French Metal Friday: Der Kaiser

For today's French Metal Friday article I've decided to cover the (somewhat) cult 80's band Der Kaiser. The band (whose name means "the Emperor" in case you couldn't figure it out) was formed in 1981 by bassist Thierryi and drummer Philippe. In short order the pair recruited guitar players Beno & P’tit Tchong and then lead singer Pascal. The band would go on to record a self-titled/self-release demo (1983) before being signed to the one and only French label Devil's Records. Name a good French heavy metal band from the eighties and chances are that Devil's Records had them on their roster. "Vautours", which was released in 1984, is rather typical eighties heavy metal and yet it ranks among my favorite French metal releases. It was followed in 1985 by "La Griffe De l'Empire" which saw Claude Thill (ADX, Alannah) take over the vocalist position. The band was supposedly working on a third album when they broke up. Several factors contributed to the band's break-up but chief among them was lack of interest from their label and a changing metal scene in France. The first to bail was drummer Philippe followed by the rest of the outfit. All would be silent on the Der Kaiser front until January 2009 when the band played for the first time in something like 23 years! Since then the band has played out and are considered active, but with their last release being "La Griffe de l'Empire" there isn't much new musically. To be honest I'm not so sure either album are available on CD so for those interested in checking out this fun eighties heavy metal band it's either search out their LPs on places like Ebay or download their music online.