So, Grave Digger figured it would be ideal to change up their musical style, name, and lyrics to something more commercially acceptable, but I don't know how a robotic Donald Duck is seen as commercially acceptable. Dropping the "Grave" from their name they simply sit as "Digger". Sounds pretty ridiculous.
But the ridiculousness doesn't stop there. The album is packed to the brim with the typical instrumentation of the late 80's. Synths, keyboards, reverb, just as what you'd expect from something of this era. The guitar playing is not as aggressive as their previous albums but with such a wide array of instruments and sounds it's all put together quite nicely, in a satisfying matter that really makes you feel a bit nostalgic of this time. The drums are airy, the whammy bar pinch harmonics are very abundant, and the vocals by Chris Boltendahl are no different than his previous works, except for touches of more melodic singing. Despite the pros, the quality and compositions themselves sound cheap, like something you'd hear on the radio in a dollar store. At points you can hear their previous speed metal roots break through, but are quickly silenced by whatever electro-sound they have coming next.
The songs are not bad at all, only a few are bad which I will get to later. Just because the songs are good, does not mean they are memorable however. They really do seem like typical 80's mainstream music, so it's easy to see how this record never got any radio play or recognition. The lyrics themselves are not deep or philosophical, mainly revolving around love and perseverance. It's just lots of cheesy lines, for example: "Now I'm strong as a lion and I can run like the wind." That line was taken from the title track. You see what I mean, right?
The songs are pleasant to listen to, but some are not that enjoyable, such as "Moonriders" and it's awful off-key sounding guitar plucking during the verses. It does not fit at all and makes the song rather obnoxious, despite having a wonderful chorus. "Lay It On" is another lame song, with verses and chorus that sound almost identical to each other with bland open note downpicking throughout the entire song.
Now after all this, you're probably wondering if there's a track about cyborg Donald Duck. Nope. While on the topic of that, I really do wonder a lot why that cover was chosen and who made it. Anyways, this album does have some great songs but they just are not memorable. I do enjoy listening to this record every now and again, but the dated sound makes it a low brow album. Grave Digger has much more potential as seen in their previous and future works. This was indeed a dark time for the band, and don't even make me get into the whole "Hawaii" band that Chris Boltendahl tried to start. Sorry Donald, but you weren't strong enough to push this album into the charts.
Top 3 Songs: Stronger Than Ever, Wanna Get Close, I Don't Need Your Love
An artwork that displays a Donald Duck robot? Respect for this highly original package. Too bad that Micky Mouse is missing. The back cover is an impertinence, too. Boltendahl's make-up artist has done a really tough job. The lead vocalist looks like he wants to get hired by Europe, Ratt or Poison (of course, I am not speaking of the eponymous German black metal cult band) and his band mates should go to bed. They seem to be extremely tired. Let's be glad that they can keep their eyes open. With that said, we take a trip back in time.
Boltendahl gave an interview for the Metal Hammer magazine which was printed in their issue of December 1986. He was honest: "I rejected the word 'Grave', because we needed a more mass compatible name in view of our new, more commercial style." Strangely enough, a song of Bulldozing Bastard suddenly comes to my mind: "Go F**k Yourself". Anyway, don't ask me why, but I bought the album, probably in an act of misunderstood loyalty. (It's nothing new that Germans have sometimes a dangerous penchant for loyalty.) To demonstrate the dimension of the fiasco: the review section of the abovementioned Metal Hammer issue held reviews of "Beyond the Gates", "Under the Spell", "Game Over" and "Possessed by Fire". The album of the month was a vinyl called "Reign in Blood", maybe you have already heard about this work randomly. However, please don't make the fatal mistake to compare Digger's bloodless performance with one of these jewels, neither in terms of style, nor in terms of quality.
"Stronger than Ever" is the embarrassing attempt to get some radio airplay, no more, no less. The incredibly kitschy title track with its soft and almost unbearable chorus line leaves no doubt about the intention of the amputated (Grave) Digger. And, by the way, this track with its cheap bargain-melody sucks completely. The majority of the pieces shows a more powerful approach, but they are not immune against ridiculous sequences and the intrusive keyboards pour sugar over each and every track. Even a more or less good song like "Moonriders" with its very catchy yet spirited chorus constitutes a riddle. "It's a long way to hell / Moonriders" is the quintessence of its lyrics, but nobody knows why moonriders want to get to hell. Are moonriders hidden hellriders? I am confused. Generally speaking, the lyrics of ultra-lascivious songs such as "Wanna Get Close" want to bath in champagne. But due to an exceptional set of unfortunate circumstances, they are at risk to drown in the sea of banality. Just two examples: "Come on over baby, just look what I've got for you" or "Come on, come on, come on baby, come on, come on, don't be shy". To avoid misunderstandings, these excerpts are taken from different songs. The lamentable baby is omnipresent and the greasy lyrics of the album have to struggle in order to achieve the lowest tier of poetry.
Due to hardly explainable reasons, approximately half of the compositions is not so bad. "Stand Up and Rock" is a stomping tune at the interface between hard rock and heavy metal. It offers a really strong bridge and a vigorous chorus, only a short funky bass intermezzo irritates the listener. "Don't Leave Me Lonely" is slightly dramatic and provides a relatively dynamic chorus. Yet the album spreads the cheap aroma of a fake product. It smells like the Chinese plagiarism of a western perfume. (Hopefully, the communist party of China does not read this review. Dear political descendants of Mao Zedong, I didn't want to offend your glorious and highly innovative industry and I beg for forgiveness in view of the fact that the here presented counterfeit originates from my home country. Shame on me.) The disorientation of the band is echoed in the configuration of the closers of both sides. They are significantly harsher than the rest and seem to have the function of a metallic alibi for the upcoming darlings of the masses called Digger. Honestly, I guess that Boltendahl and his management thought that we (the metalheads) are absolutely blunt... By the way, both songs lack of substance and surprising ideas.
Production-wise it comes as no surprise that the sound avoids any form of coarseness. The mix is okay - and now come the crucial words - for this kind of music. Boltendahl sings as harmonious as possible, the guitars show no signs of aggression and everything is just there without developing even a modicum of individuality. Very simple keyboard lines add insult to injury. The saccharine "Listen to the Music" can tell you what I mean in this respect, but my advise is: don't listen to this music. Boltendahl said in the interview with the Metal Hammer that they were looking for a full-time keyboard player. Bad idea, wrong approach. It's obvious, "Stronger than Ever" was a commercial, musical and visual flop. Consequently, the band got lost in the mist of unclear business structures. Success is a kind of ritzy prostitute, it does not make love with every Tom, Dick and Harry. I know it, because I am an expert in all questions of failure. If you don't believe me, read my memoirs (to be released in 2038 or never).
No, this isn't really Grave Digger, nor is it really all that offensive either. In fact, listening to this has motivated me to make an earnest attempt at hunting down Hawaii's Bottles and Four Coconuts, which should essentially be a cross-section between this and early Grave Digger releases like The Reaper.
Stronger Than Ever at the very least accomplishes most of what it sets out to do. It is very catchy keyboard heavy rock with occasional ventures into more spirited riffing passages. Lulis doesn't live up to his potential here, if only because the guitar tone is so overdriven and sloppy. The main reason this failed as a commercial product is undoubtedly Boltendahl's vocals. He still delivers the gruff barking we have grown used to with him, only his accent is way too thick to effectively drive home vocal-driven ballads. You can barely understand what he is saying half of the time. The keyboards contribute an appealing, archaic '80s appeal to a lot of these tracks. In fact, the riffs and leads can barely hold the entire thing together without them. Some keyboard sections like during "Listen to the Music" wouldn't sound out of place on the intro of '80s sitcoms like Full House; so corny.
The high proclivity of ballads keeps the atmosphere ripe, but some of the attempts at heavier bangers lose the plot rather quickly. "Moonriders" opens in a thrashy vein but quickly devolves into atonal note bends that are all but earbleed inducing. I honestly had difficulty getting through some of these weaker cuts enough times to generate a fair appraisal of them. The choruses aren't as catchy as one would think, disappointing more often than they enthrall. "Stand Up and Rock" builds itself up to be a real fist-pounder, but the chorus wobbles about like a wet noodle. Lulis' solos are always decent, which contributes at least a single high point to every track, no matter how meandering they are otherwise. I don't know what is going on with "Shadows of the Past", the production sounds notably different, and it is in a much thrashier and compact vein than anything else here. Perhaps a leftover track from War Games or an earlier demo? It's location at the end of the procession certainly points to such.
As I stated above, the guitars sound unnaturally overdriven, this obfuscates some of the quicker riffing passages and devolves the whole ordeal into inaudible distorted slush. Brank's bass is entirely buried, I believe he is audible for exactly one single three-second passage on "Stand Up and Rock". As per Stronger Than Ever's commercial sensibilities, the vocals are reverb-heavy and upfront. Boltendahl delivers the cleaner tones quite well, making it a shame that his accent guts a lot of the desired appeal of his performance. The ballads are almost universally passable, but most of the quicker chorus-driven numbers like "Wanna Get Close" are admittedly pretty lame.
Stronger Than Ever's material certainly fails to live up to the horrific nature of the cover art, which can make it something of a disappointment for those expecting a laugh-fest out of it. Boltendahl and co. are pretty solid song-smiths, so much so that even when they try to cash it in and sell out big time, they can't help but do so with a modicum of class and musical credibility. Not even close to amazing, but harmless all the same.
After three heavy metal releases, the German legend "Grave Digger" decided to cut off the first word of their name and recorded a record with a more commercial attempt to gain success in North America and make more money. While the band wrote the music for the album, their record label hired two American songwriters for the lyrics to help the band improve intellectually. In the end, the concept didn't work and the band failed to hit the charts. The fans saw the record as treason and so the band had pretty much lost everything. Internal problems were the third cause that finally led the band to split up and they only reunited six years later under their initial name to play heavy metal music without any compromises. Until today the band and the fans feel ashamed for "Stronger Than Ever" which is the only record that was never officially re-released and that is eventually quite hard to find. The band members cited the recording of this album as their biggest mistake but that they had learned a lot from that time.
An objective view on this infamous record reveals that the album isn't all that commercial, artificial and soft as many people might believe. In fact, there are many fast paced tracks on the record that could have fit on the previous War Games record like the sweating head banger "Lay it on" or the unexpected thrash metal hammer "Shadows of the past" that surprises with a psychedelic middle part while the rest of the song is the heaviest material the band had ever written to that point.
On the other side, most of the more rock orientated tracks still sound quite edgy and heavy because of the singer's rough and aggressive vocals like in the opener "Stand up and rock". Even though the guitars are less present in the track and the keyboards quite dominant in the simply and catchy chorus, the song still breathes the vibe and style of Grave Digger and is not a radical change of style.
The more commercial tracks like the title song "Stronger Than Ever" eventually sound a lot like commercial rock music of that time that is still greater than any artificial modern pop music. The said title track reminds me a lot of the works of David Bowie, Robert Palmer or Billy Idol of that time. I would go as far and say that those tracks showed a new and diversified musical side of the band and sounded rather interesting and appealing but I must admit that I like the mentioned musicians and the popular rock music of the seventies and eighties. On the other side, there are still melodic rock guitar solos in the tracks that are clearly influenced by the band's roots. Those songs are not entirely mass compatible and should not have offended the fans that much. I would also like to mention the experiment "Moonriders" that varies from epic metal passages over psychedelic pop passages to slight country influences and is a mixture of styles that I have never heard before. It's probably the most interesting track on the entire record.
In the end, the only embarrassing thing about this release is its horrible cover artwork. The music itself is diversified and varies from danceable soft rock over hard rock and heavy metal to psychedelic thrash metal music. The band is catchier and sounds fresher than ever before and this could have been a start for a glorious era. I don't know what the label and the promoters did wrong in the end but they missed a big chance to make this record successful. It's not about the music because there is a lot of potential in here for many different genres and their fans. I was pleasantly surprised to discover an unexpected gem in here with only a couple of weak tracks, a rather weak production and a stupid cover why the rest is nearly excellent. If you have the chance to get the original vinyl version or the booklet pressing, don't hesitate and purchase this unknown and underrated gem if you like any kind of rock music and melodic heavy metal.