Customer Reviews

Through the Eyes of Heathens

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was sitting in my pj's playing NHL 2K7 when all of a sudden, the most rockin' song I've ever heard on a video game starts blaring through my TV. I hit the information button and see the band is Dozer and the song is the opening track to this CD, Drawing Dead.

The next day, I get to the record store and pick this bad boy up based one one song. To my delight, the whole rest of the CD was as good or better than the opening track, and that says a lot.

The music on this album is driving rhythmically speaking, but the guitars fill the atmosphere nicely. Fredrik Nordin's voice goes from singing to screaming (typically with the use of distortion) and does well to compliment the music. Troy Sanders from Mastodon has a guest appearance on the song Until Man Exists No More. Similar to Mastodon, while the songs are more musically explorative than your typical rock song, they don't have the tendency to have long songs (the exception to this being their closing track Big Sky Theory, which clocks in at nearly 8 and a half minutes.)

While the band has a following in Europe (the band themselves are Swedish), they don't seem to have much presence in America. That's unfortunate, considering that their kindred spirits in Mastodon, Clutch, and Kyuss are well respected in many American rock music circles. That all said, if you're a fan of the bands I mentioned and you haven't heard this album, grab it because you will enjoy it.

There has been a great and necessary fragmenting of heavy metal since Black Sabbath began inspiring others that has led to the creation of so many sub-genres that they appear to be breeding amongst themselves. Occasionally though--in spite of all the overlapping and inbreeding--an album like this one comes along that looks and sounds just like its old great grandpa. I'm not talking about Sabbath here, or even Metal, but the far older and simpler Rock and Roll.

If others would like to argue with that, it's easy to see why. The instrumentation is loud and crunchy, with fairly aggressive percussion, and all of that points to old fashioned Metal and its most recognizable offspring, Stoner Metal. What lies beneath all that, however, is a simplicity of songwriting that is all the more brilliant and aged for its lack of technicality. It doesn't try to be anything fancy, but compels everyone to listen closely anyway.

Tony Iommi would love it, and nod his head in approval. But to congratulate anyone who'd recognize it as their own, we'd have to call up Chuck Berry. Listen to "Through the Eyes of Heathens" to see how many speeds your heart can beet at, not how hard you can bang your head.

I have been a KYUSS, UNIDA, LOWRIDER and SASQUACH fan for a long time. This release fits right in and goes beyond those other forementioned bands. DOZER's (3rd?) CD entitled THROUGH THE EYES OF HEATHENS is a plethera of killer grooves and rocking metal. There are even a couple of slow zone-out tunes that make you stare into the abyss of life.

I recomend this CD to anyone who loves really good stoner rock. I licken them to UNIDA. You won't be sorry you bought it. Infectious, and you almost crave this music every day....BAM!

Great offering. Now if we could get the legal crap out of the way and get their first offerings re-released we will be all set to see the world "Trough The Eyes Of Heathens". This album has huge energy and is reccomended.

Stoner Rock, Desert Rock, Sludge...so on and so forth, whatever you choose to label this band, just make sure you call it awesome. Dozer doesn't do anything out of the ordinary for their genre, but that does not matter, they give the fans what they want, straight up rockin tunes. Dive in!

Dozer are a Sweedish Stoner Rock band formed back in 1995, who's debut studio album was released in 2000. This; their fourth studio album, from 2006, may be a little late onto the Stoner scene and may have missed the window for being labeled a classic record within the genre, but judged on musical merit it is way up there.

Stoner is a broad church, and Dozer definitely fit in more on the Kyuss end of the spectrum than on the WeedEater/Electric Wizard/Sleep end of it. There is a lot of Kyuss influence audible in the sound, as well as touches of QOTSA's debut. The sound is big, fuzzy and warm as opposed to tinny and brittle and evokes more of a desert feel than you'd expect from a band who live in Sweeden.

In addition; the band share small similarities in sound, as well as a large amount of the spirit and attitude of bands like Down, Clutch and Mastodon. Mastodon's main singer Troy Sanders even makes a guest appearance here, on the track `Until Man Exists No More.'

In my opinion, Through The Eyes Of Heathens is a perfect record. Every song is good to the point where no single verse, chorus, bridge or solo is wasted, no songs need lengthened or shortened, sped up or slowed down. Not one single thing needs changing, which is a rare situation indeed.

Difficult as it is to choose highlights from a perfect album, devoid as it is of filler or weaker moments, my favourite tracks are definitely the catchy as hell `From Fire Fell,' with its Josh Homme sounding chorus, and the amazing album closer `Big Sky Theory,' which is so evocative and engaging, it sounds like an entire film condensed into one eight minute song.

Overall; Through The Eyes Of Heathens is an incredible record, which yields more with each listen and is one of the most solid and entertaining albums I have heard in a long time. If you enjoy big riffs, pounding `rock-so-heavy-its-almost-metal' styles and catchy melodic choruses then Dozer are a band you ought to check out; if you do, this is a damn fine album to chose.

I dont know exactly what to say first. Through The Eyes Of Heathens is one heavy, in your face and never backing down listening experience. Even the slower tempo space like grooves pack thunder. If you've listened to Dozers 3 previous releases in the order they were released, then you too have heard how they continuously improve with each and every release. If you have not, I highly recommend doing so. With In The Tail Of A Comet and Madre de Dios they sounded pretty much what most stoner rock bands at that time sounded like, a group of guys who really got into Kyuss and wanted to hear more of that sound. With Call It Conspiracy they broke that chain, though elements of that sound were still noticeable. You could tell that Dozer was working on marching straight to the top of the stoner rock genre. There is no doubt in my mind that they did just that with Call It Conspiracy, which was their first big budget release and it definitely shows. With Through The Eyes Of Heathens, they have created what I consider to be their finest release to date. Topping off Call It Conspiracy is no easy feat either. This album offers you soul crushing guitars, from Tommi id expect nothing less. Fredrik Nordin's clean almost elegant vocals that progressively change to powerful and intense sounding screams. The Drum work is right on time. Fans of heavy rock, stoner rock and metal can't go wrong here. If you want to hear what more bands should be doing here in the US, then check out this Swedish power house of a band. You can't go wrong here. I promise. Also if you do dig Dozer and would like to hear a great side project that Tommi and Fredrik are and were involved with, then check out Greenleaf. Fredrik does vox for the first two, Revolution Rock and Secret Alphabets. Tommi is driving all 3.

Dozer is the main band where musicians from Greenleaf most of the time focus their energies and creativity, "Through the Eyes Of Heathens" is the latest release from this sweedens and its a great piece of hardrock and alternative metal a blast of an album specially the insane "The Roof, The River, The Revolver".

I Havent tried the prior albums to this record, maybe in the near future so I can make a proper and more solid opinion, in the meantime "Through the Eyes of Heathens" deserves 3 out of 5 stars due to the energy they are capable to capture on tape.

HM