Kadavar

Steeped in the bluesy, brooding, bottom-heavy traditions of bands like Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, and Led Zeppelin, German psych-rock trio Kadavar unapologetically spin ’70s hard rock tropes into contemporary, stoner metal gold. Known for explosive live shows, the band play hundreds of dates a year, and have done so since issuing their 2010 self-titled debut. That hard work paid off as each album sold better than its predecessor, thanks to their tireless road work. Their third album, 2017’s Rough Times, entered the album charts in Germany at 18, and landed inside the top 20 on the U.S. Heatseekers charts.
Formed in Berlin by Christoph Lindemann (guitar, vocals), Simon Bouteloup (bass) and Christoph Bartelt (drums), the immaculately bearded retro-rockers released their eponymous Teepee Records-issued debut in 2012. The band inked a deal with Nuclear Blast the following year, the home of like-minded acts Witchcraft and Graveyard, resulting in their sophomore long-player Abra Kadavar (2013) and chart-topping 2015 follow-up Berlin. The summer of 2017 saw the release of a pair of singles, “Die Baby Die” and “Into the Wormhole,” ahead of the arrival of their fourth studio long-player, Rough Times, which dropped later that September. After playing over 300 shows over the next year-and-a-half, Kadavar entered their newly revamped studio in May of 2019 to switch things up a bit. They emerged with an album that was their blackest sonically; equally inspired by old horror soundtracks, Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu, and first-wave European vintage doom metal. Entitled For the Dead Travel Fast from a work by German gothic poet Gottfried August Bürger, the self-produced effort was issued by Nuclear Blast in the fall. ~ James Christopher Monger