church Road. Lowen play London’s The Black Heart on October 11. This article originally appeared in the autumn 2024 issue of the magazine.
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