Uninspired
German stalwart power metal outfit Grave Digger return with another album, their fourteenth if I'm counting correctly, to add to their impressive back catalogue. Formed in 1980, Grave Digger, were part of the German speed metal movement of the mid eighties that included such bands as Running Wild, Helloween and Accept. Whereas Helloween went on to dabble in the MTV/headbangers ball audience as did Accept, Grave Digger didn't fare so well as far as mainstream success is concerned. After splitting in 1987 after the ill fated 'Stronger Than Ever' album they reformed in 1991 and have been chocking out their style of heavy power metal ever since. With twenty-nine years of history, fourteen albums, two live albums and a smattering of E.Ps and singles it must be difficult for a band to keep expressing themselves. There must be a danger of them falling into the trap of churning out the same old stuff and preaching to the already converted. Although I hate to say it that's the feeling I got when listening to 'Ballads Of A Hangman'.
Power metal may not be popular with the cutting edge kids or the mainstream magazines but there's a hell of a lot of it about so for a band, old or new, to create a stand out album it really has to be of an excellent quality. 'Ballads Of A Hangman' is a decent listen but after many spins I'm still having trouble picking anything memorable out of it. I don't want to throw that horrible phrase 'by the numbers' at it but there's nothing on this disc you can't get from such acts as Sabaton, Blind Guardian and Hammerfall. There's nothing particularly wrong with 'Ballads Of A Hangman' and there are some good moments to be had, but as a whole, when you reach the end of 'Pray' there's little to make you start from song one or even put it on again the following day.
Almost every album shines in certain places and for all the average material on offer in 'Ballads…' there are some noteworthy tunes. 'Sorrow Of The Dead' in particular has teeth and you wish that some of the other songs had such bite. 'Grave Of The Addicted' that follows it is an excellent fist punching heavy metal cheese ridden anthem with a groovy middle section that is reminiscent of Iron Maiden and Gamma Ray. 'Into The War' is similar in delivery to 'Sorrow Of The Dead' and is another stand out moment and contains a very convincing performance from marmite singer Chris Boltendahl.
On the flipside you can listen to the opening riff of 'The Shadow Of Your Soul' and be aghast at the utter naffness of it and ask the question 'how can a band of such experience come up with something a kid with his first guitar would chock out'? It is these moments that are far too many, 'Stormrider' being another example, the title track itself would fall into this category if I'm being picky as does the utterly banal 'Pray'.
As mentioned earlier 'Ballads Of A Hangman' is an album for the already converted. It doesn't have enough creative ammunition to win any new fans but it will keep their existing fans happy because it has all the Grave Digger hallmarks. With the plethora of power metal bands in the world it's difficult to recommend this album over any others regardless of the band's history and contribution to heavy metal over the years. If you like power metal for power metal sake and you've not started with Grave Digger then this may be worth a spin, personally I'd start with 'Rheingold'.