GRAVE DIGGER - Excalibur
June 15, 2000, 24 years ago
(Nuclear Blast)
Some classic metal artwork lures me into listening to this, which just happens to be a freakin' 58 minute concept album about Sir Lancelot, that round table, the famous sword and all that jazz. Grave Digger have been around since the early '80s and my experience with them has been minimal; the incredibly inaccessible "Rod Stewart with laryngitis" vocals were a bit too much for me, although they seem a bit friendlier this time around, or maybe I'm just feeling up for the challenge moreso than before. Musically, it's classic metal, mainly fast-tempo, double-bass drum pounding, fist in the air (or clenching a grail of blood, or pulling Thy Sword from Thy Stone, or what have you), anthemic and proud, with a nice heavy production sound to boot. Reminiscent of a less slick Blind Guardian or Priest's Painkiller during the speedier moments. And in an era of Korn klones and bad hardcore bands mimicking metal, it is always refreshing to hear this kind of stuff. The whole concept gets a bit tiresome at times, but it seems oddly sincere, the band even bringing in a "medieval/folk metal" group to play bagpipes and lesser known instruments such as the "drehleir". Hilarious ballad 'Emerald Eyes' and an equally chuckled drawing on the back with all band members in knight outfits sitting around the round table with a skeleton/king guy in the middle provide some comic relief, although I get the feeling the band is quite serious about it all. Hail.
