Graveyard and Kadavar

We were in the 17th row next to the soundboard when Graveyard kicked things off. Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, where heavy metal still sings the blues, they were the only band on the bill that I had not seen before. Joakim Nilsson took the stage at 7:00pm to warm things up with a solo performance before his band joined him for “The Siren” from 2011’s excellent Hisingen Blues. Obviously Graveyard flew here from Sweden, but they might as well have come on a time machine from the 70’s. Every member of the band sports a mustache and straight hair that rides well past the shoulder line. They are heavy as hell, but they don’t shy away from the ballads that are truly more blues than they are metal. Rockers like “Ain’t Fit to Live Here” and “Endless Night” were always followed by slow smokers like “Hard Times Lovin’” and “Slow Motion Countdown”. I’m not sure the early evening crowd really picked up on what they were throwing down, but for my money they were worth the price of admission alone. I was really looking forward to seeing this band and they blew away my expectations. Their shout-out to the locals in Speedwolf just made me like them even more. The set was a stripped down, no-frills, down-and-dirty rock show that had an emotional weight that only the deaf could deny. I’m anxiously waiting for them to come back to Colorado to headline a smaller venue. Maybe their smoke machine will do more damage t -

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If you were to read the bio of Berlin based band Kadavar, you would see something to the effects of “The world’s leading scientists recently declared in unison: time travel can no longer be considered fiction but reality! Neither did their certainty originate from hypothetical thought experiments, nor from years of testing in isolated laboratories. It was the record of a rock trio from Berlin, Germany, that had dropped into the professors’ laps out of the blue and led them to proclaim joyfully: “Warm, intense, authentic – doubtlessly a gift from bygone times!” Their talent, as exemplified by their live show, luckily very well backs up the whimsical claim that they make.

As the hirsute band members take their place and pick up their instruments, their hair hides most of their facial features, a pattern that remains throughout the entire show. I really enjoy their sound; it’s great in your face, yet unique guitar rock. Hair flailing, even the members of the crowd are excessive head banging; enough to last the entire hour-long set. Between songs they are soft spoken, but when they rock out, they have an energy that cannot be faked. Their fans absolutely love them, and feed them to have the most energetic live set that you could ever watch.

Every time I see them, they get better and better. These guys are just pushing the limits of awesome. They played a couple of old goodies and a couple of new ones. All around a good mix ending with an encore of Gemini.

Sweden may be one of the relaxed and happiest places on earth, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t rock out as hard as they can. Oskar “Ozo” Cedermalm, Niklas “Dango” Kallgren and Axel “Enzo” Larsson decided to come together to form Truckfighters and do just that.
Long hair, shirtless and ax in hand, Dango takes the stage first to melt off your face with his guitar, then yells at you to get pumped and ready. Then enters Enzo, who takes his place behind his drum set to continue the welcomed bombardment of sounds on your ears. Lastly Ozo enters with his bass and you are fully surrounded by the rock sounds of Truckfighters. It is overwhelming but awesome all at the same time. Even though Ozo is listed as a vocalist, most of their set is them rocking out on stage, letting the music completely take over instead. They get the crowd to engage, cupping their hands to their ears to encourage the cheers and noise even more. Outside of speaking to them to get their interaction, the band doesn’t speak between songs, aside from the “thank you vey much for coming, we’ve been Truckfighters” at the end of their show.