Grave Digger

The Grave Digger (Nuclear Blast)
by Scott Hefflon

OK, so the record’s called The Grave Digger, I just think it looks silly written that way, and that’s how I feel about these guys. I realize Grave Digger are classic German heavy metal that “came up” with Helloween (and Sinner and Running Wild, two other bands I’m pretty open about having never considered very good), but this record opens with “Son of Evil,” and leads into the title track spouting some of the dumbest lyrics I’ve heard since the first couple Metal Church records. And this has the same cheesy metal art as well. With so much great metal pushing envelopes left and right and top and bottom, I simply have no patience for mundane riffs, pre-teen “tough” rebel lyrics, and dated, dry, “classic” production.
(2323 W. El Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne, CA 90250)