Rough Times Kadavar

1.Rough Times
2.Into The Wormhole
3.Skeleton Blues
4.Die Baby Die
5.Vampires
6.Tribulation Nation
7.Words Of Evil
8.The Lost Child
9.You Found The Best In Me
10.A L’Ombre Du Temps
11.Helter Skelter

“It is obvious that people like to put you in a box, and it is our job to create our own drawer and label it Kadavar.” As the German trio Kadavar - arguably the hardest working band in European rock - stand on the brink of releasing their fourth full length album, they look back at a seven year long career of doing things the other way around. Rather than this being the time to start talking about how music is just another way of paying the bills, they could not be more in tune with the main reason anybody starts a band in the first place - liberation.

“We used to put ourselves under a lot of pressure,” says guitarist and vocalist Christoph ‘Lupus’ Lindemann. “We didn't want to be just another rock band, we wanted to be the best. Now we are free from the idea that we need to hit the charts or fill big halls to become happy. To get to that point everyone involved needs mental maturity, and this satisfies me more than any full arena.”

In between Lupus and drummer Tiger is Simon ‘Dragon’ Bouteloup, the bassist who replaced original member Phillip ‘Mammut’ Lippitz. There is nothing German about this Parisian bohemian. Simon spent his late teenage years drifting around Europe intuitively - just like his style of playing - later ending up with infamous French psychonauts Aqua Nebula Oscillator. He moved to Berlin in 2012 to play with The Oath and joined Kadavar two years later.

In the beginning of 2017 the band prepared to start a new album cycle by literally rolling up their sleeves and building a brand new recording studio from scratch. Over 100 square metres inside an industrial complex in the area of Neukölln in Berlin is now their creative haven and workplace alike, and this is where ‘Rough Times’ started to take form.

“We have been giving it quite a lot of thought, how we want to continue after the last album,” says Tiger. “Maybe I try not to only be a musician, but to think, write and play like an artist. It sounds corny, but I mean it in the way a brick layer differs from an architecht. Not to only lay brick by brick, but create a nice vision of a house with different rooms.” Simon says. “We would not respect ourselves and our followers by putting out just another Kadavar album. It needs to be different and hopefully better!”

They might have eased up on the competitive attitude but don’t believe for a second the hunger is gone. Take it from the wolf himself: “When you realize you have taken it to the next level, where you can live from music and see the world - you work your ass off to keep that. What else should we do? We are useless in the normal world. And maybe it looks harder than it is...”