Review by Jophelerx on April 1, 2025.

Following the savage speed metal of 1993's The Reaper and 1994's Symphony of Death EP and the darker, brooding, more experimental 1995 album Heart of Darkness, 1996's Tunes of War saw Grave Digger go in a bold new direction, incorporating prominent power metal influence for the first (but certainly not the last!) time. The first of the "medieval trilogy" of albums, which continued with 1998's Knights of the Cross and ended with 1999's Excalibur, this album covers medieval and Baroque-era Scottish history, primarily the bloodier aspects of it, with The Battle of Flodden getting its own track. Each track tends to jump from event to event episodically, with the whole album covering a pretty wide span of time; the first main track, "Scotland United," is set in 1018, while the last, "Culloden Muir," takes place in 1746, so we've got more than a seven-century span here, which is pretty interesting for those inclined towards the album's historical aspect. I'm not particularly drawn to it personally, although I do appreciate it in that it's a fitting choice for the band's style of heavy/power/speed metal here. It's worth noting that the album came out a year after the film Braveheart, which almost certainly was the inspiration for the concept, considering there's literally a track called "William Wallace (Braveheart)." However, as with most Grave Digger albums, the songs are more focused on the emotions and moods that arise from the subject matter, rather than getting into the weeds on any individual details, so you really don't have to be fully sold on the concept to enjoy the album, whose riffs, solos, vocal lines, and overall songwriting are more than capable of speaking for themselves.

One musical aspect that is specific to the thematic setting, though hardly prominent enough to affect the overall tone of the album, is the use of bagpipes, first heard in the instrumental intro "The Brave," but doesn't appear again (except very briefly) until near the end of the album, on "Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)." This is a nice flourish considering bagpipes are basically the official instrument of Scotland and are uniquely suited to establish the album's setting based solely on their inclusion, but I don't really feel like the compositions are created to benefit from their use. (To be fair, trying to incorporate bagpipe parts into heavy/power metal songs organically sounds impossible or at least cartoonishly difficult, so that's understandable.) Ultimately, they're more of a gimmick/story inclusion akin to a spoken word section, so they're fine but not especially interesting. The tracks themselves are quite strong, though, with the band going in a more triumphant, bombastic direction than what we've heard from that before, at least on many of the tracks, which makes sense given the subject matter of medieval battles and victory in war, much more energetic and upbeat than most of the subject matter on the album's 1995 predecessor Heart of Darkness (which does not, in fact, appear to be based on the Joseph Conrad novella of the same name). Of course, there are darker tracks, like "The Bruce (The Lion King)," but on the whole, the album keeps things pretty peppy, and has more of a glorious, sword-wielding aspect akin to something like Manowar but also sharing elements with other German bands like Rage and Running Wild, who similarly had a more muscular take on power metal.

In fact, I doubt Grave Digger ever really set out to be more "power metal" with this or any subsequent album, it was just a sort of natural progression to add more symphonic elements, big choruses, heightened stakes, and themes of triumph and victory as they tackled subjects that lent themselves to these things. At their core, I think they always have been and always will be a heavy metal band, as tracks like openers "Scotland United" and "The Dark of the Sun" are still based around simple heavy metal riffs very much influenced by Judas Priest and Accept, but Chris Boltendahl's over-the-top barks and shrieks, as well as the band's characteristic big, dumb choruses with a strong focus on vocals over simple guitar chords, as well guitarists Uwe Lulis' melodic, adventurous solos make it something bigger and grander than your basic trad metal band. Additionally, the inclusion of tracks like "William Wallace (Braveheart)," which has an auspiciously atmospheric clean guitar intro to set the stage and features a chorus that's even more vocal-centric than usual, with clean vocals from Boltendahl, a full backing choir, and no guitars at all, pushes things even further from what we heard on an album like The Reaper, showing the band isn't afraid to experiment or take risks if it benefits the song, which it clearly does here. There are even some cool militaristic drums in the chorus and a brief spurt of bagpipes during the solo. This is one of the best tracks on the album and shows what the band would really embrace going forward.

"The Bruce," which is one of the longest numbers on the album, pulls things back into the darkness, with a cool opening drum roll followed by an incredibly menacing, evil, and plodding main riff that sounds like it could be on a Black Sabbath record. This is a great change of pace that shows an increasing trend from the band to embrace a variety of tones and styles within a single album, rather than primarily keeping things on a single speed or mood throughout (which is what we largely saw on the previous two albums). I do feel like "The Bruce" doesn't need to go on quite as long as it does; while its slow pace does lend it towards a slightly longer overall length, it does still get repetitive towards the end and probably could have been cut to 5-6 minutes rather than 7. Still, it's very fun, and the chorus manages to be one of the catchiest on display here - I often find myself singing "I AM THE BRUCE - THE KING - THE LION" even if it's been months since I last heard the album. With "The Battle of Flodden," things speed up again, though there's a tense urgency to the track that feels like a way of echoing the darkness of the previous track in some way while still keeping things stylistically varied, and feels like a very natural progression, though I wouldn't say it's one of the stronger tracks overall.

"The Ballad of Mary (Queen of Scots)" is, as its title would suggest, the album's ballad, and it's a good 'un, with contemplative acoustic guitar and sweeping strings providing a strong foundation for Boltendahl's plaintive, regretful clean singing. I'll admit it's a bit odd to hear such a traditionally masculine vocalist singing from the viewpoint of a wailing woman, but it's far from the last time he would do so, and if you think about how cheesy it is to hear a 30-something German man howl like a muppet about ancient Scottish battles against distorted electric guitar riffs, it kind of puts things into perspective (at least for me) and makes it feel less silly/odd. It's definitely a great song, at any rate, genuinely capturing feelings of sorrow with real tenderness and even nuance. This is followed by "The Truth," which has a cool bluesy swagger to it that hearkens across the Atlantic to Virgin Steele's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Part I, another heavy/power metal concept album from two years earlier, though I do feel like this one would benefit to a couple more riffs or leads or something, as it feels a bit empty at times and is a lot more "stripped down" than most of the songs here. Some may like that, though, and certainly has a strong vibe and a fun, memorable chorus. It does feel a bit out of place stylistically in an album about the more violent aspects of Scottish history, though the lyrical focus on the track on dark religious themes does feel somewhat apt, as I could see a line like "God is love, Hell is open!" pertaining to a dark dungeon in the midst of the Spanish Inquisition, at least. This one also doesn't seem to have a specific historical context outside of the violent religious persecution prevalent in the era.

"Cry for Freedom (James the VI)" is another more traditional heavy metal track that keeps things lower-frills though is a bit more aggressive and over-the-top than "The Truth," and this style continues with "Killing Time," though its chorus does venture more into the grandiosity we hear on earlier tracks. "Rebellion (The Clans are Marching)" is probably the best-known track on the whole album, as it's a staple of the band's live setlist and a fan favorite, with one of my personal favorite live videos in the metal being the performance of this song from Wacken 2010, with a capella metal act Van Canto doing the intro and Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursch singing onstage with Chris Boltendahl. This song is legendary, and for good reason - it's one of the band's best, with a fantastic intro that has choral vocals over simple acoustic guitar, an iconically simple yet driving main riff, one of Chris Boltendahl's greatest vocal performances ever (those high shrieks in the last chorus!), a full bagpipe solo which is quite fun in a cheesy way if nothing else, and a chorus for the ages. Admittedly nostalgia probably colors this for me as, along with "Lionheart," "Excalibur," and "Valhalla," this was one of the first Grave Digger songs I ever heard, and it (eventually) pulled me all the way into being a fan of multiple albums. Even putting personal feelings aside, though, this definitely feels like the album's centerpiece and high point, the climax before the denouement of "Culloden Muir."

"Culloden Muir" definitely has a darker tone, thematically covering the postwar destruction of the land, with the clash of the drums echoing the pummeling of the Scottish army as they're driven into a climactic defeat. It's actually quite interesting to see a more upbeat, power metal-adjacent concept album end tragically, something that doesn't often happen, though given the album's historical endpoint it would have had to rewrite history to end otherwise. Still, it's a bold choice amid an album full of bold choices, though they may sound dated and predictable almost 30 years later, when the band has produced roughly 450 albums (okay, actually 14), almost all of which follow this template, including two direct sequels and a live album of the band playing Tunes of War in its entirety. Still, it's a classic for a reason, and while it's not my number-one favorite from the band overall (Rheingold definitely wins that spot for me), it's not hard to see why it's so popular and well-regarded and kicked off what is still the band's most successful era to this day. It also heralded a golden age for a more trad-metal-focused form of power metal in Europe, with bands like Hammerfall, Iron Savior, and Wizard either coming onto the scene or gaining greater popularity in the next few years and while it's certainly unfair to say Tunes of War was solely responsible, its success certainly didn't hurt the chances of others playing in this style. Tunes of War is one of the best entries in Grave Digger's catalog and is essential listening for anyone getting into the band or the heavier, more barbaric side of European power metal.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10