Review by Felix on May 25, 2025.

Grave Digger's discography has been proliferating for four decades and is spreading like a hyperactive cancer. Since their commercial sin under the amputated name Digger, they release the same album again and again. Different line-ups, different times, new evolutions in music – nothing can cause a change in mastermind Boltendahl's mindset. So it is almost a challenge to write a review for an album whose content everybody knows without having heard it a single time. But in order to crush the final doubts: Boltendahl's voice is as monotonous yet pretty powerful as ever, the guitars can rely on a full and vigorous production, the drums don't shy away from double bass parts and meander between up- and mid-tempo and the bass can be happy that it is allowed to introduce "Kingdom Of Skulls". The lyrics are useless as always ("Bone collector, he is a grave dictator" – eh what?), they are short and do not really have a function, but they do no harm as well.

Nevertheless, I must say that Bone Collector has constantly grown on me since I gave the digital promo the first chance to convince me. To my surprise, the band is still able to spend its songs a quite fresh scent. Three tracks are even among the best ones the band has ever written and, this makes it comfortable for lazy listeners like me, they come one right after the other. "The Rich, The Poor, The Dying" knows how to press the pedal to the metal. I enjoy a compact, catchy, smooth and direct speed metal stunner, compatible with "Satan's Host" from Return Of The Reaper. Its amazing energy level and the rebellious lyrics go hand in hand and all parts, verses, bridge, chorus, are absolutely perfect. This track alone justifies the purchase of Bone Collector, but Grave Digger provide even more arguments. The aforementioned "Kingdom Of Skulls" boasts with more than just its opening bass line. Equipped with a lively double bass, relatively eerie verses, a numinous bridge (the best part of the song) and a flawlessly fitting solo, the song appears as the next kick in the ass. However, the best is yet to come. Don't ask me why, but "The Devil's Serenade" is so damn perfect. More melodic than the other songs, but always carried by a basic heaviness, this track redefines the meaning of "perfect flow". Its well hung main riff and the minimalist, yet atmosphere-creating lyrics ("in the heart of the city, where the neon lights gleam…") form a song I have heard approximately 50 times in the meantime (just like the other two highlights, by the way). Okay, the weird anti Boris Johnson / Donald Trump video of the song raises questions, but the song itself is greater then the Metal God himself, no matter whether you call him Lemmy, Rob or Iommi.

Of course, Grave Digger cannot deliver this level of perfection over the entire distance of nearly 47 minutes. On the other hand, the slack, shallow or simply boring sequences that can make an album implode do not show up. Yes, the beginning of "Killing Is My Pleasure" is the moment when the magic of the triple strike ends abruptly (and its chorus does not hit the bull's eye), but the bulky, expressive riffing, its menacing verses and the sinister bridge of "Mirror Of Hate" or the mega-heavy guitar approach of "Riders Of Doom" deliver a lot of good stuff as well. Even a light-footed, anything else but spectacular track like "Forever Evil & Buried Alive" makes sense and the semi-ballad at the end is no masterpiece, but light years better than their early embarrassments like "Love Is A Game". I immediately have a kind of nervous breakdown just writing the name of this song. Thus I prefer to come back to Bone Collector, whose material can bask in the glow of an outstanding production. It emphasises the unfussy metal feeling which is like balm for the soul.

Last but not least the opening title track with its staccato-affine start and chorus has to be praised for its speedy, dynamic and pretty wild configuration. So I am really surprised about the quality of a full-length which never sounds worn out or lame. Maybe, surely, certainly here is nothing new, nothing progressive and nothing inovativ (Grave Digger are so far away from inovation that it is forbidden to write this word correctly in a review for one of their works), but it is essential in the literal sense of the word and full of authentic metallic cordiality. Therefore I cannot say a bad word about Bone Collector. Even the AI cover does not bother me. I'm rather glad that Boltendahl is interested, because otherwise people here are more into natural stupidity. The result is the policy they are pursuing in Berlin, but fortunately that's another story. Coming back to Bone Collector, time will tell whether it is the best album of the band ever, but at least it leaves a truly great impression. The same applies for their concert in Aschaffenburg / Bavaria in January, even though they did not play "The Rich, The Poor, The Dying". But this is the only ambivalent thing I can say about this song.

Rating: 8.4 out of 10