Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is pretty similar to it's predecessor, The Reaper. It's dark, evil and heavy as all fucking hell. But what puts this one above the former, is the consistency in the songwriting (The Reaper had some pretty average songs, this is all fucking killer), and the production. The guitars are heavier, and the general sound is much sharper. Heart of Darkness also introduces a more melodic side vowed into the songwriting, which creates some truly sinister touches, especially in songs like the title track.
The general pace of songs is much slower than on speed metal assaults like Ride On from the previous, but this is more than made up for in the atmosphere that's created. Just check out the midpaced Demon's Day, and again, the title track.

We begin with Tears of Madness, a frightening intro which is a straight continuation of The Madness Continues, the outro to The Reaper.

It leads right into the most menacing song on here, and the definite highlight of the album: Shadowmaker! Insane, riff-heavy speed metal all the way. Vicious single notes riffwork, pounding double bass and that one sinister slower riff kicking in at 0:30 first time... oh man, and it doesn't stop.
"I'm the king of destruction, the master of chaos! Leading the fools to the gates of Hades!" Chris Boltendahls raw voice sounds completely fucking nuts on this one, as always. The song also goes through an insanely catchy shout-along chorus and a wicked solo and further riff madness before finally letting you breathe. This right here is one of Grave Diggers finest tunes ever.

The album continues to kick ass, and rarely letting up in heaviness but often varying in the speed of songs.
After the insane Shadowmaker come two midtempo bangers, The Grave Dancer and Demon's Day. The first one is just a classic riff-heavy headbanger with a very nice melodic solo in the middle. The latter is more experimental, if you wish. It begins with a haunting melody, and kicks into that monster of a main riff, just forcing you to bang your fucking head like a madman. Chris' vocals sounds more vicious and sinister than ever before, and is well complemented by the crazy guitar tone, and the entire song just reeks with evil.
From the raw and heavy verses to the melodic and insanely catchy chorus (these guys never run out of those) to the devastating middle section ("No escape - never try - no way out - you will die - you die so alone!"), the song just slays.

And the song quality doesn't get lower for one minute. The catchy, fast paced Warchild is more kickass speed metal in the vein of Shadowmaker but a bit more melodic. Then the epic and nearly 12-minute long title track, going through a number of cool time and mood changes, varying from melodic to raw and has both slow and fast parts, all in all it compiles yet another masterpiece, also featuring the notable inclusion of Chris' mesmerizing clean vocals. After it we have another fast paced double bass-driven crusher by the title Hate, followed by the atmospheric Circle of Witches, and then we finally end with the devastating, midpaced Black Death.

In conclusion, if you like your daily dose of metal to be dark, heavy and catchy at the same time, look no further. Grave Digger would put out finer efforts later on, but this definitely stands as a worthy addition to their catalogue, and another kickass metal album.