Dozer - Drifting in The Endless Void

Dozer – Drifting in The Endless Void
Release Date: 21st April 2023
Label: Blues Funeral Recordings
Bandcamp
Genre: Stoner Rock, Punk, Fuzz Rock.
FFO: Fu-Manchu, Kyuss, early QOTSA.
Review By: Mark Young

With a name like Dozer, you expect to be crushed by some heavy riffage. This is not quite the case, but what they lack in perceived heaviness they make up for in a set of incredibly well-crafted songs that will appeal to everyone who loves stoner / fuzz-rock. They use precision as opposed to leaden guitars to open you up and hit you with this, everyone involved on point with delivering the best they can do.

Mutation Transformation – Very QOTSA in build, similar to Regular John, with part phased vocals. This is great stuff that has an urgency to it without being hurried in execution; some great melodic breaks into a cracking solo – excellent stuff to start!

Ex-Human, Now Beast – A different sound, with a different attack. Still punchy, with strong vocals, and an emphasis on writing the best riff to suit the song. Brilliantly memorable and is your new favourite earworm!

Dust for Blood – Backbone takes centre stage here as the guitar drops in / out, and another well-structured song – 3 for 3 and avoids the dip in pace.

Andromeda – Sprawling guitar line into that killer stoner vibe, with the echoey backing, solo vocal and guitar, with building drum parts that kick into rock – FAVE?!

No Quarter Expected, No Quarter Given – A Led Zep like title, and an upfront stomper. Nice change of pace as we enter the final three songs and an extended rock-out at the end to bring it to a perfect close.

Run, Mortals, Run! – No running out of ideas or catchy riffs here, they just continue with another great song, with everyone playing out of their skin.

Missing 13 – The most hypnotic track here, as it weaves its way with equal soft and heavy parts, leading into the epic solo break that a final song deserves. The fact they manage to keep this going over its 8-minute length without it being repetitive is no mean feat. It’s an achingly beautiful song, just chock-full of ‘those’ chord parts playing off against solo and rhythm passages before it puts its foot down and goes for it, this will be epic live, because it has so many avenues it can go down based on how the audience react to it. I had Andromeda as my stand-out until I heard this. Excellent stuff.