Band:	Grave Digger
Album:	Liberty Or Death
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	January 12, 2007
A review by:	Jeff

01. Liberty Or Death
02. Ocean Of Blood
03. Highland Tears
04. The Terrible One
05. Until The Last King Died
06. March Of The Innocent
07. Silent Revolution
08. Shadowland
09. Forecourt To Hell
10. Massada
11. Ship Of Hope [bonus]

"Liberty Or Death" is already the 13th studio album of the German masters of Heavy Metal Grave Digger and for sure the fans of the combo will not be disappointed by this new release. If it's a bit classic and not so new on a side, it's also a really good album of Heavy Metal with a cool dark and sad atmosphere. Be ready for the battle, this time no surrender, the issue will be the victory and the liberty or... the death?

After the album "The Grave Digger", the line up of the German act never changed and it's obvious that the band chose to follow the same musical orientations since this album. "Liberty Or Death" is a bit like the brother of "The Last Supper" with however a general atmosphere which is clearly darker. It's a good thing in my opinion if you like dark Heavy Metal and sad epic songs but it can be problematic too if you like heavy and powerful tracks. This is a bit the main problem of "Liberty Or Death" because the majority of the songs are dark and use mid-tempo. Of course some of them like "Ocean Of Blood" are pure Heavy / Power Metal songs with blasting drums and fast rhythms but they are exceptions too and I think that some of you will find that "Liberty Or Death" lacks a bit of power sometime. If you don't mind to listen to songs which are a bit slow, it should be ok but if you want something in the vein of the old Grave Digger?

"Liberty Or Death" is one more time extremely well produced, with a fantastic cover which represents perfectly the title and the atmosphere of the album. Chris Boltendahl is still this fantastic singer of Heavy with his original voice, the riffs of Manni Schmidt are still effective, all the guys of Grave Digger are great musicians, this is one more time a new proof of their talent. Plus, our guys even if they didn't manage to write the best album of the discography of the combo we have some great songs like "Liberty Or Death" or "Highland Tears" (with bagpipes) which will kick ass live.

"Liberty Or Death" is not the best album of the combo but still, this is a really solid album of Heavy Metal with a cool special atmosphere. The fans will be happy, no doubt, the others who were expecting something really different will be disappointed but well, I cannot deny it, "Liberty Or Death" is a good release of Heavy. If you don't know Greave Digger, it can be a good way to discover them but the best one is probably to see them with Therion for their next tour (2007)? you'll see they're just killers live?