Grave Digger – Bone Collector Review

My dear children of the night who’s in Metal for a long time as I am won’t disagree that it’s impossible to write about a band as Grave Digger without having the slightest glimpse of memory of their past albums. It’s like a long walk on memory lane, if you know what I’m saying. It’s fair to say Grave Digger are a band that returned from the ashes after one of the worst – my guess – ‘opening to the masses,’ or ‘expanding the sound to a broad specter.’ I’m talking about the huge mistake of changing the name to Digger in 1987and sweetening the sound to be more palatable to the masses. Long story short, the band split after this and reformed in 1991 with Chris Boltendahl on vocals as the only founding member – which remains the same here with “Bone Collector.”

Curiously, a few days ago I was listening to a MP3 CD in my car – do you know what a MP3 CD is, my dear child of the night? I can’t remember exactly the albums I had in it, but “Stronger Than Ever” was one of them and it reminded what a huge screw up it was. Fortunately, for the fans – me included – Grave Digger came back to their original sound. The first impression I got with “Bone Collector” is that it revives the band’s good old of times.

To old fans like me there are two things that called the eye about Grave Digger’s 1984’s “Heavy Metal Breakdown” and 1985’s “Witch Hunter” era. The first is Chris Boltendahl’s unique vocals which sounded as an insane Udo Dirkschneider with an even harsher voice to the 15 old me. The second is the guitar overtones and the way it was played. Peter Masson wasn’t any shredder but, man, he could play it so originally. It was so orginal that I’ve always thought there were two guitarists in the albums. Due to that I went to the web to look for him and, voilà, found nothing. Nothing!

Ok, now with today’s album of interest “Bone Collector.” Well, as I said before, the album has the sonancy of the band’s early albums without Peter Masson’s guitar. That means a lot because even though the intent is to sound as the golden era, the guitar’s sound doesn’t allow it. But the intent is to sound as if. Truth be told, “Bone Collector” sounds much more alike 1996’s “Tunes of War” or 2003’s “Rheingold” without the Scotland’s themes or mythic themes. That doesn’t mean the album isn’t good. It is indeed. If the idea here was to be back to the simple and raw, Grave Digger did it with flying colors.

“Bone Collector” commences with the groundbreaker album tittle with its initial mood intro that is soon replaced by guitar riff that is a return to the golden times. The kind of track that makes my child of the night bang all night long. Following track “The Rich The Poor The Dying” has one of those guitar riffs that make the headbanger bang the head as there is no future. “Kingdom of Skulls” has a great bass line that introduces the song followed by a nervous guitar. Vocals follow the riffing. “The Devils Serenade” has the smell of the 1980’s – smell? – with all its guitar riffings and moodings. It is a kind of unsung homage to Accept besides the coolest chorus of the album. The one that makes anyone alive singalong. Long story short, the album is a meltdown except for some slow cadenced and themed songs as “Whispers of the Damned” that break the pounding mood of the album just as a change of mood. a track that is much more aligned with the modern epoch of Grave Digger than the golden times.

I recommend “Bone Collector” to old metallers as I am and also to the ones who about to Metal. A classic band is always a classic band. Never underestimate a veteran band.

Grave Digger “Bone Collector” wil be released on January 17th via RPM-ROAR.

Track Listing:

1. Bone Collector
2. The Rich The Poor The Dying
3. Kingdom of Skulls
4. The Devils Serenade
5. Killing Is My Pleasure
6. Mirror of Hate
7. Riders of Doom
8. Made of Madness
9. Graveyard Kings
10. Forever Evil & Buried Alive
11. Whispers of the Damned

Watch “The Devils Serenade” official music video here: