It pains me that Grave Digger doesn’t tour in the United States.
The case of power metal in the US is curious and often sad. Practically every other genre of heavy metal does perfectly fine in the States, at least relative to the size of their fanbases. Power seems to be the one where there’s a huge gap in popularity, to the point where even wildly influential North American bands like Riot don’t do that well in their own country. And outside of some recent (and well-deserved) forum buzz over Noble Beast, the country hasn’t produced a power metal band of note in some time.
So, what chance does an overseas band stand? Even legends like Grave Digger can’t find a way to make a US tour financially viable. And that’s a damn shame, because Return of the Reaper, the band’s newest, is really, really good.
The album title is, of course, a reference to the band’s 1993 album The Reaper, and the new album wears its older brother’s influence on its sleeve. If you read my interview with Christian Lindell of Portrait from a couple months back, you may recall him stating that metal of more traditional styles is not “old-school”, but rather “timeless”, and Return of the Reaper illustrates his point quite well. Described by the band as a throwback to the roots of German heavy metal, Return of the Reaper is generally straightforward and to-the-point, beating you over the head with riffs and driving forward with all of the energy we’ve come to expect from Grave Digger over the years. There isn’t a whole ton of variety on this album compared to, say, Rheingold or Ballads of a Hangman, but that’s hardly a problem when the riffs are this strong.
If you’ve heard ‘Hell Funeral’, the second single to be released from the album, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect: fast-paced, ass-kicking, head-thrashing metal tastiness. Expect neck soreness to result from extended exposure to ‘Tattooed Rider’ or ‘Satan’s Host’. There are a few moments where the album deviates from this model – the dark-n-doomy lead single ‘Season of the Witch’, the groovy mid-tempo ‘Dia de los Muertos’, and the closing ballad ‘Nothing to Believe’ – and all of these moments stand out not just for the contrast, but for their quality as well. The no-frills approach works very well for Chris Boltendahl and friends.
If you’ve ever doubted that the spirit of Teutonic heavy metal is alive and well, Return of the Reaper should prove otherwise. Grave Digger’s trademark relentless riffing is out in full force, making this a very strong album.
