Baardvader – When The Stars Arrive

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · December 5, 2024

Baardvader is a power trio based in The Hague, South Holland in the Netherlands, and formed in 2019. They play heavy fuzz rock/ doom inspired by 70s hard rock and 90s grunge, mixed with stoner elements. The band consists of J. Aron on guitar and vocals, J.P. on bass, and Koen on drums. Baardvader have released three full length albums thus far including 2020’s Self Titled, 2022’s Foolish Fires, and their latest 2024’s When The Stars Arrive, which was released on May 16th 2024.

“I Know You Know” is the first song on the seven track album. The song fades in with drops of liquid and feedback that starts with the drums pounding into the rhythm. The thick, heavy guitars are met with J Aron’s clean, grunge style vocals. In fact, if you wondered what Alice In Chains would sound like as a heavy stoner/ doom band, then Baardvader is your match. Aron’s Layne Staley style singing has a huge resemblance of the former Alice In Chains front man. His delivery and execution are very similar but that is not a negative, at all. It fits the heavy fuzzed out pummeling of the music quite nicely. “I Know You Know” is a great opening track that cranks out a huge pile driving riff, just before the four minute mark. It’s a heavy devastating and bull dozing rhythm that plays out a few times on the seven and a half minute opener. “Let Go” is next and starts with a cool bass and drum groove with rim shots and all. Baardvader then kicks into another heavy fuzz laden riff of doom. The song transitions into a lighter passage of clean guitars and bass drum taps. The rhythm builds up slowly into an awesome lead part and proceeds to dominate with sheer brutality. It’s another long-ish song expanding over eight minutes. It then fades right into “Goodbye”, which is another stellar song. It has a cool groove to it and extracts more catchy vocal parts in the chorus. They blaze into more fuzzy leads and slow working dynamics.

“Redemption Day” starts heavy and then softens the touch to a mellow part with great singing. It changes back to the fuzz where the band vibe along nicely with a consistent flow of rhythm throughout. Baardvader has a strong sense of musical freedom with each light to heavy excursion and can incorporate a killer guitar lead where the song deems necessary. The fifth track called “The False Prospect” carries along the torch of heavy stoner rock ignited with the grunge assault. They set ablaze a fire storm of inferno riffing matched with a more aggressive singing approach. “Save Ourselves” was the first single on the record and begins mellow but quickly hits heavy and frolics back and forth between the two. When The Stars Arrive is a more progressive album than the previous two and adds more heavy doom elements into their sound. Baardvader seems comfortable in delivering well thought out and written songs with this release. The last album Foolish Fires, was the beginning transition into a more mature and concise song crafting approach. This album builds upon that much more.

The final installment on the recording is the ten minute title track, “When The Stars Arrive”. It goes to show how far the band has come from their debut, just four years prior. Their Self Titled album was more immediate and catchy in terms of the songs themselves. When The Stars Arrive is definitely a more denser album and a slower grower overall. However, as displayed on a song like the title track, the music is more interesting for the long game in terms for more repeatable listens, and picking up different musical nuances each time. In that regard, it never gets old and engages me to want to keep exploring these songs again and again.