November is Doom - Dozer : "Drifting into the Endless Void"

 

Sweden is not the sort of place I would expect bong-inspired hymns to descend from. But here we are. I should look to Europe for this sort of thing, since aside from Kyuss I am not big on the desert rock thing. These guys are darker than most stoner rock, they have a tense drive to them but steer away from allowing a retro sensibility to haunt them. "Ex Human , Now Beast" does not find everything coming together as smoothly. You can hear a Soundgarden influence creeping into how the vocals are belted here giving the song an overall more aggressive feel. 

"Dust For Blood" finds the vocals are kinder and gentler, casually flipping here and there into a more emotive falsetto. The song itself wanders a bit, and they do not capture the kind of hooky-focused songwriting the first song had until we get to 'Andromeda". It is not as driving as the opening track, nor would I expect it to be. The vocals float over a solid guitar riff, as the drums begin to show off beneath it. The throb of this song carries it to the finish line for me. Midway things do pick up in intensity. Overall I would not call these a metal band,. though there are moments like this song where they touch on a more metallic sound. 

"No Quarter Given, No Quarter Expected" creeps into things, which is effective as this helps to establish a different feel from what we heard earlier in the album. The vocals continue to go in a more Chris Cornell-like direction here. This also comes with a more brooding grunge undercurrent. There is a more deliberate stomp to "Run, Mortals Run" once it kicks. The verses give the vocals room to establish their creeping melody. The chorus is not that hooky, instead drifts into the wall of guitar. The last song has more proggy twists and turns. I like the darker groove it builds out from. The vocals have a brassy tenor feel until things build up so they can be belted from the chest register. The pumped-up ending sounds like 90s Metallica covering "Dream On"  I like this album; I'm not sure how many more listens I will give it, but what they do is of the utmost quality. I will give it a 9.