You never know what’s happening in someone else’s life, even those you consider friends or family. The walls we build and the realities that exist outside our knowledge serve as our own personal and collective possession stories. The fact that for many of us, our lives never adjusted back after the events of [redacted]. We isolated for safety and in our hearts and minds, never quite re-acclimated fully. For vocalist Dan Thomson, the reality was worse than anyone knew, and the seclusion resulted in the end of everything, including his excellent previous post-hardcore group Sparrows. A series of literal and metaphorical doors closing led to the necessary creation of some outlet for the tailspin. Welcome in lowheaven, arguably the eeriest and most oppressive batch of post-metal I’ve heard in a very long time. While there aren’t a plethora of positive qualifiers for Thomson, the resulting debut, Ritual Decay, is a stunning collection of gorgeously oppressive heavy music. The gradual build into the second half that starts with single “Mercy Death” may go down as the best section of music I hear this year, with riffs that feel like a crater opening up in our heart.
While silver linings were hard to find, lowheaven has one key saving grace:
“It became incredibly obvious that there was going to be no return for more than a few things in the music world [due to pandemic]. People changed, drastically. And what came from that was a lot of ends. At the same time, for myself personally, my entire life was in a tailspin. A burning, Bond-esque tailspin where people are being sucked out of the plane because part of it exploded. Everything ended, and I don’t say that for effect. It all was funneled into lowheaven. In a lot of ways, this band saved my life.”
Musically, they wanted to pair that tailspin with truly terrifying music:
“I think the use of the word eerie (and terrifying, to an extent) is a very apt description. There was this feeling that we could achieve the idea of creating something monstrous and dark. Something that could make you feel uncomfortable, that you could never quite put your finger on. And I think that was always in the back of our heads, whether writing or demoing, or even when we got to the point of actually recording the songs.
It felt like we were writing the soundtrack to the end of our days.”
Ritual Decay is out Friday, and you can preorder it from MNRK Heavy. Follow lowheaven on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo Credit: Fabiana Moreira
