Hell yeah. This 1998 four-song split 7″ was the first of three that Demon Cleaner and Dozer would release together through Dozer guitarist Tommi Holappa‘s Molten Universe imprint — it bears the catalog number MOLTEN 001 — and was pressed in two editions of 500 copies total. It exists largely in the digital sphere, despite not being ‘officially’ streaming anywhere I could find, through file-trading and YouTube streams like the above (it’s called ‘Bootleg Theater’ for a reason), and although I’ve campaigned actively for over a decade for Dozer to release an early-works compilation with this material and, say, their demos and the cuts from the 1999 split with Unida (discussed here), maybe some other odds and ends if you want to make it a 2LP or 2CD, my pleas have thus far gone unheard as they mark their 30th anniversary in 2025. Release the tapes! Release the tapes!, and so on.

And certainly the archival impulse is part of what such a compilation would satisfy, but it captures something pivotal for both Demon Cleaner — which featured Karl Daniel Lidén on drums, who’d also go on to play in both Dozer and their sister band Greenleaf, as well as to produce and/or mix those bands and countless others, among them Katatonia and Crippled Black Phoenix, at his Tri-Lamb Studios — and Dozer, who were still a crucial two years from making their full-length debut with 2000’s In the Tail of a Comet (featured here, discussed here).

Maybe it was reviewing that Caboose record the other day that put me in a sentimental mode, but thinking about these bands at this time — I’d put Lowrider in this mix too with Dozer and Demon Cleaner; all part of the family tree of folks who probably/definitely showed up on a Greenleaf record at some point — and listening to Demon Cleaner revel in the fuzz and shove of “Barracuda,” the pure Kyussian blast of its early going and the way they cram both so much fuzz and so much space into a song that still leaves room for a companion piece on its side, the energy of their playing is infectious. The subsequent “Redlight,” which unlike “Barracuda” would not resurface on Demon Cleaner‘s own 2000 debut, The Freeflight (discussed here), is shorter and has a more straight-ahead drive, but there too, I’ve got the same nostalgic feeling.

Understand, it’s not like I was there in 1998. I didn’t review Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer or its two follow-ups, ’98’s Hawaiian Cottage (MOLTEN 002) and 1999’s Domestic Dudes (MOLTEN 003) for my high school newspaper. I was never that cool. But it wasn’t too many years later that I did get on board, and the same energy and that passion one specifically feels for something new — whether it’s a new sound that’s hitting you hard, like this, or a romance — that I felt when I was first discovering heavy, desert and stoner rock, you can also hear in how both Demon Cleaner and Dozer‘s arguments (or sides, if you prefer) play out.

If Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer takes you back to when you first heard fuzz riffs set to heavy groove, a rock that could be weighted in sound or emotion without having to rely either on the attitude-performance of punk or the caricature chestbeating of metal — though Sweden’s produced a lot of quality in both genres, of course — I think that’s okay, because it’s doing the same thing for the bands. Dozer enter into “Tanglefoot” like they Kramer-crashed into the studio and dropped all their fuzz on the floor (it was the ’90s, so a Seinfeld reference is timely). Following up on the boogie of Demon Cleaner‘s “Redlight,” “Tanglefoot” has a shuffle, but Dozer‘s earliest work is characterized by its unadulterated worship of Californian desert rock — something to which guitarist Fredrik Nordin‘s vocals brought a distinctive twist at the relative beginnings of a generational turnover that would change and help shape the European underground as it stands today.

But to the point, they sound like kids, and they sound like kids having fun, and I hear that a lot differently now than I might’ve two decades ago, when it and I were both a lot newer. These early songs, both Demon Cleaner and Dozer, still evoke a sense of freedom in my mind, a feeling of saying screw it and diving in, because that’s kind of what both bands are doing. Yeah, the internet existed in 1998 and I’m pretty sure these bands were on it in some fashion, but it wasn’t like today, where there’s an established heavy underground infrastructure in touring and releasing. Topped off with cover art that looks like it was specifically made to get Frank Kozik‘s attention — apparently it worked, since Man’s Ruin Records released Dozer‘s aforementioned first LP — there is no question it’s of its era.

That’s what’s so much worth preserving too, however. Yeah, Dozer hit into “Centerline” like their lives absolutely depend on it while still drawing a direct line to the mellower Kyuss tune from which Demon Cleaner took their name, and yeah, “Redlight” is sub-three minutes of ultra-rad turn-of-the-century era heavy, all-in, all-burn, all-killer as their two still-undervalued LPs would go on to be. Of course that vitality — what youth can inimitably bring to a recording and performance — is a factor. A big one. But so too is how raw this material is, and how much it reminds us that at some point, somebody had to just do the thing for it to be done. I’m sure neither Demon Cleaner nor Dozer went into teaming up for splits saying, “We’re doing this for desert rock!” in no small part because the genre didn’t exist yet, but no doubt they both had a hand in bringing it to life.

I will continue to argue for a Dozer early-works compilation until probably well after one actually gets released (because sometimes these things happen and I forget to stop being annoyed they haven’t happened yet), but I’m not holding my breath. Demon Cleaner could continuously stand more ears on their work, and meanwhile Dozer are still here and there supporting 2023’s landmark return, Drifting in the Endless Void (review here). If the two bands wanted to make a fourth split together today, I’m pretty sure it could happen.

As always, I hope you enjoy. It’s another short one, but plenty to say about it. Thanks for reading, in any case.

—

To answer the first question you didn’t ask, yeah, I do think I’m going to do the two 1999 Demon Cleaner/Dozer split 7″s over the next two weeks. Why not make a series of it? Should be an interesting challenge by the third one for sure. “Well, like six months after the release of the second split, turns out the third one is also really fuzzy.” That’ll be fun. Eventually you run out of synonyms for ‘rad.’

I don’t remember what was going on last week and I don’t have the capacity to go look. Last weekend The Pecan had a bunch of stuff on. Playdate Saturday was fine, birthday party Sunday was fine. This weekend I don’t know what’s up other than The Patient Mrs.’ mother is coming down from CT to stay over tonight. Between that, a sore ankle I twisted last week and general aversion to city driving, thus am I missing Slomosa in Brooklyn tonight. So it goes. But by tomorrow afternoon, I have no idea. Whatever. A day will happen. Another will follow.

That’s good news, theoretically.

This week was The Patient Mrs.’ spring break — woo. — and we’ve still managed not to hang out all that much. She went to work on Tuesday, yesterday got her hair done, today is out again, and I’m here writing. We’ve sat next to each other on our laptops, which was nice, and managed to get to Costco — our spot, these days — and buy some seltzer. It’s not like if we hung out all week I’d be like, “Oh, well that was certainly enough.” It’s never really gonna be enough and I know that. But I guess that’s kind of what life is right now.

She’s back to work next week. Things are full around here too. Monday is a Serial Hawk review. Yup, they’re back at it. Record’s a bruiser. Tuesday a premiere for Håndgemeng, Wednesday one for Komatsu, Thursday an album stream for Smoke Mountain, and I think next Friday is a video premiere for Space Queen, which I just kinda confirmed this morning. I’m gonna give myself some slack on news posts, which are interminable, in favor of quality over quantity. I only have so many hours and so much brainpower. I feel a bit like I’ve written the same fest announcement post 60 times. Because I have.

I know, complaining that a lot of cool shit is happening is stupid and lame. I wish I went to Brant Bjork last night. I wish I was going to Slomosa tonight. Logistics. Roadburn is in a month. I’ll look forward to that.

Thanks again for reading. Have a great and safe weekend. Watch your head out there among these fucking psychopaths. Hydrate with real water. Don’t believe what they tell you about the Brawndo.

Oh, and did you see the new merch? It exists! I updated the sidebar of this site to prove it! Thanks if you check that out too.

FRM.

The Obelisk Collective on Facebook

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

Tags: Demon Cleaner, Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer, Dozer, Molten Universe, Sweden

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2025 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.