So yeah I like it but so should everyone, it's a fully formed metal masterpiece, clad in a magnificent cover art from painter Hervé Scott Flament, the entire record screams loudly about how accomplished it is. If you aren't won over completely but the time Corruption On Earth finishes I don't know how to help you, as from this track alone you're set for the ride of your life, a maelstrom of musical accomplishment met with A-Star performances. If by Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran you don't like this record then I suggest you try another genre as, it perfectly distils several of the best parts of heavy metal music together.
Using shorter run times and a faster approach on this second full length, well third if you count their acoustic album, to pack as much into each song as possible, drummer Cal Constantine gets a workout on every song as he guides the rhythmic patterns, joined by traditional percussion and repeating ictus of Persian music, while maintaining furious blastbeats for the metallic sections. If you've never heard the band before, think of them as having the same progressive doom metal as Oceans Of Slumber, but leaning more on death/trad metal as a counteracting sound from guitarist Shem (May Your Ghosts Drink Pure Water) shredding his face off, his playing mesmerises as it stays in the doom/death distorted style but manages to never become to stuck in a groove.
Vocalist Nina evokes her exiled Persian heritage through her vocals from the avaz and tahrir style of singing and use of traditional Middle Eastern instruments such as the daf and santoor, in direct defiance of the draconian laws of her ancestral homeland. Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran has Farsi and Sumerian lyrics, Waging War Against God is sung in Farsi and Ghazal For The Embrace Of Fire features an incantation from Neo-Babylonian era. The continuation of what they did on their two previous albums, relying on the way the words sound and carry rather than the language used to convey them, Nina's range and cadence is astounding and bewitching at every moment.
That's not to say the lyrics are unimportant, to the contrary, Do Not Go To War With The Demons Mazandaran is a concept album based upon a story from the Shahnameh, it is about the folly of rulers extending their empires without thought, eventually going to war with the demon, which he will lose. Within the concept are more real events such as the death sentences put on women who protest inside Iran as part of the Women Life Freedom Movement, it's really in-keeping with the theme this record has of hubris from leaders who become powerful without reproach, the idea of those who apparently appointed by God.
Lowen have conjured themselves an album of the year with Do Not Go To War With The Demons Mazandaran, I've also seen it been called an album of the decade and id have to agree as, there are very few bands who can hold a candle to the hallucinogenic, spiritual, poignant music of this truly special band. 10/10
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