The second album from this retro-rocking Berlin trio does well to better its predecessor, which was rightly popular with lovers of all things 70s. Unlike too many of their flare-wearing brethren, Kadavar have a ring of authenticity about them, right down to their look, which can only be described as ‘Charles Manson gone feral’.
Although the retro-rock caravan has continued to gather pace, it’s simultaneously running out of steam. The feel-good factor surrounding the emergence of the stoner scene in the early 90s has long since given way to a jaded nostalgia for an era that produced tons of great bands but which was otherwise pretty shit.
Taking Sabbath, Zeppelin, Purple, Budgie, Uriah Heep and Hawkwind as their cues, Kadavar reinject some serious spunk into a style starting to smell like Jim Morrison’s last days in Paris, and they’re remarkably economical in doing so. 70s rock typically allowed vast scope for endless self-indulgence, but Kadavar’s freeform style is tastefully compact and under control.
