Review Summary: Templar Diggers: Band makes history using history.
Occasionally there have been discussions about which countries have contributed most to rock and metal with incredible bands besides the United States and England. Canada, Sweden, Finland or Australia seem to be the most common answers in this type of debates. Germany can also be an excellent and adequate option for these discussions. No one can deny that Germany has been the native country for many important metal bands and musicians who have made a lot of noteworthy contributions, and I'm not just referring to the most obvious or popular choices like Scorpions, Accept or the Big Teutonic Four. During the mid and late 80s, the first wave of power metal groups began to emerge in Germany with big and iconic names such as Helloween, Blind Guardian, Rage, Running Wild or the band that concern us today: Grave Digger.
Knights of the Cross is the second chapter of Grave Digger’s Middle Ages Trilogy, and it essentially continues the same epic and heroic heavy/power metal formula of the previous two albums (
Heart of Darkness and
Tunes of War). Ever since 1993 Grave Digger has always been, in a manner of speaking, a ''style-compact'' band. However, they’ve almost always had success exploiting their heavy trademark sound with well-composed songs, interesting concepts, fast riffing, catchiness and albums strong enough to make us, for a few moments at least, forget about the cheesy sounds or cliché moments that many people tend to associate negatively when talking about power metal. Grave Digger's seventh opus is also the first studio album to feature bassist Jens Becker and keyboardist Hans Peter Katzenburg. Along with drummer Stefan Arnold and, obviously, vocalist Chris Boltendahl, they’ve been the most constant musicians in almost all of the band’s incarnations.
This time the German diggers immerse us in the era of the Knights Templar and the Crusades, undoubtedly one of the darker parts of the church’s history, and they really know how to evoke images of these historical events without boring the listener or sounding too pretentious. An interesting thing about
Knights of the Cross is how the band actually manages to create medieval soundscapes and authentic heavy anthems with very few ingredients. Boltendahl’s vocals, Uwe Lulis’ thundering guitars, the solid and fantastic rhythm section Becker/Arnold and Katzenburg’s grand palette of keyboards and sound effects are the only instruments we’ll be listening throughout this amazing adventure. However, don’t expect this quintet to throw you big amounts of virtuosity a la Dream Theater. Up-tempo, heavy compositions intercalating with melodic and atmospheric mid paced tracks is what we’re going to find here. Songs with strong influences of 80s heavy metal/speed metal and simple time signatures and structures, but with an incredible effectiveness that ensures that this album will transport you to the mythical Middle Ages and know the history of the Templars without sounding neither too pompous and overblown nor very cheap and ridiculous.
As usual on every Grave Digger album you’ll find their trademark catchy and wild choruses, sometimes long, epic and well-crafted (''The Keeper of the Holy Grail,'' ''Heroes of This Time''), sometimes a bit simple and funny (''Fanatic Assassins''), yet their hooks always have the power to grab you from the first listen. Chris’ strong and powerful vocal performances are one of the album's fortes, as they perfectly portray the themes of the songs in a totally memorable and entertaining way, whether it be the attitude and beliefs of the Knights Templar (''Knights of the Cross''), the radical Islam fanaticism (''Fanatic Assassins''), the persecution and suppression of heretic people (''Inquisition'') or even about the literal blood of Jesus and its supposed healing properties (''The Keeper of the Holy Grail''). Songs like the title track or ''Over the Sea'' are great examples of the simple, unabashed effectiveness of the band when it comes to creating medieval atmospheres through four-minute straightforward heavy rockers.
Like every power metal group, Grave Digger doesn’t forget to bring up fantastic and tasty melodies to the table, and sometimes the band is accompanied by a choir during the vocal hooks. However, the band doesn’t abuse so much of these resources, and when put into use, these elements don’t sound out of place nor end up removing the power and force of the songs in the case of strong rockers like ''Inquisition'' and the rocking elegy ''Lionheart.'' There are also more keyboards here compared to the previous works of the band, courtesy of H.P. Katzenburg, but fortunately the keys mostly help things out, especially in the mid paced epic-sounding tracks, and don’t drown the guitars sound with corny and indigestible solos. Rather than being a collection of melodic rock/power metal flirtations, there's enough space on
Knights of the Cross for crunchy and loud guitars, and the concept is excellently backed up with loud, Judas Priest a-like riff like the ones you can hear on the wild and relentless ''Monks of War'' or the upbeat, eighties-influenced ''Baphomet.''
The atmospheric, epic-oriented numbers, as cheesy or funny as it’ll sound for some, are unbeatable as well. Both ''Heroes of This Time'' and ''The Curse of Jacques'' feature Boltendahl alternating between his clean and gruff vocals, and are great examples of acoustic sections mixed with distorted riffs and chords during the choruses, while the ominous ''The Keeper of the Holy Grail'' is possibly the track where H.P. Katzenburg takes more prominence, with a nice and slow organ instrumental break in the middle, which offers a great contrast of the long and dark chorus. Last but not least there’s the huge six-minute composition, ''The Battle of Bannockburn,'' which stands out as an epic closing track thanks to its dark and unexpected bagpipe introduction, which brings us back to the concept and raw sound of 1996's
Tunes of War before kicking into a series of big and menacing riffs, while its epic and victorious chorus makes this song work in a way like ''Only the Good Die Young'' did on Iron Maiden's
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Excellent metal concept albums need epic and triumphant closers, and this is not the exception of this rule.
Knights of the Cross is a successful and adequate album in all of its proposals, and it really fulfills all its goals and objectives throughout its fifty-two minutes. I wouldn’t call this a 100% funny and carefree record since it’s a concept piece, but overall
Knights of the Cross doesn’t sound overly serious, overblown or melodramatic compared to other power metal albums and current conceptual releases. Definitely one of Grave Digger's finest hours, this is an album that will appeal to both the power metal listener and someone who wants to know more about German Power Metal.
