Review Summary: Overgrown with moss and filled with mold....
Lowheaven’s debut EP
collapse is bleak. Its depressive weight clings to you like swampy air and is even described by the band itself as “not a happy listen”. Lead by ex-Sparrows frontman Dan Thomson,
collapse retains Sparrows’ narrative-leaning song structures and presents them through a lens of screamo, blackened hardcore, and buzzy shoegaze. While obvious to the discerned ear, the band’s influences never result in
collapse devolving into a rehash of any one of them. Rather,
collapse carves itself an interesting niche with its deliberate pace and crushing guitar work, with opener “cancer sleep” slamming into the listener with a foreboding quality like an encroaching storm. It’s a feeling
collapse creates and maintains throughout the EP with a combination of charred riffage and swelling, eerie melodic passages. “Buried In” strengthens the EP’s dread by encapsulating its entire range of emotions in one song, ending in a beautifully moody reverb-drenched outro. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact reason
collapse works so well, especially given its short runtime. The parts of its sum are easily identifiable but are stitched together with expertise and executed wonderfully. Fans of early metalcore will appreciate
collapse’s oeuvre and focus on devastating riffs while also knowing that somehow with only 4 songs, there’s more emotion and mood soaked within than releases thrice the length.
