Band:	Grave Digger
Album:	Heart Of Darkness
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	1995
A review by:	Pierre Tombale

01. Tears Of Madness
02. Shadowmaker
03. The Grave Dancer
04. Demon's Day
05. Warchild
06. Heart Of Darkness
07. Hate
08. Circle Of Witches
09. Black Death
10. My Life [bonus]
11. Dolphin's Cry [bonus]

As the title Heart Of Darkness indicates this album has a very dark sound, darker and more depressive than on any other Digger album I know.

The intro could have been composed for a horror film and so sounds the whole album, it has a more evil feeling than the predecessors 'Symphony' and 'Reaper' and it's lacking a bit the rocking energy. I like the first song 'Shadowmaker' and the chorus-riff on 'Grave Dancer', the first one and a half minutes of 'Demons Day' but then I get somehow bored by this album.
'Warchild' has kind of some interesting lyrics about a child, that loses his parents and home in war and starts to fight at the age of 12. But somehow this song is way too long, which can also be said about the title track 'Heart Of Darkness'. This one takes about 11 and a half minutes of the whole album time of circa 56 minutes, a boring 5th, not getting better though it contains a nice guitar solo. I don't like the song 'Hate' and 'Circle Of Witches' has a long boring intro. 'Black Death' is the last song (and not the best one) on the original album version. Other special editions or copies from anywhere outside Germany may contain the bonus tracks 'My Life' and 'Dolphin's Cry', but unfortunately I can say nothing about those two because I own the regular version.

For me this album has at least some good points, but the most songs are boring or at least too dark. For all those who like it more depressing, evil and dark may this maybe recommended, but I guess you should have a listen first before buying 'Heart Of Darkness'. I don't like it too much.

Reviewed By Iron Markus