Band:	Grave Digger
Album:	The Clans Will Rise Again
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	October 01, 2010
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Days Of Revenge
02. Paid In Blood
03. Hammer Of The Scots
04. Highland Farewell
05. The Clans Will Rise Again
06. Rebels
07. Valley Of Tears
08. Execution
09. Whom The Gods Love Die Young
10. Spider
11. The Piper Mcleod
12. Coming Home
13. When Rain Turns To Blood
14. Watch Me Die [limited edition bonus]

Grave Digger used to mean a lot to me having been a big chapter in my metal life, especially with albums like Tunes Of War, Excalibur and Knights Of The Cross. You know, when you're younger the epic feeling they bring forth with such power and lyricism transports you straight into the eye of the battle and its various faces. Such experiences haunt you and even nowadays while outside with good fellas whenever the DJ speeds in a Grave Digger song we raise beers and sing along as if time stood still, we even try to immitate Boltendahl for fuck's sake!

Tunes Of War, I listened to it almost at the time it came out and Grave Digger became one of my first metal hard-ons. Chris Boltendahl's voice had something obscure, this unique sparkle either you love or hate, I loved it. The theme was epic, rough, deep inside the flames of war, with emotional ups and downs and this goddamn movie Braveheart had completed the overall scenery. I wasn't actually aware of what Grave Digger were up to after The Grave Digger came out, I had only listened to single songs from the later releases that just didn't have this glimpse of glory from the past, but I'm not here to judge them as I haven't listened to them as a whole. Fourteen years after The Clans Will Rise Again, or so the title says, but what for? I have the answer, for the glory of nothing.

Grave Digger have fallen from grace, not even a theme from their resonating past can save them, they simply can't awaken the glory of old times, only ghosts live here. The ideas are as dead as the mascot that haunts their covers, the same figure haunts the band itself at the moment, preparing their grave while the bagpipes perform a marche funèbre, at least to my ears; and there's nothing epic about a funeral.

The album has a strong marching air and the fierce "Paid In Blood" makes you feel almost like home, giving you great expectations that slowly get lost in mediocrity as the one song succeeds the other while having not much to say. There are definitely some stand-out compositions that appear here and there, yet they get lost in the mud of battle. The band may know hot to play really well and all members blend wonderfully together. Yet, a successful musicianship doesn't mean anything if there's no inspiration, no passion, no triumphant sing-along passages, just cheap memoirs of something once great. Most of the songs are not memorable, they don't stick in mind since there's almost nothing worth remembering. After all, you know what to expect, the same old story played over and over and over again, you've listened to it before and in a far better shape, years ago, but you still recall it at the very first chance. Generic but above all unispired Grave Digger seeking the gold they once held. One of the strong cards of the band used to be the fabulous and filled with emotion ballads, even Chris' obscure voice seemed angelic in there. This time, "When Rain Turns To Blood" doesn't even come close to opuses just like "The Ballad Of Mary" or "Emerald Eyes". Not even the beautiful solos can save the shit-uation, this is just a barren land of fury and power with touches of emotion that get lost in the overall outcome.

The only real highlights have to be the speeding "Paid In Blood", the sense of freedom lying in "Rebel" and the walk-hard road while "Coming Home". Apart from that some moments of sunshine have to be the solo in "Spider", the refrain and the solo from "Whom The Gods Love Die Young" and maybe "Hammer Of The Scots".

According to my ears the clans shouldn't have risen again, they should have sit down or anything else but rise, had they used another lyrical topic the album would have been definitely better, yet since they acted this way the comparison was inevitable and they lost the bet. Proceed at your own risk, after all the final decision is yours and I really hope you will like The Clans Will Rise Again so as not to weep upon the loss of money.