Four veterans of the shifting alt-metal landscape make up Lowlives, a band that issued the independent single “Burn Forever” in 2017 and continued grinding until their first full-length release, the 2024 album Freaking Out, finally arrived. British singer and guitarist Lee Downer, who had fronted the electronic-metal group the Defiled from 2005 to 2016, launched the project once that earlier band dissolved. He assembled drummer Luke Johnson (Beat Union, Lostprophets, No Devotion), bassist Steve Lucarelli (the Ataris), and guitarist Jaxon Moore. Their initial work yielded the riff-heavy Burn Forever EP, issued in 2018 with the title track at its core. A short run of American club dates helped establish their footing before the quartet returned to the studio; pandemic restrictions later prompted the piecemeal release of several tracks, among them the singles “I Don’t Like You” and “Gravity.” Momentum built with the 2023 single “Freaking Out,” which announced an album of new material that appeared under the same title the next year. Cuts such as “Liar,” “Vertigo,” and “You Don’t Care” echoed the sound of ‘90s and 2000s rock acts ranging from Alice in Chains and Foo Fighters to Stone Temple Pilots and Green Day.
