Review of Grave Digger - Rheingold

Grave Digger is and always has been one of the greats of the powerthrash genre. The year 2001 brought us what was arguably the best Grave Digger album to date. "Ingeniously" entitled "The Grave Digger", it still proves difficult to top, and Rheingold fails to do so. Even so, it is a great album from a great band, well worth many a listen. Grave Digger has a very cool multi-genre sound, masterfully mixing power metal and thrash with a little Zakk Wylde thrown in for good measure. For those of you who knock power metal bands for their wussy-ness, you should have no complaints with Rheingold, or any Grave Digger album for that matter. Rheingold has a sort of old-school feel to it, the riffs just feel classic for some reason. This is especially the case on "Valhalla", it just feels classic and very Dio-esque. Of course all of the songs here have horribly cheesy lyrics, with almost childish rhymes. Give them a break, they're German. It in no way takes away from the experience, in fact I believe it adds to it. The great thing about Grave Digger is that all of their songs have such power behind them, everything just feels so massive in size and epic-ness. The production exemplifies this, harnessing every kick of the bass drums and every chord on the guitars. The one major difference I can hear between 2003's "Rheingold" and 2001's "The Grave Digger" is that “Rheingold” has many more higher-pitched, sing-along choruses. "The Grave Digger" had choruses that were sort of low, ones you could shout along to. In "Rheingold" you have to be a good singer to sing along. From the slow, driving riffs of "Sword" and "Dragon" to the hundred-mile-an-hour speed of "Liar" and "Valhalla" to the great sing-along refrains of "Giants" and "Murderer", "Rheingold" is a great album, full of speed, power and technicality. For those of you familiar with the glory of Grave Digger, this album will not disappoint unless you try and compare it to the mastery of "The Grave Digger". I see no reason why everyone who enjoys metal (the kind with melody) wouldn't enjoy this album. Wrathchild's Choice Cuts: Valhalla - Great speed and great chorus Liar - Speedy as it gets with Grave Digger, short and sweet Murderer - gotta love that sing-along chorus

Release Details

Grave Digger

Rheingold

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