Dozer
Through The Eyes Of Heathens

After the cautious beginning where they mostly moved in an underground environment, the Swedish Dozer managed to emerge from the Swedish musical undergrowth and gradually built up quite a reputation, particularly in the Scandinavian peninsula. The beginning of their career was "In the tail of a comet," a stunning example of purely raw stoner rock. They were immediately seen as one of those bands that could take up the legacy left by Kyuss, who had disbanded a few years earlier. Besides their good debut, they aroused curiosity for choosing to play stoner rock in a country like Sweden, which is far removed from the desert-like atmospheres evoked by this genre. Yet their great passion for stoner has granted them the right notoriety: they succeeded with class and effort in reviving in Europe a genre that had been somewhat sidelined in the past years.

The group, consisting of four members, demonstrated courage in proposing this type of music, and the result, of absolute level, can be seen in "Through the eyes of heathens" from 2006, as well as in the three albums that preceded it. The album in question stands as one of the most successful examples of "modern" stoner rock. Dozer have embraced the formula of the "mother" bands, particularly Kyuss, and have reworked the genre by giving it compactness and richness, while also managing to incorporate easier solutions into the various tracks: particularly "Days of future past" and "From fire fell" fully articulate this concept and represent two absolute highlights of the record. It is surprising how the four members manage to embody the aridness of the desert, the grittiness of the typical stoner sound while being in a nation entirely opposite to the places where the genre they played was born.

"Through the eyes of heathens" is a record that opens the doors to all those who want to approach the genre, but at the same time is an album that must absolutely be owned by those who have worn out their Kyuss and Dead Meadow CDs due to repeated listens. The entire platter of the Swedish band maintains unthinkable qualitative levels, referring to a genre that had long started an inexorable decline. The initial "Drawing dead" is proof of this, with its distorted riff seeming to come directly from "Blues for the red sun" by Kyuss. A return to the past, therefore, a desert revival of sounds that had been lost. After the already mentioned "From fire fell", we have another excellent example of stoner with "Until man exists no more" and "Omega glory" with vitriolic riffs, that aligns with an insistent rhythm coming directly from the '90s, the golden years of "desert music." If after all these demonstrations of music, if after this you are still not convinced of the Dozer’s worth, listen to the two concluding tracks "The roof, the river, the revolver" and the monolithic "Big sky theory": any doubt about this band's stoner will be swept away, as will any doubt about the album.

"Through the eyes of heathens" is a diamond in a world of rocks within a music horizon where nothing exceptional is offered anymore. A surprise, a bolt from the blue. An unexpected yet absolutely noteworthy work, which since 2006 has placed them on the pedestal of European stoner rock.

A must-have.

1. "Drawing Dead" (4:38)
2. "Born A Legend" (3:24)
3. "From Fire Fell" (2:39)
4. "Until Man Exists No More" (5:08)
5. "Days Of Future Past" (3:45)
6. "Omega Glory" (5:01)
7. "Blood Undone" (4:44)
8. "The Roof, The River, The Revolver" (3:06)
9. "Man Of Fire" (3:17)
10. "Big Sky Theory" (8:28)