After a 15‑year wait since Beyond Colossal, Dozer delivered Drifting In the Endless Void on Blues Funeral Recordings on April 21, 2023 a comeback that not only meets expectations but expands their sound with maturity and exploration.
The album opens with Mutation/Transformation, a sprawling, groove‑laden track that encapsulates the band’s riff‑driven ethos while hinting at their evolved approach. From the outset, you can feel the legacy of desert and stoner rock that Dozer helped shape, but there’s a renewed ambition in how the riffs, rhythms, and atmospherics unfold.
Across its seven tracks, the record strikes a striking balance between spacey psychedelia and earthy stoner muscle. Tracks such as Ex‑Human, Now Beast and Dust for Blood showcase a band comfortable weaving melodic nuance into heavy grooves while maintaining a visceral punch. Guitar work here is richer and more varied, and the rhythm section anchors each song with a confident swagger.
Songs like Andromeda and No Quarter Expected, No Quarter Given lean into more psychedelic and experimental territories without ever losing the core identity Dozer fans crave. There’s a sense of wandering the cosmic expanse drifting through soundscapes as dense and hypnotic as the album title suggests.
One of the most compelling aspects of Drifting In the Endless Void is how it feels both familiar and fresh. Longtime followers will recognize the band’s roots in classic stoner rock, yet this album reveals a sonic growth that pushes beyond those confines. The extended closer Missing 13 unfolds like an epic odyssey, rounding out the experience with layered textures and expansive mood.
Critically, the album has been praised for its songwriting depth and instrumental evolution, with reviewers noting that the band has transcended its traditional framework while still delivering the heavy, fuzzy energy that defined their earlier work.
In essence, Drifting In the Endless Void is not just a triumphant return from hiatus it’s a reaffirmation of Dozer’s stature as veterans of the stoner rock genre who still have plenty to say. It’s heavy when it needs to be, psychedelic when it wants to be, and always compelling.
