Inappropriate nostalgia - A review of Grave Digger's Exhumation (The Early Years)

Many bands have the reputation that their first three or four albums are their best. However, nobody in his right mind would make such a claim about German heavy metal band Grave Digger. The band rose to fame with its atmospheric, conceptual and intellectual records released between the mid-nineties and the middle years of the first decade of the new millennium. In its early years, the band actually had moderate success which explained why they changed their band name after only three albums and adapted a much more commercial, melodic and polished rock sound which failed terribly and led to a hiatus and almost meant the end of the band. Revisiting the years of yore seems a quite masochistic idea to me in such a case and Exhumation (The Early Years) is indeed a completely unnecessary affair.

The band rerecorded thirteen tracks from its early years and also randomly included two brand new songs on this release to trick fans into purchasing this coaster. Right from the start, it becomes obvious why Grave Digger didn't have much success in its early years. The main riff of ''Headbanging Man'' isn't too bad but the song is lacking ideas, the lyrics are stereotypical and the vocals sound strangely unbalanced. I never liked the original version, nor the rerecorded version during the Tunes of War era and this third attempt at releasing the same song isn't any better. Most songs have the same lack of originality, vapid lyrics and repetitive riffs. ''Witch Hunter'' has one of the most laughable choruses in the history of heavy metal and it's beyond me how the band can perform that track without feeling genuinely ashamed as this track makes bands like Manowar look like intellectual geniuses. ''Shoot Her Down'' suffers from the same problems because even though the song is quite short, it still manages to repeat the chorus to death and be truly annoying.

Aside the decent cover artwork and the energetic production, an important positive element about this record is that it sounds consistent. All songs sound like a copy of early Accept with an equally unique singer but less creative song writing, more exchangeable riffs and almost constantly stupid lyrics. If this record is good for one thing, it's to prove that the nostalgic thought that the eighties were such a great era for heavy metal is a lie. There are much more quality releases of numerous fresh sub-genres these days than it was the case back in the early eighties. That era only seemed more exciting because heavy metal was something new but there were a few great records, many average outputs and a few stinkers like Grave Digger's earliest offenders. 

To be fair, the two new tracks are better than the needlessly rehashed material. ''My Private Morning Hell'' is a gritty speed metal banger with great guitar work while ''Young and Dangerous'' is a mid-paced track with a memorable chorus that should work very well in concert.

There is no reason whatsoever to buy this record. Download the very good two new songs and ignore the rest. If you really want to hear what Grave Digger sounded back then, you can either listen to the three rerecorded songs on the special edition of Tunes of War that are by far the weakest tracks of the brilliant album or you can purchase the compilation The Best of the Eighties for a much cheaper price than Exhumation (The Early Years).

Final rating: 30%