Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Apocalypse now, baby. Maybe there’s no fire falling from the skies, no locusts eating us alive, no oceans of blood (yet). But other than that? It’s pretty goddamn apocalyptic out there! Of course, this isn’t exactly a recent development: KADAVAR already roared through their very own doomsday scenario with “Rough Times” back in 2017. Even back then, everything was fucked. But eight years down the road, Kadavar had to realise that things have only gotten way, way worse. Just like they did back then, Berlin’s rock royalty respond with music – and sound significantly rawer, louder, and darker than before: “K.A.D.A.V.A.R.” is like a second debut album, a new reference work that combines the obsessive riffing of their early days with the spacey creativity of their brilliant new four-piece constellation. 

Just a few months ago, Kadavar set the controls for the heart of the sun with the spectacular space rock trip “I Just Want To Be A Sound”, an album like they’d never made before. An album they needed to make in order to survive: Lupus Lindemann, Tiger Bartelt, Jascha Kreft and Simon Bouteloup were running on empty. They were tired of touring around the world. Tired of themselves, perhaps. But what to do with everything they had built up? How to continue a career that had made Kadavar Germany’s biggest vintage rock export worldwide, but now suddenly felt like a chore? Just quit? Write the same album over and over again? 

No. They tore everything down. 

Alongside ingenious German producer Max Rieger (Die Nerven), Kadavar embarked upon a fearless odyssey in search of their identity. With the freewheeling “I Just Want To Be A Sound”, they created an album that became a new foundation for their sound. A foundation on which they could build their future. The album sounded new, unusual, the work of true libertines. And it actually did the trick: just a few months after this reset, Kadavar feel ready to return to the source of their original fuzz power. They haven’t sounded that liberated, that committed, that heavy in ages. 

“K.A.D.A.V.A.R.” is an album like the old days. Only seen through the lens of the last record. “This album was basically already laid out in its predecessor,” says Tiger Bartelt. “It’s like a negative of it.” What tended to meander on the last record is now a ten-ton groove. Where it was more about atmospheric soundscapes, the almighty riff reigns supreme. “We are consciously going back to our roots,” adds Lupus Lindemann. “We wanted fat riffs again, we just felt like booming hard rock.” 

Of course, this shift also needs the right sound. Thus, “K.A.D.A.V.A.R.” was created in the same way as almost all the other records before it: with Tiger Bartelt in the producer’s chair. “It was recorded directly on tape again, and I even brought my old acrylic drum kit back into the studio,” he says. This return to the womb of their DNA did something to the very soul of the band. “All the uncertainty, all the doubts just vanished into thin air,” says Tiger. “And what can I say: this analogue sound is just perfect for us. Period. Over the last few years, we’ve learned that it’s not always about sounding different. It’s about having fun. And this time we had fun with something familiar. Simple as that. It just felt awesome to make this record. It’s like a sort of homecoming.” 

A homecoming, though, after a formative hero’s journey: without “I Just Want To Be A Sound”, without the experimental Covid record “Isolation Tapes” or the collaboration album with the psych-doom gods Elder, without the reorganisation as a quartet with Jascha Kreft, and even without the songwriting jobs for German Hip-Hop idols Die Fantastischen Vier, none of this would ever have happened. “Our projects really couldn’t have been further apart during that time,” laughs Lupus. “But they were necessary because they showed us what Kadavar can be. Can become.” That’s why “K.A.D.A.V.A.R.” is also the opposite of a step backwards. It’s a big step forward, fed by the raw origins of this band. “The circle is now complete,” nods Tiger. “Since our debut, we’ve been reaching further and further to define rock music for ourselves. And now, with all these experiences, with all these expressions under our belts, we’ve simply made another rock record like we used to.” Without this fascinating journey of the last few years, everyone is certain that this band would no longer exist. 

Newcomer Jascha Kreft (Odd Couple) now also plays a key role in the Kadavar sound. Without him, the music would sound utterly different. The end of the classic power trio forced Kadavar to rigorously rethink their music. And to set sail for foreign horizons. “We were a well-oiled machine for years,” says Lupus. “A riff, a beat, vocals on top, done. With Jascha, we finally had all the powers we had always dreamed of. But first we had to find a way to harness them.” Jascha helped with that. “The guys welcomed me with open arms and immediately encouraged me to get involved in songwriting,” he recalls. “I’m not really familiar with that from other bands. Nevertheless, Lupus and Tiger have a dynamic that made this band what it is. And of course, this needs to be respected.” 

Another new feature in the Kadavar cosmos is the depth of content. Where”‘I Just Want To Be A Sound” dealt with inner conflicts and struggles, “K.A.D.A.V.A.R.” deliberately looks outward. You could say it’s a classic doomsday record, their very own “War Pigs” if you will. Fucked up, angry, heavy, cynical, biting. It’s a reappraisal of everything that is currently going wrong in the world. Which is almost everything, of course. “That’s why these albums belong together sonically and thematically,” says Lupus. “After that, there will be a third album, which will stand for spring, for resurrection, for a new dawn. But first we must wade through death and destruction.”  

And destruction there is: the pounding bass drum at the beginning of album opener “Lies” and the booming riff that follows briefly bring “Iron Man” to mind and lead into an incredible groove that 

makes it unmistakably clear that the band has lost none of its touch. Quite the contrary, in fact: when the chorus soars to the highest heights, you understand what this odyssey did to the Berlin-based band. They set out to find themselves, fought their way through trials and tribulations, shoals and shallows. Only to emerge stronger than ever before. More radiant than ever before. 

Testimony to this are these nine new tracks. The spectrum ranges from the cheeky slacker rock of “Stick It” to the booming juggernaut of ‘K.A.D.A.V.A.R.’ to the thrash metal sledgehammer (!) “Total 

Annihilation”. Kadavar have probably never sounded more diverse and archetypal at the same time. But that’s how it is when every band member contributes songs and ideas on an equal footing. “K.A.D.A.V.A.R.” sounds familiar and new at the same time, paying homage to yesterday without being stuck in it. And, most importantly: it‘s an album overflowing with the joy of playing. “We wanted to recapture the carefree attitude we had 15 years ago,” emphasises Lupus. “Of course, we can’t recapture the naivety of the first two records, but we can at least get close. It’s like our debut, only this time as a quartet.” It’s furious, it’s big, it’s bitingly heavy. Kadavar are back to their old selves. And yet, a completely beast. Welcome home. 

More information: https://www.kadavar.com/