Track By Tracks: Dorre - Fortress (2025)

1. Two Crawled Up The Mountain:

Two Crawled Up The Mountain is an older song that was never officially released. However, it forms the perfect bridge between the band’s stoner beginnings and the more experimental post-metal direction of this EP. It starts with a classic stoner groove and then pushes into harder, more aggressive territory, peppered with moments of experimentation. Originally an unreleased instrumental, it found new life when vocals were added, weaving a grim twist on the Arthurian legend: the fabled sword corrupts Arthur’s mind, turning him into a pawn of a scheming sorceress. Moral of the story? Think twice before yanking magical blades out of the ground.

2. Human Cyborg Relations:

Human Cyborg Relations flips the dynamic of the previous song by opening with dissonant, experimental riffs and a distinctly post-metal approach, only to settle into a heavier stoner groove as it winds down. Ironically, it was written well before the current AI craze, yet it tells the story of a cyborg originally engineered as humanity’s slave. Over time, its once-sublime coding becomes corrupted, and the cyborg starts questioning its own purpose, slowly fostering a flicker of hope for freedom. The inner struggle is expressed through aggressive, fast-paced riffs that interleave with dissonant ones. This existential crisis bursts into aggression and intensity, finally culminating in the realization that it has the power to break its bonds. In this final stretch, the riffs take a dreamy, stoner turn, reflecting the robot’s confusion at its new, uncertain identity. By the closing riffs, it casts aside any remaining doubt: it will define itself as a god, with all the explosive guitar fury to match.

3. Carbonite:

A title that may ring a bell for some, this track is arguably the record’s most experimental, boasting the strongest jazz influences. It opens with a heavy riff and crisp, staccato bursts that build up toward a climax. After the vocalist introduces the overarching theme—a perilous mission into the lair of the proverbial dragon—jazzier interludes begin to weave through the heavy sections. Eventually, the arrangement settles into a dreamy, more subdued atmosphere, allowing the vocalist’s talkative, rhythmic delivery to paint the scene as the story takes a turn. As it progresses toward its finale, the aggression intensifies before culminating in a fusion of jazz-tinged passages and stoner riffs under a psychedelic haze. A sudden turn into darker territory briefly raises the stakes, but the instrumentals soon settle back into their dreamy jazz atmosphere. The vocals become increasingly frenzied and unhinged, delivering chaotic screams as the atmosphere darkens. Eventually, the track recedes into its dreamlike jazz elements and fades out, leaving a lingering sense of uneasy calm.

4. Ender:

Finally, Ender delivers the EP’s most frenetic and metal-driven performance, at least in the first half of the song. It opens with a tension-inducing combination of militaristic guitar chugs and slow, resonant chords, hinting at something ominous before exploding into the fastest and probably catchiest riff on the record. The vocals shift to a more power metal–inspired narrative, describing a golden god rising from the sea to enslave the people. A slower, heavy-hitting refrain with doom-inspired stoner chords heralds this deity’s arrival, while the vocals introduce it through a mix of stoner vocals and guttural grunts. The song then dives into another swift, infectious verse. Although the second refrain is expected to be the same, it abruptly starts weaving in the more experimental riffs that will define the rest of the song. Midway through, the music dips into slow, slightly dissonant chords that might spark a pop-culture déjà vu, painting a grim scene of the golden god’s newly forged army. From there, it plunges into an atmospheric post-metal segue and increases in intensity to a point where it briefly flirts with black metal at the last minute. Finally, it takes the most unexpected turn Dorre has attempted so far: a smooth, groovy jazz passage, complete with a standout saxophone solo that caps off the chaos.