Gozer, a four-piece heavy rock band from upstate New York, release their second full-length album, Twilight Fortress, on Friday 11 December 2026. According to the promo sent to LRMA by Grand Sounds PR, the label is Octopus Rising, and the tracks offered for radio are “Morningstar” and “Wayward”.
One note on the name: this is not the Sheffield band of the same name. That Gozer formed in 2021 from the remains of Archelon and released An Endless Static in 2022, according to a Rush on Rock feature.
The band
The American Gozer describe their sound as moving between stoner rock, desert rock and doom metal, with “fantasy-inspired” atmospheres. The name comes from the shape-shifting villain of the 1984 film Ghostbusters, and the band says it carries the same refusal to stay in one genre. That is the promo’s wording, not an outside assessment. The band’s own website places it in Albany, New York, and says the debut album, The Far Realm, was self-released in 2023.
Vocalist Jackson Tollerton, formerly of Frozen Sun, joined in 2025. The promo credits his arrival with a stronger storytelling side, with fantasy, mythology and role-playing games as raw material for what the band calls its own “fantasy rock”. The rest of the line-up is Sean Murphy on bass, Nick Kossor on guitar and Nick Massucci on drums.
The record
Twilight Fortress was produced and engineered by Tim Lynch at The Recording Company in Sloansville, New York. The promo calls it a significant step forward in songwriting and production; LRMA has not heard it, so we take no position on that.
A word on the label. The mailing names Octopus Rising, but it also links to the website of Argonauta Records. The two labels appear together on other recent releases. The band’s website did not yet list Twilight Fortress when we looked, and we have not seen an announcement of the album from either label.
Gozer land on the same Friday as Sergeant Thunderhoof’s covers album.
Key details
- Album: Twilight Fortress (second full-length)
- Artist: Gozer (USA, upstate New York)
- Release: Friday, 11 December 2026
- Label: Octopus Rising, per the promo
- Airplay tracks: “Morningstar”, “Wayward”
- Genre as stated by the band: heavy rock — stoner, desert and doom
Links
Sources
- Promo mailing, Grand Sounds PR, sent to LRMA on 11 November 2026
- Rush on Rock, “Red hot track of the week: Gozer”, 9 October 2023 (about the Sheffield band)
Image: LRMA.
