Gozer looks forward to new album, wellness music festival

September 30, 2026

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GOZER TURNS UP THE FANTASY ON TWILIGHT FORTRESS AND BRINGS WELLNESS TO HEAVY MUSIC WITH JOINT JAM

Albany’s Gozer makes gritty desert and hard rock built on bulldozer riffs, heavy grooves, and big hooks. The quartet’s 2023 debut, The Far Realm, reached No. 29 on the Doom Charts, a result the band says surprised them. Now they’re preparing a second album, Twilight Fortress, for late 2026, and guitarist Nick Kossor is organizing Joint Jam, a heavy-music event that pairs loud guitars with wellness.

A New Chapter

Twilight Fortress will be released through Octopus Rising/Argonauta Records, the Italian label known for its work in the heavy underground. After self-releasing the debut, the band says the fit made sense. “They do a great job promoting their artists,” the band says, and the label’s vision and branding line up with Gozer’s own. The partnership is only about two weeks old, and the band describes the team as communicative and professional. Their goal is simple: reach as many new listeners as possible, especially in Europe’s thriving heavy scene.

The album was recorded with Tim Lynch at The Recording Company and mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Music. The band credits Lynch’s willingness to experiment and give honest feedback for the comfort that shows up on tape.

The first single “Morningstar,” was chosen because it fits the band’s artistic vision and, as they put it, “has a slamming riff.” It also shows off the range of vocalist Jackson Tollerton, who moves from guttural growls to soaring, anthemic highs. Kossor says the song’s verse riff started out very different. When the band stepped back and reworked it together, they landed on the “sludgy, thunderous, barbaric” version on the record.

Two Nicks: A Bassist And A Singer

Gozer blends classic stoner and doom with modern metalcore and progressive touches. Kossor says he supplies much of the stoner and doom influence, while bassist Sean brings the metalcore. Drummer Nick M and Tollerton, whom Kossor calls “heavy music encyclopedias,” contribute to the writing as well. Some songs arrive fully formed, others as rough demos, and recently the band has started writing from scratch together. Collaboration, they say, is the core of the band, and every member gets creative input.

Gozer began as an instrumental horror-rock project. The band calls the arrival of Tollerton in 2025 the most important change in its identity. The band says that once they started working with him, they “felt the music on a deeper level.”

Tollerton’s arrival did more than fill the vocal slot. Songs that had been shelved got a second listen. “Monolith,” the first song the band wrote together, had sat on the sidelines for about a year before he stepped in. The band says everyone felt the chemistry, and it became the launching point for what they call Gozer 2.0. They name it as the song that pushed them furthest beyond their early work.

Building A Fantasy Universe

Tollerton, a self-described lover of Dungeons and Dragons, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones, heard in those early riffs the soundtrack to epic battles and power struggles. The album’s songs mix dark fantasy with modern-day morals, featuring wizards, knights, cowboys, and space travel. The key, he says, is balance: each story is taken seriously by its characters, while the songs stay self-aware and fun. Sword fights, parlor shootouts, spellcasting, and time travel all carry real consequences, and the band’s grooves and solos reflect the adventure of those tales.

The title names the album’s center. Tollerton describes the Twilight Fortress as the “nucleus of our fantasy universe,” a place where good and evil, wizard and warrior, and life and death meet. It is both the looming “grim darkness of doom” and the castle that shields its people from a premature end. It is also a meta-space where the music itself lives, like a tome pulled from the library of the universe.

Joint Jam Prevention Over Cure

Kossor’s other job is as a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist and clinical director at Capital Area Physical Therapy & Wellness in Malta, NY. Before that, he competed for Team USA in judo for roughly 10 years. Those two worlds meet in Joint Jam, which takes place October 10, at Putnam Place, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Kossor began planning the event more than a year ago. His experience as an athlete and a clinician convinced him that wellness goes beyond physical health, and that music is one of those few things that can lift people universally. He also saw a gap: the 518 region has a vibrant music community, but limited representation for stoner, doom, and heavy psychedelic music. Modeled in spirit on a mind-body expo, Joint Jam is meant to be an inclusive event where people celebrate music and learn to take a proactive approach to their health. This year’s community partners are Andromeda Tattoo, 518 Art Club, Heart Support, and 3rd Rock Cannabis.

Most benefit events respond after something has gone wrong. Kossor believes prevention is far easier, and more effective, than rehabilitation. Music is already part of the clinic’s culture. The Malta clinic plays music all day; patients can often tell which therapist picked the playlist, and every Monday is “Local Music Monday” featuring area artists. The clinic also runs patient-voted band brackets. The most recent, “Best Band with Colors in Their Name,” was won by Pink Floyd over Black Sabbath, a result Kossor says he’s still trying to accept. The current bracket is “Best Band with Animals in Their Name.”

The lineup was curated around genre, with a focus on stoner, doom, heavy psych, and desert rock, and it mixes Capital Region acts with touring bands. Every band on the bill has either supported Gozer or helped organize a Gozer show. Kossor says he wants his relationships to work in both directions, and giving back is central to how he operates. Planning for next year’s lineup has already begun, with room for variety so the same local bands don’t play every year.

The Guitarist As Physical Therapist

Kossor says his clinical work shapes how he plays. He’s a fan of motor learning and neuroplasticity: the more you rehearse something, the more efficient your body becomes, and some songs in Gozer’s set are now “part of my nervous system.” That helps, since rehearsals are hard to schedule around day jobs and two band members with kids under 5.

He also applies his training to his own body. He has no ACL in his left knee, and the joint is arthritic, so he keeps up range-of-motion work and quad exercises. Standing all night at a show, he jokes, is harder on him than playing one.

What Success Looks Like

For Kossor, Joint Jam’s report card has many categories. As a guitarist, he wants Gozer to play well and put on a show no one regrets spending time and money on. As an organizer, he wants a packed room and a good time for everyone. As a physical therapist, he hopes every attendee leaves with information on being proactive about wellness and a stronger sense of community. He plans to make Joint Jam an annual event and calls his first year a learning experience he’ll grow from.

Putnam Place event page:

https://putnamplace.com/venue/putnam-place/

Gozer: The Far Realm

https://gozer4.bandcamp.com/album/the-far-realm

Howling Giant, Crucible & Ruin:

https://howlinggiant.bandcamp.com/album/crucible-ruin

Their site is:

https://www.howlinggiant.com/

Facebook is:

https://www.facebook,com/howlinggiant

High Desert Queen: Palm Reader

https://highdesertqueen.bandcamp.com/album/palm-reader