{"id":73366,"date":"2018-09-14T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=73366"},"modified":"2018-10-14T16:14:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-14T16:14:56","slug":"album-review-grave-digger-the-living-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-grave-digger-the-living-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"GRAVE DIGGER – The Living Dead (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

GRAVE DIGGER
The Living Dead<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNapalm (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Yep, there\u2019s certainly something cheesy about Grave Digger. Maybe it\u2019s those distinctly Euro-metal choruses, or their engaging way of storytelling, but hey, they\u2019ve become masters of their trade and there\u2019s no knocking the power and talent of these German stalwarts, even if hearing Chris \u201cReaper\u201d Boltendahl bellow \u201cShoot! Shoot! Killing\u2019s for free…\u201d<\/em> turns my stomach.<\/p>\n

However, at times you have to look beyond Grave Digger\u2019s lyrics and appreciate the Gothic splendour they create within their chugging and often galloping anthems, and their umpteenth opus is full of such Germanic clich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

Musically, the band drifts between dark, catchy moments to some delightful power metal and thrash workouts. The opening cut \u2018Fear Of The Living Dead\u2019 is jam-packed with numerous shifts and tempo changes, providing equally measure of gusty winds, smouldering fires and some thrilling guitar work which builds to a fantastic solo.<\/p>\n

In a sense that orgy of diversity is what makes Grave Digger so mighty, but for me it\u2019s songs such as \u2018Blade Of The Immortal\u2019 which showcase the true underlying menace of this metallic grey cloud. With its thrashy beginning the track suddenly slows to a dark, Gothic trudge whereby Boltendahl\u2019s vocals become a malevolent snarl, and the crushing presence of axe man Axel “Ironfinger” Ritt comes to the fore as he knits together devastating, doom-laden rhythms coupled with faster blasts.<\/p>\n

Grave Digger can be a subtle beast too; \u2018When Death Passes By\u2019 trickles into play before a fiery lick scorches the ears and Stefan Arnold\u2019s drums bombard the skull. This is Grave Digger in straight-up metal mould, from the mystical lyrics right through to that chest-pounding chorus, although such dramatics of the latter still don\u2019t sit easily with me and I\u2019ve been listening to these guys since day one. But again, it\u2019s Grave Digger doing what they do, so whether it\u2019s the steely traipse of \u2018Shadow Of The Warrior\u2019, or the cheese-coated doom surge of \u2018The Power Of Metal\u2019, or even the daftly titled fizz of \u2018Zombie Dance\u2019 (a collaboration with Austrian labelmates Russkaja), there\u2019s so much here that\u2019s on offer from a unit that\u2019s as tight as a boa constrictor\u2019s grip. And all the while Ritt is in command of those strings there\u2019s just no stopping this act which has been powering on for 40 years.<\/p>\n

So in a sense I\u2019ve become mostly accustomed to the quirks of Grave Digger knowing full well that in this mood they can crash, bang \u2018n\u2019 wallop with the best of them. Sizzling rocker \u2018Fist In Your Face\u2019 sounds like something off a rusty Mot\u00f6rhead opus, while the thrashing menace of \u2018What War Left Behind\u2019 and closer \u2018Glory Or Grave\u2019 are perfect examples of a band that can still reach its peak in spite of seemingly being so long in the tooth. And that\u2019s the metallic joy of Chris Boltendahl and company, because for all those flaws and slightly oddball sing-along moments Grave Digger still remains a major force within the genre.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GRAVE DIGGERThe Living Dead Napalm (2018)Rating: 8\/10 Yep, there\u2019s certainly something cheesy about Grave Digger. Maybe it\u2019s those distinctly Euro-metal choruses, or their engaging way of storytelling, but hey, they\u2019ve become masters of their trade and there\u2019s no knocking the power and talent of these German stalwarts, even if hearing Chris \u201cReaper\u201d Boltendahl bellow \u201cShoot! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,184],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-grave-digger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73367,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73366\/revisions\/73367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}