KADAVAR – Bergen – Hulen

The hard rocking German g-force known as Kadavar rolled into Bergen the other night and swept all of the freaks who had gathered at Hulen away by means of their powerful, atmospheric, and memorable music. In terms of musical references, Kadavar brings to mind a trippy cross between early Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and a slight hint of Creedence Clearwater Revival. "Did that fat and ugly writer just say Creedence Clearwater Revival?," I hear you say. Well, yeah, I did. The band clearly loves their vintage rock music, and the cool thing about Kadavar is that they actually manage to evoke an authentic mood that leads you to believe that the year is 1970 and that you are standing in a sweaty club somewhere in the UK. Well, at least they make you feel like that for an hour and twenty minutes while onstage.

The setup last night was quite simple with the drummer (Christoph "Tiger" Bartelt) placed in the middle and then the bass player (Simon "Dragon" Bouteloup) and guitarist/vocalist (Christoph "Lupus" Lindemann) occupying each side of the stage. There is something about the power trio format that simply rules. It totally works for me in most cases. The band as a whole was tight, intense, energetic, and dynamic on stage. They did not waste a lot of time on talking to the audience between songs, but you could tell that they were happy to be there and that they appreciated that so many people had turned up on a Thursday night. I was impressed with how solid and tight Mr. Bouteloup was, and it was kind of eerie that he looked so calm while pulling off those awesome melodies and licks. Quite the bass player! Three songs that really stood out to me were "Living in Your Head", "Goddess of Dawn", and "Purple Sage". Man, those tunes were amazing. Superb live renditions!

Kadavar were in control and had everything worked out, which, in a sense, made them appear slightly less intuitive and dangerous on stage as opposed to certain other vintage rock bands that I have experienced in a live setting. However, that does not change the fact that Kadaver came, delivered a great show, fulfilled our expectations, and then went away in a blaze of cheers and applause. Definitely a show to remember.