Baardvader ★ Foolish Fires

The follow-up to the 2019 debut album by the 3 Guys from Den Haag, Netherlands combines 70's fuzzed-out stoner psych rock with a strong grunge flair, as known from early Soundgarden and especially Alice in Chains.

 

The album begins with Pray - This is how it would have sounded if Layne Staley had ventured into heavy stoner rock with fat riffs. Mesmerizing lyrics and a deep doom framework. Great start for this Album!

 

The second song "Understand" shifts down a gear.  Starts instrumental and builds up very slowly, breaks up and back to quieter sounds.  Very cool change between progressive post-rock and dust-dry heavy rock.

 

"Illuminate" sounds like early Alice in Chains - not only because of J. Aron.  Massive sludgy riffing and Aron gets the most out of his voice.  One of the strongest songs and towards the end with the coolest guitar parts of the album!

 

Now a huge load of psychedelic fuzz comes into the sound - "Blinded Out" begins slightly oriental and progressive.  Baardvader manage to sound modern and yet deeply rooted in 90s rock. The whole groove of the band reminds me of the first time I heard the great 'Graveyard' (Sweden) back then.   Everything fits together perfectly and it just grabs you.

Low & Slow continues with "Prolong Eternity".  Very doomy sound, thunderous drums, the voice drives the song forward to the finale "Echoes", probably the heaviest song on the album.

 

For almost 11 minutes, the band celebrates a true riff masterpiece with a great chorus that gets deep into your head.  The band fires up everything that makes their sound stand out from the crowd. At the end of the song we get a trip into space rock realms which leads to an outro.

 

After a little under 45 minutes you want to set the needle right back to the beginning and you just wonder that this band self-released their second album and that there is no well-known Stoner & Doom label behind it yet.

 

-Helge Neumann

 

Baardvader are:

J. Aron (Guitar/Vocals)

J.P. (Bass)

Koen (Drums)