Grave Digger is a legendary German heavy metal band formed by Chris Boltendahl, Peter Masson, Willi Lackmann and Albert Eckardt in 1980 in Gladbeck, a small town in Germany.

Grave Digger's famed debute album "Heavy Metal Breakdown" in 1984 already produced some undying classics, such as the true Grave Digger anthem "Heavy Metal Breakdown" and the powerful ballad "Yesterday". After their second studio album "Witch Hunter" was completed, Eckardt left the band and was replaced by C.F. Brank. After the third studio album "War Games" released in 1986, the guitarist Peter Masson departed from the band, his place to be taken by Uwe Lulis. In addition, the band changed their name from Grave Digger to Digger and their style changed from heavy metal to hard rock according to such bands as Scorpions, Bon Jovi and Van Halen. This concept was a drastical flop, hence why the frontman Chris Boltendahl announced the end of their career as a band after Digger's album "Stronger Than Ever". However, the band returned in 1993 with the comeback album "The Reaper". Grave Digger now consisted of Chris Boltendahl, Uwe Lulis and two new members, Tomi Göttlich and Jörg Michael. "The Reaper" was a "back to the roots" album with the band's name being Grave Digger again and the style being heavy metal. On the top of that, a compilation entitled "The Best of the Eighties" was released along with "The Reaper" to represent the earlier songs of Grave Digger.

The EP "Symphony of Death" been released in 1994, Jörg Michael left the band and was replaced by the new drummer Frank Ullrich for the upcoming tour. He also played the drums on Grave Digger's album "Heart of Darkness" (released in 1995). Ullrich didn't stay with the band for long though, as the year 1996 saw the coming of their new drummer Stefan Arnold, who is the current drummer as well. The year 1996 saw also the beginning of Grave Digger's famous "The Middle Ages Trilogy", which consists of three concept albums: Tunes of War, Knights of the Cross and Excalibur. While "Tunes of War" is the first part of the trilogy dealing with Scotland's long fight for independency, the second part "Knights of the Cross" (1998) tells the historical tale of the crusades and the order of the Templar Knights. It also introduced Jens Becker as the new bassist. The trilogy was completed in 1999 with the final part, "Excalibur", which is about the myth of King Arthur. The world tour supporting this trilogy introduced a keyboardist for Grave Digger for the first time, his name was Hans-Peter Kratzenburg who thus became a permanent member of the band.

In the year 2000 Grave Digger celebrated their 20th anniversary with a concert consisting of various old and new Grave Digger songs. This concert also ended one chapter as Uwe Lulis parted ways with the band. A new guitarist, Manni Schmidt, was found. The guitarist and record label having been changed, Grave Digger released a self-titled album called "The Grave Digger" in the year 2001. Many consider this album to be the darkest and heaviest Grave Digger record so far. Its songs were inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Next year brought the first live release of Grave Digger. "Tunes of Wacken" was released both in cd and dvd format.

The next studio concept album appeared in 2003. "Rheingold" dealt with the opera "Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Richard Wagner. After the world tour that followed the release of "Rheingold", a new studio album "The Last Supper" occurred. "The Last Supper" isn't wholly a concept album, but many songs deal with the last days of Jesus. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Grave Digger, the band released a live dvd & cd recording "25 to Live" of a concert in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In the next year an EP entitled "Yesterday" was released. It consists of a remake and an orchestra version of the Grave Digger classic "Yesterday" (originally released on their debut album), a cover of Led Zeppelin's song "No Quarter" and a new original composition "The Reapers Dance".

In the year 2007 Grave Digger released the studio album "Liberty or Death". On October 8th 2007, the band revealed Thilo Hermann (ex-guitarist of Faithful Breath, Risk and Running Wild) as their second guitarist. This marks the first time for Grave Digger as a six-member band and with two guitarists. Grave Digger also signed a record deal with a new label called Napalm Records, and with this enforced line-up Grave Digger has brought up already two recordings: "Pray" EP was released on 28th of November 2008, and the latest studio album entitled "Ballads of a Hangman" was released on 9th of January 2009. The "Pray" EP contains four songs, one being an extended version of the song "Pray" which can also be found on Ballads of a Hangman, while the other songs of the EP are a cover version of Motörhead's classic tune "Overkill" and two new original compositions.

A number of compilations has also been released, such as "Lost Tunes from the Vault" and "Masterpieces".

DISCOGRAPHY:

Heavy Metal Breakdown (1984)
Shoot Her Down (Single) (1984)
Witch Hunter (1985)
War Games (1986)
Stronger Than Ever (1987) (Under name "Digger")
The Reaper (1993)
The Best of the Eighties (1993)
Symphony of Death (EP) (1994)
Heart of Darkness (1995)
Tunes of War (1996)
The Dark of the Sun (EP) (1997)
Knights of the Cross (1998)
Excalibur (1999)
The Grave Digger (2001)
Tunes of Wacken - Live (2002)
Masterpieces (2002)
Rheingold (2003)
Lost Tunes from the Vault (2003)
The Last Supper (2005)
25 to Live (2005)
Yesterday (EP) (2006)
Liberty or Death (2007)
Pray (EP) (2008)
Ballads of a Hangman (2009)

For more information, go to: http://www.grave-digger.de/