01. Bone Collector02. The Rich, The Poor, The Dying03. Kingdom Of Skulls04. The Devil’s Serenade05. Killing Is My Pleasure06. Mirror Of Hate07. Riders Of Doom08. Made Of Madness09. Graveyard Kings10. Forever Evil / Buried Alive11. Whispers Of The Damned1980 was a massive year for heavy metal. The list of classic albums released within those 12 short months is absurd. “Heaven And Hell”, “British Steel”, “Ace Of Spades”, “Blizzard Of Ozz” and “Iron Maiden”. Oh, and “Back In Black”. And “Animal Magnetism”. And… well, you get the general idea. Shrewd observers will also understand why so many great bands were forming around that time, as the experiments and bravado of the ’70s coalesced around a more coherent and brutish musical template.Many great bands took their first steps in 1980, too. From MANOWAR and METAL CHURCH, to QUEENSRYCHE and HOLY MOSES, the decade began with all cannons blazing. German legends GRAVE DIGGER also emerged 45 years ago, in the midst of all that inspirational, heavy metal delirium, and they have barely paused for breath since. One of Europe’s most dogged and defiant bands, they have accrued an astonishing catalogue of albums and toured like diehards. Led by the iconic, gravel-voiced Chris Boltendahl, GRAVE DIGGER have always been utterly true to the old-school bone, while matching the steadily escalating heaviness of modern production to ensure that every record crushes like seminal debut “Heavy Metal Breakdown” did back in 1984. And they’ve done it again here, on their heaviest album in a long time.Manifestly not for the fashion conscious or trad-phobic, “Bone Collector” is the 22nd studio album to bear the GRAVE DIGGER name, and it delivers exactly what fans have come to expect and adore over the last four-and-a-half decades. Perhaps more importantly, these songs are measurably harder and more intense than those on 2022’s “Symbol Of Eternity”. Boltendahl has always had the ability to refresh the ship’s crew convincingly, and the arrival of new guitarist Tobias Kersting (ex-ORDEN OGAN / also in Chris Boltendahl’s STEELHAMMER) has revitalized the classic GRAVE DIGGER sound once again. Not that much has changed, but energy levels have plainly been enhanced, and from the clobbering-time clatter of the opening title track, “Bone Collector” is hard, dark and destructive, and not at all what most people would expect from a band of this vintage. It is also entirely devoid of contemporary power metal’s shiny-eyed positivity. This is a gritty, bullying metal record, with strong echoes of previous harder-than-the-rest triumphs; the operatic brutality of 2003’s “Rheingold” and 2014’s grim and punishing “Return of the Reaper” in particular. As much as GRAVE DIGGER retain a penchant for more melodic and laidback material, even the comparatively restrained likes of “The Devil’s Serenade” and “Mirror Of Hate” arrive shrouded in gloom and steeped in gothic melodrama.Kersting’s guitar tone is brilliantly gnarly and laced with hints of doom. Boltendahl continues to sing like an undead military commander hurtling towards his next massacre. From the monolithic, mournful crawl of “Rivers Of Doom”, to the wonderfully sinister and wickedly theatrical “Whispers Of The Damned”, GRAVE DIGGER are as potent today as they have ever been, while red-blooded rampages like “Kingdom Of Skulls” and “Killing Is My Pleasure” are utterly unashamed in their old-school stoicism and yet anything but dated. As has generally been the case over the last 45 years, Boltendahl and his malleable but myopic army are keeping heavy metal alive, for true believers and the denim-curious amongst us. “Bone Collector” is glorious, neck-threatening proof.[embedded content]