But this year we recorded bass, vocals, bagpipes, and drums in one studio, where we also do the mix, and Axel, the guitar player, is doing all his guitars in his own studio. The majestic sound of bagpipes stylistically establishes the direction of the German power metal institution's latest album. And this was the reason why I told Axel from my vacation two years ago that we have to do another album because the story isn’t at the end so far. I thought for this album we needed something different. A lot of bagpipes, which actually sounds really cool in power metal. But meanwhile, we’re doing a lot of promotion for the new album, waiting for better times. ! Released 29 May 2020 on Napalm. How 'bout those bagpipes in the mid of the song? Fields of Blood, an Album by Grave Digger. Excalibur is a good album, but when judged against both it's younger and elder siblings it becomes something of a disappointment. Since Grave Digger is celebrating its 40th anniversary, will this new album have a special place in the band’s and your fans’ hearts?I think that I understand the Scottish history now and its complete wideness and everything. And she said, “Yes, cool, let’s do it.”. Grave Digger: Fields of Blood. But it’s equal—if you release it now or in five months. But it was more or less too late because we started everything—the promotion for the new album, and we had some deadlines we can’t move. Fields of Blood also boasts the brilliant cover art by Alexander Tartsus (De Profundis, Depravity, Sepulchral Curse, Sinister). On its 20th full-length album, Fields of Blood released by Napalm Records, Grave Digger completes its Scottish historic trilogy concept it began on 1996’s Tunes of War and then with 2010’s The Clans Will Rise Again. Freedom 05. The record starts with the patriotic "The Brave", performed by Scott Cochrane on bagpipes, a song which is often considered Scotland's unofficial national anthem. cannot be blamed for laziness for sure! But this time it was different songwriting. Every track on Fields of Blood boasts all of the Grave Digger-isms fans have come to know and love, and is the ultimate way to celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary. GRAVE DIGGER have marked their fortieth anniversary with the release of their twentieth studio album Fields of Blood.Fields of Blood is a concept album that focuses on the history of Scotland and its struggle for independence.. That’s the most important thing. Didn’t you initially try to get Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy?When we got the “no” from Alissa, we thought of what we can do and then we thought about Doro again. With the mere first notes of the introduction, fans of Grave Digger will unequivocally know they have returned to the Scottish Highlands! We created Fields of Blood, and the title track is the last song we ever wrote about Scottish history. You mentioned how loud it was in the studio with the bagpipes. The German power metal band Grave Digger incorporated bagpipes in many of their songs, from their concept album Tunes of War. Then we remembered the band called Battle Beast that we toured with a couple of times playing festivals, and they have a really cool song already out called “Black Ninja.” And that is something I like and the voice of Noora is really outstanding, so we contacted her and asked if she wanted to be on the new record singing a ballad with me. Now, we move forward with other topics for the next album. We recorded the bagpipes in the studio and we had three bagpipers, and you can’t stay in the recording room when they play. It was a low possibility. And then I imagined by myself that he was some kind of clans warrior. And I think he did a really good job on it. Rheingold is based on Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung. The Grave Digger's songs are based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe (except two, "Son of Evil" and "Sacred Fire"). It’s at the right point now. And I do a lot of vocal spots in my studio, so we are working at different places. Historically notable bagpipers. There’s a special fascination if you move through the Highlands. Clash of the Gods is based on the Classical Mythology. Fields of Blood is the end of the Scottish Highlands trilogy. During this self-quarantine due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, how are you channeling your creativity? Type: Full-length Release date: ... Bagpipes : Florian Bohm: Bagpipes, Uilleann Pipes : Andreas von Lippinski: Vocals (backing) Hacky Hackmann: Vocals (backing) Miscellaneous staff That is, you know exactly what to expect when you spin a new album. And last time we made heavy metal songs and added some bagpipes. Graveside Bagpipe Player gets lost! cool or what? Grave Digger – “Fields Of Blood” (Napalm Records) Battle Helm Rating ‘…we did it again and put on the kilts…’ says founder vocalist Chris Boltendahl when asked how he would be celebrating Grave Digger’s 40th anniversary. On its 20th full-length album, Fields of Blood released by Napalm Records, Grave Digger completes its Scottish historic trilogy concept it began on 1996’s Tunes of War and then with 2010’s The Clans Will Rise Again. Excalibur is the ninth studio album by Grave Digger and is the final album of the Middle Ages Trilogy.It tells about the story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table.. Track listing. There are no words to describe how much I can't stand the sound of bagpipes but the album picks up from there and is at the very least yet another solid, if not great Grave Digger album. Genres: Power Metal, Heavy Metal. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. German metallers GRAVE DIGGER will celebrate their 40th anniversary with the release of their 20th studio album, titled "Fields Of Blood", on May 29 via Napalm Records.The disc will take us on an emotional journey through Scottish history and into explosive sound landscapes. Has a different set of bagpipes. How did you go about creating this album?As you know, Tunes of War was more or less some kind of history lesson, like a musical history lesson that’s cool. Delivering a fresh injection of power metal straight from the highlands of Scotland (where some of the album was even recorded), Fields of Blood (Napalm Records) is a strong statement from a band who have appear to … Grave Digger discography (main) The Living Dead (2018) Grave Digger discography (all) The Living Dead (2018) Fields of Blood Grave Digger. We are in the middle of thinking about a new album. This tune can be heard being played on bagpipe during the funeral ceremony in the popular movie The Departed, as well as being the ringtone for character Frank Costello in his final scene of the film. Kilts, bagpipes, clans and war, it can only be about one thing, Scotland. ... Talking of strange and intriguing Fields of Blood starts off with bagpipes. Grave Digger "Fields Of Blood" (Napalm) 01. This track features traditional bagpipes that starts our Scottish journey. Throughout their history the band released lots of successful and not so goodalbums but there never was a big gap between their releases (except the period 87-91). In the end, Grave Digger is still going strong forty years into its career and combines past trademarks with fresh ideas on the very good Fields of Blood. That is the life of a musician. As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Grave Digger serve up even more fresh Beelzebub pie with Fields Of Blood, another vainglorious Scottish wars concept album like Tunes Of War. Every track on Fields of Blood boasts all of the Grave Digger-isms fans have come to know and love, and is the ultimate way to celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary. And then with the pre-production, we go into the studio and record it in a more professional way with a big studio and a good engineer. Marking the 40th anniversary of the band, the latest Grave Digger album is a serious return to form and arguably their best release since the glory days of the eighties. Take long-running German metallers Grave Digger, who find great passion and lyrical fodder from the Scottish people and folklore. With the mere first notes of the introduction, fans of Grave Digger will unequivocally know they have returned to the Scottish Highlands! How did the guest vocal duet with Battle Beast’s Noora Louhimo on “Thousand Tears” come about? Grave Digger - Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching) - YouTube Bagpipes return triumphantly. We do it with a lot of passion and we can’t stop. And he day dreams when he’s sitting around sleeping in the museum, that he’s moving back in his own history, a thousand years back, when everything started with Scotland. That is really easy working. We can’t stop it. We can do this kind of music because we love it. How did you fit them in with the atmosphere of the record?For us, it was really important, because on the last two Scottish albums we also had bagpipes, but not in the way we did it this time. Three bagpipes, it’s like killing your ears, it’s unbelievably loud. We are addicted to writing songs and playing live. The best bagpipes song is It’s A Long Way To The Top by AC/DC. The Heart of Scotland We wrote the songs for the bagpipes more or less, because that was the target, that we use more bagpipes than on the older Scotland records, because this is the main instrument of the Scottish people and also a very important music instrument of the Scottish history. We’ve practiced this since 1995 in the same studio and one hand knows what the other hand has to do. German heavy metal pioneers, Grave Digger, are one of the most reliable metal bands around today. Normally, we were working together with a guy from Hungary, Gyula Havancsak, but this time I wanted to have this old-fashioned feeling. You have to be there. Grave Digger's Tunes of War is a brilliant example how to mix gripping heavy metal with complex historical concepts. Oh man! I think the sound of the new album is not old-fashioned, but that is the reason why I contacted Alex to do something that also could be painted in the 80s. Becker's bass is almost entirely buried, and the guitars lack the sepulchral roar normally associated with Grave Digger. So, I think it’s better now to release it. The Clans Will Rise Again was about some mystical side of Scottish history, and the new one is a little bit different. German heavy metal band Grave Digger have a version of "Scotland the Brave" as … The Clans Will Rise Again is about Scotland in general. Grave Digger is a Heavy Metal/Power Metal band from Germany. And then from this point of where he started, he moved to the side of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce and Queen Mary, and in the end he fought together with his Highland brother and he’s telling the story from his emotional side, because he was at all these places and he met all these people. More or less, this sounds like a production, but we use it as a pre-production. What’s your fascination with the history of this country?I always was interested in history, especially the history of Britain and Scotland. This is still Grave Digger, but a Grave Digger a bit too by-the-numbers for their own good. The kilts are back on! TOP 5 METAL SONGS BASED ON HISTORICAL EVENTS, EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: LIVING DEAD GIRL’s Lyric Video for “Exorcism”, THE DUST BOWL FAERIES Announce Virtual Vaudeville Show Series Wish You…, AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS Shares New Single “Wallow”, LOVE AND DEATH Shares New Track “White Flag” and Announces Album…, Throwback Thursday: ALEXI LAIHO of CHILDREN OF BODOM, LINDSAY SCHOOLCRAFT: Craving These Softer Sounds, THEATRE OF TRAGEDY: Musique – 20th Anniversary Edition, DREAM THEATER: Distant Memories — Live in London, TRIBUTE TO ALEXI LAIHO & HIS 13 ESSENTIAL SONGS, TWIN TEMPLE Presents: A Magickal Tale of Krampus Night, POPPY Releases New Video for “All The Things She Said”. King Edward VII, (1841–1910); King Edward VIII, (1894–1972); Daniel Laidlaw, (1875–1950), VC Piper to the Kings Own Scottish Borderers who received the Victoria Cross during World War I, the highest award for gallantry that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces; Bulgarian gaidars. The only difference is in five months, everybody will release theirs because so many bands postponed their stuff. Everybody in the band has their own studio. The bagpipes play a big part in this album, and it’s an instrument that wouldn’t normally be associated with heavy metal. And that is the difference. We exactly composed heavy metal songs, including bagpipes. But in the end, we wanted to sound a little bit more fresh. The majestic sound of bagpipes stylistically establishes the direction of the German power metal institution's latest album. Two years ago, I stayed with my family in Scotland and my son, who was 12-years-old at this time, and we moved around and went to all the battlefields and a lot of castles. Did you have to give him much direction, and did it turn out exactly how you envisioned it?I had an idea when I contacted him. We don’t have the mentality to sit around here waiting for somebody to send us some money! General Commentlove the Middle Age inspired trilogy of Grave Digger aka the albums 'Tunes of War', 'Knights of the Cross' and 'Excalibur'.Now this is real METAL , you fake posers (that means you Evanescence) . That it is not the kind of history lesson where there is another point of view. The production is very robust and hefty. In-case you've been living in a cave for the last number of years, Grave Digger play a gruff, anthemic variation of power metal. Because as long as we can’t play live, we are writing new songs and preparing for a new album during this crisis. I told him the story of every castle and the battlefields. It has a lot of details, good atmosphere, it’s a good handcraft. You can breathe the air of the battle of the clans and all these things. The Clansman's Journey 02. We make a complete reproduction with everything in the end. also listen to 'The Brave(intro to Tunes of War) and bow in awe before the might of HEAVY METAL !! Music by Boltendahl and Lulis except where noted Lions of the Sea 04. Official music video of the stand out track from the 1996 album Tunes Of War.Lyrics:The clans are marching against the law Bagpipers play the tunes of war Death or glory I will find Rebellion on my mind Rumors know that rebellion will break out Bonnie Prince Charles is in the highlands To claim his crown no doubt He raised his Standart at Glenfinnen Calling to our pride The Jacobites are gathering I'll be at their side Armed and ready stand My rights I must defend Steel is in my hand The clans are marching against the law Bagpipers play the tunes of war Death or glory I will find Rebellion on my mind The town of Edinburgh fell soon in our hands Defeated the English at the Battle of Prestopans Armed and ready stand My rights I must defend Steel is in my hand The clans are marching against the law Bagpipers play the tunes of war Death or glory I will find Rebellion on my mind Grave Digger records are built upon an Accept-like straight-ahead metallic drive, topped with Boltendahl’s raw-throated snarl that still manages singalong glory through the time-honored Germanic metal art of the undeniably epic chorus. 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