Almost 20 years have past since Grave Digger released their debut album Heavy Metal Breakdown. During those 20 years the band has become one of the most influential bands in the German metal scene. With Rheingold they prove that they are still one of the leading bands in the scene. This concept album is based upon German’s most legendary national tale, the Nibelungen Saga, which is originally created by Wagner and already once brought to us by the German black metal band Mystic Circle.

Rheingold sounds truly epic and is filled with shredding guitar riffs and sing-along choruses that just stick to your head. Special effects are used to create an atmosphere befitting the story, although I personally would have liked to see the effects play a bigger role.

Right now, they are few and far between and mostly just fill up the music. There’s an absolutely fantastic balance between power, speed and melody which is only accentuated by singer Chris Boltendahl’s powerful and raw vocals.

Grave Digger are not playing anything new but what they play is simply good old school heavy metal. Excellent songs like “Valhalla”, “Rheingold” and the more than seven minute long and epic “Twilight Of The Gods” show the enormous experience that drives this German quintet. If you are into bands like Hammerfall and Manowar then you must give this Grave Digger CD a spin. It’ll blow you away, believe me.