Grave Digger
Ballads Of A Hangman

26 Years of honorable career, made of great albums but also some missteps. 26 Years in which these Germans have spewed all their anger into music, molding it into heavy metal. The tough kind, made of granite-like, powerful riffs, accompanied by an angry, screeching yet absolutely unique vocal style. Well, in these famous 26 years, the band of Chris Boltendahl, the group’s leader, has produced not only great albums but also underrated ones that have indelibly contributed to the development of heavy in Europe. A group always far from the big music market, which has composed music for the few, even though over the years it has broadened its fan base. Masterpieces like "The Reaper" and "Tunes Of War" are not easily forgotten, just as one cannot easily forget a disaster of this kind. It's even appalling to think that a band of this caliber has released this album, which seems like a clone of the hundreds and hundreds of works released by today’s useless power bands.

In 2009, the six Teutons indeed released an album that is mediocre at best, with no rhyme or reason, born of a career that has already guaranteed them some success. "Ballads Of A Hangman" is a record that adds nothing to the long history of Grave Digger but just casts shadows on their future. Wouldn't it be better to avoid style drops like this?

Already with the previous work "Liberty Or Death" from 2007, the band had begun a not too congenial path, creating an album distant from their musical conception. With this Ballads of a hangman, the band goes backwards again, dusting off the past. Songs become more straightforward, powerful and simple riffs, less complex vocal lines, all to create more assimilable and direct songs. In this sense, the return to the origins is spot on, but all 12 songs that make up the album seem like they were made with copy and paste. Those riffs, those melodies, those choruses—we've heard them millions of times before, and honestly, they wouldn't be missed. It's even difficult to keep listening through the plot despite the short length of the tracks. Very little is saved. The only one worthy of being listened to is "Funeral For A Fallen Angel", which at least has something different in its opening.

It's sad to harshly judge the latest effort of a band that has dedicated its heart and soul to this music, but the wind of "sonic stagnation" in the German (and not only) power/heavy scene cannot help but make one reflect. From Grave Digger to other bands, like Gamma Ray with their latest work, the trend seems to be to offer the same musical shtick once again, aware of the fact that those who follow the band will continue to do so in the future. But will it always be like this?

1. "The Gallows Pole" (0:52)
2. "Ballad Of A Hangman" (4:46)
3. "Hell Of Disillusion" (3:56)
4. "Sorrow Of The Dead" (3:26)
5. "Grave Of The Addicted" (3:33)
6. "Lonely The Innocence Dies" (5:45)
7. "Into The War" (3:31)
8. "The Shadow Of Your Soul" (4:14)
9. "Funeral For A Fallen Angel" (4:32)
10. "Stormrider" (3:16)
11. "Pray" (3:36)
12. "Jailbreak" (Thin Lizzy cover) (4:04)