ALBUM REVIEW: Drifting In The Endless Void – Dozer
Back in the 1990s, the supreme commanders of the first wave of European-style stoner/desert rock DOZER led the charge in response to the sun-baked, desert-bleached fuzz of American bands (such as KYUSS and FU MANCHU) with a mesmerising, skull-splitting fusion of proto-metal, riff-rock and punk. For over a decade, the stoner juggernaut has been slumbering uneasily, but now DOZER return with a vengeance. 15 years after their last album, 2008’s Beyond Colossal, the Swedish quartet bring their mesmerising riffs, fuzzy grooves and fried, bluesy psychedelics into a new decade. Their highly anticipated fifth album Drifting In The Endless Void is everything you’d expect from DOZER and more.
One of the most satisfying things about this album is that it was worth the wait. DOZER have returned to outstanding form making the 15 years between albums feel like no time at all. With a ferocious vigour and explosive power, Drifting In The Endless Void is a perfectly executed stoner album and then some. The album is a balanced blend of spacey, psychedelia atmospherics and earthy stoner riffs. It transports you into another realm through beautiful, floating melody or incendiary, primal riffing. Picking up the intensity they established on Beyond Colossal and adapting it to the current decade has allowed DOZER to create a significantly more expansive and powerful album unlike anything that they have done before. With that in mind, the band have been able to push their creative boundaries and unleash their newly found artistic potential.
In some parts you can hear some of the influence of GREENLEAF in which lead guitarist Tommi Holappa and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin were members for a time. This is because Holappa has put more melodic riff and solo playing into his parts both in the fuzzy sections and the psychedelic sections. It gives DOZER more of a hybrid sound while still maintaining their original ethos, attitude and style. This, coupled with a subtle sci-fi theme, makes Drifting In The Endless Void an exciting album to listen to, as the band have been able to work in some brilliant psychedelics into their established dirty, earthy, punky stoner sound.
Drifting In The Endless Void evokes imagery akin to floating in space but with an added element of danger. You feel like you’re on a journey into the darker corners of the galaxy and come into contact with inhuman forces that mess with you and leave you screaming into the void, like Nordin does on the album’s opening track Mutation/Transformation. Ultimately, you’re the last survivor endlessly drifting, hoping someone will find you but knowing that you’re doomed to float there for eternity but you’ll fight on anyway. DOZER capture the raw emotions and fight for survival vibe perfectly, with soaring, soul-stirring emotions and anthemic choruses that rouse you into action.
The aforementioned opening track Mutation/Transformation kicks off DOZER’s return in triumphant fashion. Riffs flying everywhere, driving bass grooves and thunderous drums put a tour-de-force behind Nordin’s mighty vocals. Ex-Human, Now Beast is packed with swirling guitar leads and soaring vocals in the choruses; it is here where the first tinge of GREENLEAF influence shines through. Compared to the band’s last album, Drifting In The Endless Void is a much sharper, clearer and more punchy sounding record, so you can really hear the songwriting skill that DOZER have in these songs. Dust For Blood is one of those tracks that you need to be driving down a motorway to; a tarmac pounding rhythm section provided by Johan Rockner (bass) and Sebastian Olsson (drums) pushes the song forward while Nordin and Holappa unleash catchy melodies that lodge themselves in your brain with ease.
Andromeda is a more atmospheric affair, bringing the energy down slightly as luscious psychedelia melodies unfurl themselves over a carpet of fuzz. No Quarter Expected, No Quarter Given is an action-packed, groove-focused song that continuously ramps up until it climaxes with more soaring melodies and a crushing half time drum rhythm. Run, Mortals, Run! is a stand out track, combining earthy riffs with powerful vocals. Nordin’s vocals inspire a plethora of emotions inside you as he passionately bellows down the microphone. Album closer Missing 13 is an eight-minute heavy psych/stoner megalith. Starting with gentle melodies that slowly build into prog rock groove before exploding into an anthemic riff towards the final third of the song, as a whole it is an evocative track to finish the album on that firmly announces the band’s return and helps them once again wear their crown as the godfathers of European stoner.
Drifting In The Endless Void is a stunningly captivating album from one of the best stoner bands of the last three decades. With a new found vigour DOZER have come out swinging from their 15-year slumber and delivered a mighty album worthy of stoner kings.
Rating: 9/10
Drifting In The Endless Void is set for release on April 21st via Blues Funeral Recordings.
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