Grave Digger
Clash Of The Gods

Chris Boltendahl is immortal. It's been 30 years since the first demo by Grave Digger: a tortuous adventure among raw heavy metal, Nordic legends, epic-themed concepts and a notoriety never fully achieved. Especially in the last few years, with their respective not exactly excellent works: wanting to save "The clans will rise again" (2010) by the skin of their teeth, the two albums that preceded it, namely "Liberty or death" and "Ballads of a hangman," did not thrill. The clouds had gathered over Boltendahl's creation: the lack of ideas, the weak repetition of the usual two-decade-old proposal had also hit Grave Digger.

Two years after their last effort, the Teutonic band returns with yet another studio album, characterized as always by classic heavy metal, Boltendahl's rough voice, and the usual concept. This time, however, they go even further back in time, to ancient Greece, the battle of Troy, and the various fantastic creatures that characterized the Hellenic civilization. From the point of view of originality, the new "Clash of the gods" is to be dismissed wholesale: but when you least expect it, these five Germans pull out an album that in its simplicity manages to resurrect all those characteristics that seemed to have been lost.

A CD that convinces and does so with simplicity and attitude, weapons that Grave Digger know how to handle thanks to the experience they've accumulated. Yet the first half of the new platter has all the problems of their latest works: "God of terror", "Hell dog", and the title track are pieces that have nothing, too schematized within a song form that fails to take off. Flat choruses and lacking bite contribute to the rest. "Medusa" tries to shake things up, with a more thoughtful and evocative progression. At least in part, the goal is achieved. The discourse changes completely with "Death angel & the grave digger", where the chorus finally returns to being a dominant part of the musical structure. The impression is that the pieces on the second half of the CD were intended to "hit" in live settings. Songs like "Walls of sorrow", the granite "Call of the sirens", and the concluding "Home at last" are clear demonstrations of this.

"Clash of the gods" is the classic Grave Digger album: hard to find new ideas, everything is within the tracks of the classicism to which the band has habituated its followers. A Teutonic heavy metal that owes something to the raw power of their beginnings and winks at the overseas epic of Omen and Manilla Road. Today's Boltendahl can't offer more than this, but COTG is an honest work of attitude and experience. The pathos of better times has been lost along the way, one must settle...

1. "Charon (Fahrmann Des Todes)" (2:19)
2. "God Of Terror" (4:19)
3. "Hell Dog" (4:28)
4. "Medusa" (5:39)
5. "Clash Of The Gods" (4:54)
6. "Death Angel & The Grave Digger" (4:22)
7. "Walls Of Sorrow" (4:43)
8. "Call Of The Sirens" (5:30)
9. "Warriors Revenge" (4:00)
10. "...With The Wind" (0:48)
11. "Home At Last" (3:57)