Sweden’s resurrected desert/stoner rockers look beyond the dunes

Dozer emphasise the ‘thinking’ part of ‘forward-thinking’

PRESS

Drifting In The Endless Void

BLUES FUNERAL RECORDINGS

PLAYING A CONSISTENT smattering of festival slots since returning from hiatus, Dozer have had a presence as a sort-of legacy band in recent years, courting the desert rockers who are still swooning over their split EP with Unida back in 1999. But when Covid-19 came along, these influential Swedes, crushed by isolation and cancelled gigs, hit the studio, resulting in their first fresh material in more than a decade.

Drifting In The Endless Void tells two stories. The first is a love letter to Kyuss, divulged through a wash of fuzzed-up licks and low-end rumble. Roaring opener Mutation/Transformation is a slice of the riffier end of Dozer’s handiwork, proffering fiery licks, modulated vocals and explosive percussion. On Ex-Human, Now Beast the stoner runs deep, kicking off with Paranoid-aping riffs as Fredrik Nordin’s distinctive vocals give a gravelly, grungy tone to the track. Elsewhere, California’s dusty climes are embodied by Andromeda’s languid concoction of crashing cymbals and beat-up amps that insinuate a more pain-stricken representation of the desert you’ll find in John Garcia and co’s catalogue.

The second part of Dozer’s tale is their ability to evolve beyond the traditional leanings of desert rock. Borrowing from their jammier moments, Drifting In The Endless Void experiments with retrospective textures: from the psychedelic interlude on Dust For Blood where a Bono-sounding Fredrik transports us to a backdrop of hallucinogenic haze and lava lamps, through the thumping, tumbling cathartic release of No Quarter Expected, No Quarter Given, to Missing 13’s space-age balladry. With the inclusion of two members from psych groovers Greenleaf – guitarist Tommi Holappa and crushing new drummer Sebastian Olsson – the spirit of newwave fuzz, albeit at the noisier end, is all the more potent, making Drifting In The Endless Void a genuinely forwardthinking take on stoner from this comeback band.