Little can be said about Grave Digger that hasn’t already been expressed by me or a thousand other metal reviewers. In existence since 1982, this Germanic heavy metal institution has crossed an ocean of time, tide, shifting scenes, and countless lineup changes while continuing to churn out their tried-and-trve brand of Accept-meets-Manowar metal. Bone Collector is their 21st freaking album and it’s more of the same meat and grave-y, done with an admirable amount of energy and grit considering the advanced age of some of these geez-lords. Longtime guitarist Alex Ritt is out, replaced by former Ordan Ogan axe Tobias Kersting, but the sound and style remain largely unaffected. This is still riff-forward, balls-to-the-mausoleum-wall traditional metal powered by the one-of-a-kind angry mutant duck vocals of founding member Chris Boltendahl. The end game also remains the same – skull-splitting, chest-thumping, and poser-burying. If all that sounds good, grab a shovel and get ready to move some goddamn earth. We have a large corpse delivery of sabbaticalized writers due here any minute!
If you heard any Grave Digger album, you know what’s headed your way here. The opening title track is typically punchy, in-your-face classic 80s metal with an injection of piss and horse vinegar with chonky riffs leading the way supported by duck power. It’s not going to be anyone’s Song o’ the Year but it’s dumb metal fun with enough axe power to satisfy and a chorus just good enough to stick. They dial up the raw power for the thrashing, bashing “The Rich, The Poor, the Dying” which sounds like it belongs on Rheingold or The Grave Digger. This heavier side of Grave Digger always worked best for yours Steely, and I want this to be their default setting. Luckily, this is what Bone Collector delivers in spades for much of the album’s first half with rockers like “Kingdom of Skulls” and the album highlight “Killing is My Pleasure.” There’s no subtlety or innovation here, but the songs have crunch, grit and enough heft to satisfy the lizard brain.
Unfortunately, the entertaining front half is paired with a somewhat less impactful back half. Things never go completely sideways, but the overall catchiness and memorability do slip at points. “Riders of Doom” is too slow and repetitious for too long, and “Made of Madness” rings a bit too generic and recycled by Digger standards. The effort to include several “power ballads” is also a dubious decision at this point as Mr. Boltendahl is not at his best when things slow down and get maudlin. That said, he does a decent enough job on closer “Whispers of the Damned.” At 46-plus minutes, Bone Collector is right on the bleeding edge of feeling overlong and I find my attention decamping by the penultimate track. The production is somewhat loud and at times feels too bricked, though it does suit the heavier songs to a point.
For a man in his 60s with 40-plus years in the metal business, Chris Boltendahl has aged like a Twinkie, with all the exotic ingredients giving him an unnaturally long life and staying power. He still sounds like a wounded duck, but he did in his 20s, so that’s just his thing. His voice will always be a love or hate proposition but he sounds alive and spry and delivers his croaking, squawking lines with venom and panache. New axe Tobias Kersting acquits himself quite well, delivering the same kind of rudimentary, brain-jarring beefbrained metal riffs and battering ram chugs as Alex Ritt used to. The Grave Digger sound lives and dies with the quality of the riffs and for the most part, these get the job done. It’s just a question of some inconsistent writing holding Bone Collector back from a better rating.
I’ve been blasting Grave Digger so long, even Saxon and Satan think my mind is gone. They’ve been a part of my life since I was a wee brat and here they are when I’m a greying ape. With so much history, I’ll always lend them my ear. I didn’t come here to praise Grave Digger, but I’m glad I didn’t have to bury them. Bone Collector will please most fans and may make a new convert or two. There’s a little over half an album of jolly metal fun here, and after a career this long, I’m okay with that. Onward to eternity for the Count Orlok of Germanic metal!
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: RPM-ROAR
Websites: grave-digger.de | facebook.com/gravediggerofficial | instagram.com/gravediggerband
Releases Worldwide: January 17th, 2025
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