Grave Digger - Heart Of Darkness (1995)

One thing I like about power metal is the fact that the themes are often positive and uplifting (of course, that's also a reason why many people hate it), but not everyone sticks to that formula, and Grave Digger persue a particularly dark path on this album.
With references to Satan and demons and being dragged to hell, this is really nothing new in the metalic world, but also, like many before them, these tend more to be metaphors than any straight Satan worshipping. Songs like "Warchild" and the twelve minute title song lament war (the latter Vietnam), while "Demon's Day" seems to be about mental illness, and the concluding "Black Death"... well, the title speaks for itself.
Musically, this is the band's best release to date - It's heavy, sometimes fast, and with snarled choruses that are memorable instantly.  I'm even getting used to Chris Boltendahl's vocals.  Kind of.
I still prefer positive subject matter, or at least songs of battles won in triumph, etc, but there's something about all this here that does grab me.

****