Tunes of War

Those who claim that the nineties were a particularly difficult decade for the metal scene must have forgotten about innovative masterpieces like Grave Digger's Tunes of War. Obviously, there have been brilliant conceptual releases like Queensrÿche's Operation: Mindcrime before but Tunes of War offers fascinating history lessons about Scotland like no one else did before. There are several elements that make this release stand out. It already starts with the iconic cover artwork, showing an undead bagpipe player on a bloody battlefield in the Scottish Highlands. It continues with the elaborate lyrics penned by bassist Tomi Göttlich and guitarist Uwe Lulis, two teachers who researched Scotland's history from the medieval conflicts between its clans in the eleventh century to the Jacobite rebellion in the eighteenth century. The record starts with the patriotic "The Brave", performed by Scott Cochrane on bagpipes, a song which is often considered Scotland's unofficial national anthem. Grave Digger's Tunes of War is a brilliant example how to mix gripping heavy metal with complex historical concepts.

Obviously, what matters in the end remains the music and even from that point of view, German heavy metal quartet Grave Digger offers one of the best records of its career that started the iconic so-called Middle Ages trilogy and that would be revisited fifteen years later with the great The Clans Will Rise Again. The record includes unchained heavy metal tracks like the powerful "Scotland United" but also atmospheric ballads with cinematic keyboard sounds and soft clean vocals in form of the beautiful "The Ballad of Mary (Queen of Scots)" and the unforgettable band anthem "Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)" that sounds angry, fast and heavy but also includes a fitting extended bagpipe solo. Grave Digger played folk metal a decade before it actually became popular. It's hard to believe that a band that repeats itself quite a lot these days was so innovative once. Pretty much everything Grave Differ released between Symphony of Death two years prior to this release to Liberty or Death eleven years later shows a band willing to push boundaries while remaining rooted in traditional heavy metal. You won't find one single filler on this record that offers fifty-three minutes of emotional yet intellectual heavy metal.

Even more than two decades after its Initial release, Grave Digger's Tunes of War is a timeless heavy metal record with a unique atmosphere inspired by Scottish culture, history and music. It's one of the most exciting releases of the decade and has stood the test of time. Anyone who likes heavy metal and history should purchase this masterpiece.

This is what many consider to be Grave Digger's finest hour. The band certainly held it in high enough regard to name 2010's The Clans Will Rise Again a quasi-sequel to it's Celtic grandeur. I can't totally commit myself to that mindset, however. Just like Excalibur after it, Tunes of War features such relentless coherency to it's concept that it begins to damage the lasting power of the material. While Heart of Darkness before it was all over the place lyrically, Boltendahl makes his first focused attempt here at espousing a tale epic in both scope and delivery.

I suppose I will hit the positives first. Lulis' guitar tone here is fucking offensive, and not in a bad way. It takes the buzzsaw tone present on Heart of Darkness and elevates it to the next vehement level. It very nearly rivals Rheingold at times in riff supremacy, but falls just short since most of it's crushing persona can be attributed to it's prominent position in the mix. Listen to the beginning of "The Truth" or "Scotland United", when Lulis phases in you know you are in for an aural beating. The pinch harmonics are also piercing and supple, which is always more than welcome. Tunes of War also goes easy on the listener regarding ballads, which Grave Digger have the proclivity to overuse at times. Most of the slower cuts here are in the vein of "The Curse of Jacques" from Knights of the Cross, which is pretty welcome to my ears.

This is the first Grave Digger album to feature Katzenburg's keyboards, and his usual subdued performance is the order of the atmospheric day. The bagpipes on this album are delivered by the actual instrument as opposed to keyboard emulation, but the esoteric pads Katzenburg uses to open "The Ballad of Mary (Queen of Scots)" is effective enough. Katzenburg isn't as prominent here as he was on Knights of the Cross, so those turned off by Grave Digger's excursions into more traditional power metal territory will probably find more to chew on here. This is mostly straight up riff-centric heavy metal in the vein of Heart of Darkness; not a whole lot of tertiary distractions here other than Boltendahl's pompous concept.

Where Tunes of War undoubtedly falls short is in memorability. On first blush this might seem like one of Grave Digger's best and most aggressive albums, but the faceless nature of the compositions begins to surface upon multiple listens. Other than the more plodding "The Bruce (The Lion King)" and the aforementioned ballad, most of these tracks are ultimately interchangeable without too much loss. I fully understand Grave Digger's consistent-to-a-fault songwriting approach has grown to be one of their hallmarks, but it damages some of the appeal here all the same.

Some of the band's best work is on here though, mostly manifesting itself as scorchers like "Scotland United" and "The Truth". "Culloden Muir" also passes muster by virtue of Lulis crunchy delivery, so check that one out as well. The rest is ultimately hit or miss. Sonically this sounds like Heart of Darkness' more ill-tempered twin, so fans of that album will probably dig this one too. Regardless, in the grand scope of Grave Digger's expansive career, it's just another notch in their belt.

What cannot be emphasized enough is perhaps the impact this album had on me the moment i heard those 2 minutes of bagpipes coupled with Uwe's guitar!

Germany's very own speed metal power-house, Grave Digger come roaring in with the first part in their legendary Middle Ages Trilogy with the epic 'Tunes Of War'! The proper heirs to the majesty of Accept, the band's crunchy guitar set aside the musical landmark that is Chris Boltendahl's vocal performance has placed Grave Digger constantly one step ahead in the metal industry.

Being obviously a concept album, 'Tunes Of War' does not emphasize on a certain character or certain string of relatively close events, but instead features almost 700 years of Scottish history. The tracks tell the story of the battles of Carham, Largs, Flodden Field and Culloden in chronological order, and while this presents little relevance musically, the characters portrayed do. The legendary William Wallace, is preceded in song by a short harmonic guitar intro, after which his constant fear of not living up to his followers' expectations is brought in through the use of a strong choral performance.

As its title suggests 'The Ballad Of Mary (Queen Of Scots)', is a balladic retrospective on Scotland's most beloved female figure, Queen Mary I. The vocals are executed quite out-of-style for Grave Digger outside the rough voice spectrum we are all used to, in an almost entirely acoustic piece. The most honorable mention here, and a taste of what was to come, is keyboardist HP Katzenburg's interference, creating a symphonic piece worthy of no other.

The Jacobite Rebellion quickly comes into play with perhaps the most well-known track off of this album 'Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)'. After a short acoustic intro, and an inspiring chant, the song comes into full gear and features what is in my opinion, Grave Digger's most neck-break-speed guitar-work so far! While bagpipes in rock'n'roll are not something previously unheard of, i mean who can forget AC/DC's 'It's A Long Way To The Top', it immediately becomes obvious this album would not be complete without the use of the traditional Scottish instrument.

The battle of Culloden is 'the end of Scotland' and as such, 'Culloden Muir' is sung from the perspective of a doomed warrior, with desperation absolutely obvious in the vocals at one point.

Definitely a piece to which i, for one, cannot find a flaw,'Tunes Of War' is Grave Digger's strongest work yet, which proves that a band that reunites after a relatively long hiatus is not doomed to obscure releases that only die-hards would buy and that reaching out to new generations is quite possible.

This album can be described in short as a speedy Heavy/Power Metal album. Grave Digger follow the tradition of the German Metal bands drawing inspiration from Accept, with a sound based on Speed Metal riffs. Their sound is more complex than that however. They have a quite “old” sound; you can hear that they are inspired by the whole school building on Judas Priest. They do, however, have a bit more Power Metal oriented sound, much alike that of Running Wild.

This album’s lyrics focus on Scotland’s history, especially during the Middle Ages. They fit in pretty well and they are, just like the whole songs, built up after a certain scheme: the verses are often pretty Speed Metal based, with rough vocals together with thrashy riffs and there the vocals are not so tightly bound to the melody. The choruses, on the other hand, are of a much more epic kind. Often the music is over-shadowed by the powerful vocals in the choruses and the tempo goes down for a more epic mood. The contrast between the verses and the choruses is one of the strengths of this album, and of Grave Digger’s music as a whole.

Boltendahl’s rough vocals are not as impressive as his clean ones, and altogether the Speed Metal of the verses is one of the weaker parts of the concept of Grave Digger. Sometimes the riffs are a bit monotonous, not in a single song, but if the whole album is reviewed as a unit some repetitiveness can be felt. The epic choruses are generally of a higher quality, both because they work as variation, and because they are much more melodic. They rely on the principle “if you can sing along with it, it is good”, which I personally see as a rather sound theory. Sometimes the lyrics in the choruses are a bit simple, but that I can live with. The guitar-work is skilled and the solos and instrumental parts give extra dynamic power to the album.

The best tracks on here is the intro “The Brave”, which is a metal version of the Scottish national hymn, “Killing Time”, a speedy and powerful song with a strong chorus, and “Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)”. The last one is by far the best track on the album, most varied, and has the most epic chorus of them all.

This release represents the best-known and first album of the Middle Ages trilogy with a magnificent production. This concept piece on the Scottish history awaits with mighty raw guitars, great sing along choruses, massive sound and nice cover artwork. The additional notes on Scottish history for each song add to the comprehension and self-contained character of the album. The music is a great mix of power and speed metal underlain by decent but not to prominent keyboards plus some interesting bagpipe parts. The songwriting is appropriate to the subject, and after getting used to Boltendahls vox there is no real weak point on this CD.
“The Brave” as bagpipe/guitar intro leading directly to the crushing riff of the fast “Scotland united”. “Dark of the sun” is a very powerful mid tempo stomper with a strange double solo guitar part. Next comes “William Wallace”, one of my all time favorites. After the haunting intro an incredible speed attack hits your stomach, contrasting with the silent chorus parts. The second refrain is followed by an intermezzo of fighting sounds leading up to an epic guitar solo. “The Bruce” contrasts as a very slow and doomy song, continuously building up towards the end. This one really knocks you down like a ton of bricks; it’s true heavy power metal. “The battle of Flodden” returns with faster pace, speeding up ´til the abrupt finish. The “Ballad of Mary” somewhat relaxes things, before midtempo “The truth” and the fast “Cry for freedom” hit the speakers. These more standard like titles are followed by two highlights. “Killing time” with rip off intro riff work presents the best chorus after “Rebellion”, which is next. This definitely is a killer track, the rawness of the rhythm section, the epic guitar plus bagpipe solo and the mighty chorus …The fast ”Culloden Muir” features a drum solo and the short keyboard track “The fall of the Brave” closes the album as kind of a minute’s silence.

Recently, Grave Digger have forged their way into my top 5 metal bands of all time. With masterpieces like Heart of Darkness, Excalibur and the recently released Rheingold in their catalogue, they should appeal to just about any fan of heavy, power or speed metal.
Tunes of War is one of their most popular albums, and is a classic release. It serves as the huge opening to their Middle Ages Trilogy series, and is my second favourite of the three.
Lyrically, this album focuses on the Scottish clans, a theme that has (to my knowledge) never really been touched upon in music before, so it was a well chosen subject.
Musically, this is a fat slab of speed metal with a whole lot of power and traditional metal. Insane speed metal riffs are featured on most songs, accompanied by big singalong choruses and double bass drums, and of course Chris Boltendahl's gruff vocals. As I've said before about this singer: You either love him or hate him. I do the former.

An interesting thing about this album is the fact that it features bagpipes.
The best use of them is probably during the intro, The Brave, which is one of the greatest intros of all time. Definitely up there with The Hellion and the likes.

Most of the songs found on here are plain asskickers, but there are a few downers to be found. The Truth is a midpaced song, which is too groovy for it's own good. It seems out of place, and is generally pretty boring.
The Ballad of Mary (Queen of Scotland) is also pretty average. It begins very nicely, and features the album's only appearance of Chris' clean vocals and some mesmerizing work on the keyboards, but it just never gets anywhere. But aside from these two songs, this album will kick you in the nuts over and over.

Song highlights... The opener Scotland United is a classic. Catchy and fast main riff, big singalong chorus, a blistering solo. What more can you ask? The Dark of the Sun follows the same concept, and does it really fucking well.
Killing Time has that amazing melodic-but-heavy chorus, closing track Culloden Muir is a heavy slab of speed metal yet also captures the sadness of defeat that the Scots go through in the lyrics, and The Bruce is a midpaced crusher.
But three songs stand out among the rest. First, we have William Wallace (Braveheart), which is probably the very best song on here.
The riffwork is fucking nuts, and the melodic post-chorus part is just beautiful. (Oh yeah, you get some of Chris' clean vocals here too...), and the verses are among the most powerful and intense shit they ever wrote.
"VENGEANCE BURNS A RAGING ANGER, I HAVE LOST THE FEAR TO DIE!
BRAVEHEART THAT'S WHAT I AM, I KILL UNTIL MY BLOOD RUNS DRY!"
Holy fucking shit, that stuff is amazing.

Next up is The Battle of Flodden. Let me tell you, that main riff is a fucking monster! It's not as fast as William Wallace, but it's no less amazing. The atmosphere on this song is much darker, and quite sad. But this is no ballad, this is fucking intense.
Did I say that the William Wallace verses were powerful? Oh hell yes, they are. But the pre-chorus part of this is THE most powerful part in Grave Digger's history. If you're not dead, this will give you goose bumps all over.

The third and final major fucking highlight is Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching). While not being quite as absolutely-fucking-amazing as the other two I mentioned, this is nonetheless awesome, and also arguably the most well-known Grave Digger.
Huge fucking singalong chorus, the best on the album, killer riffwork and a really fucking cool bagpipe part in the middle.


All in all, with two exceptions this album owns from beginning to end. The intense speed metal combined with power and heavy metal influences along with the epic atmosphere creates a journey unlike any other. While the stuff Grave Digger writes isn't too original, they perfect the sound so many other bands tries to achieve.
Final conclusion: Buy this album.