Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Lowered - Lowered (2018)

The concept of blackened doom is still relatively a new to me.  Having been off exploring Yith and Mizmor in recent months/years I have been meaning to branch out further into this niche sub-genre. The enchanting melancholy of the doom matches perfectly the enchanting melancholy of black metal (fittingly) and I find it odd that I didn't connect the two as a blended form of metal until recently.

This journey of discovery saw me stumble across Lowered.  Hailing from Portland (which increasingly seems to be a geographical reference in most new music I find nowadays) this three-piece play the doom well utilising the kind of sludgy movement and structure to tracks as opposed to outright sounding all that sludgy all the time.  What tends to happen is the blackened elements elevate the doom aspects to the sound, shrouding it in further misery and nihilistic mentality.

The album sounds very destructive and violent throughout, with explosions of surging tremolos over blastbeats being tempered by slower more calculated misery to give a real sense of a dual attack of differing yet equally effective means.  Vocalist Anna has a very dark and raw style that borders on death metal a lot of the time.  The climbing riffs of Nate McLeary (of Ossuarium fame - who also does bass here) add expansion to the sound and the solid yet suitably murky drums of Ian Makau (Black Hole of Calcutta guitarist and sometimes vocalist) are strong in their entrenched mire supporting the rhythm of each song well.

The downside is really that a lot of this sounds the same and only the final song really stands out for me.  Call of the Moon is a big looming monster of an album closer that kills off any last vestiges of hope with its devastating riffs and earth-splitting drums.  In all honesty, overall I would like a bit more atmosphere and a lot less sludge but I can't deny those doomy tones make for an interesting listen.