Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Grave Digger
Label: Napalm Records
Release: 2017
Duration: 36:20
Rating: 2.5/5
Of all the German bands that came out of the German heavy metal wave at the turn of the ’70s into the ’80s, Grave Digger are probably the best example of a full-blown second childhood in the later years of a career. Hanging out on past tours with younger power metal bands that are now hugely popular, Sabaton among them, clearly didn’t do them any big favors, because they’ve obviously started flirting with .
The album “Healed By Metal” is anything but the record of a band that once cranked out superb studio releases that earned it a permanent place in the hearts of true devotees of Teutonic heavy metal, geographically speaking of German origin. »Healed By Metal« is light-years away from the nineties, or from anything Grave Digger recorded later with Manni Schmidt in the lineup, including the cult self-titled album from 2001. It’s just a kind of self-parody.
The music would actually slide down easily enough if the album didn’t have Grave Digger written on it. Opener Healed By Metal is a song that the »puffed-up« Primal Fear could have written for Grave Digger. It’s a kind of glossy, made-up polish that never suited the band’s stance, but considering that Axel Ritt, when he joined in 2010, became the band’s first pretty-boy guitarist, that’s hardly surprising. Evidently his boss Boltendahl caught the same philosophy, and he already has some experience in that department (the Digger project from the late eighties). Boltendahl has seriously gone back to being a kid. It’s all the more baffling because the previous album »Return of the Reaper« is a truly excellent achievement, with tight focus and strong compositions. Apparently the true source of the musical mission the band followed for so many years finally broke off its chain, went mad, and went bankrupt for good.
On the new album Grave Digger sound like they’re copying from old songs, lifting old riffs and serving them up again on a platter. And Free Forever? Spin the intro. It’s like they copied the riff from the Saxon song Solid Ball Of Rock. All the funnier when you realize that Saxon put out an album called “Forever Free” in 1993, which has a title track of the same name. And Call For War? A replica of the »Tunes of War« chorus from the classic In the Dark of The Sun. Take Hangman’s Eye, for example: the chorus recalls the pre-chorus of Fanatic Assassins from the album »Knights of the Cross«. Then there’s Kill Ritual, which recalls the chorus of Battle For Bannockburn. That one is also on the aforementioned album from way back in 1998. Okay, slightly different rhythmic patterns sit under the riffs. But that’s not enough, and of course it’s also not okay at all. And then toward the end of the album you get the shouted Hallelujah in the chorus of the song of the same name, and the »Ha-ha-ha-ha« in closer Laughing With the Dead. Really childish for the metal roots and past work of a band that served up darkness and the occult, sounded sinister and conjured up mysticism. This album would actually be great if it were the work of some random band tastefully joking around with the look and work of Grave Digger.
In short, this album was knocked out fast and on autopilot, in line with the demands and obligations of the contract Grave Digger have with Napalm Records, and so they have an alibi for a new tour. Those of us who know their story will of course keep spinning the classic albums like »Knights of the Cross«, »The Reaper«, »Heart Of Darkness« and so on… In short, the band’s albums from the nineties. And that’s despite the otherwise superb solo showcase from Axel Ritt on »Healed By Metal«, the unstoppable speed of Stefan Arnold’s double bass pedal pounding, the thick, voluminous tones of the tearing bass lines from the legendary Jens Becker, and of course the trademark growl of Chris Boltendahl. Sadly, this time the self-cloning and the resulting creative evaporation are far too obvious, so by Grave Digger’s creative standards the album is decidedly too lightweight to listen to. Boys, a break please. A long break!!!!
Grave Digger – Healed By Metal (official video):
Lineup
Chris Boltendahl – vocals, backing vocals
Axel Ritt – guitar, backing vocals
Jens Becker – bass
Stefan Arnold – drums
Marcus Kneip – keyboards
Production
Chris Boltendahl
Track list
1. Healed By Metal
2. When Night Falls
3. Lawbreaker
4. Forever Free
5. Call For War
6. Ten Commandments Of Metal
7. The Hangman’s Eye
8. Kill Ritual
9. Hallelujah
10. Laughing With The Dead
