Band History
After various appearances at small festivals, the band recorded two songs for the compilation album Rock from Hell in 1983. A year later, Grave Digger, now comprising Chris Boltendahl (vocals), Peter Masson (guitar), Willi Lackmann (bass) and Albert Eckardt (drums), released their debut album Heavy Metal Breakdown.
In 1985, with Lackmann having left the band, they recorded and released their second album Witch Hunter. Only after the album was completed, a replacement on bass was found in the form of C.F. Brank. Further festival appearances followed, a tour with Helloween as special guest and, finally, their third album War Games in January 1986. To promote this album, a triple headline tour with Celtic Frost and Helloween followed. Thereafter, Peter Masson gave way to Uwe Lulis; in 1987 the band's name was changed to Digger, the name under which they released the album Stronger Than Ever. This album hardly had anything in common with the earlier music of Grave Digger. It was more an attempt to reach the masses with mainstream rock like that of Bon Jovi or Van Halen. The album flopped, as it was not accepted by fans or the masses. As a result, Boltendahl declared, at the end of 1987, the breakup of the band.
However, the band partially reformed in 1991. Boltendahl and Lulis, along with two newcomers, Tomi Göttlich and Jörg Michael, who had been the drummers for Rage and Running Wild, released a comeback record, The Reaper. This album returned to the true roots of Grave Digger. In the same year, the album Best of the Eighties was released; it represented a quasi Best-of-Album of their earlier songs.
The album Symphony of Death followed in 1994. In the interim, Grave Digger, now with a new drummer, Frank Ullrich, toured Germany, playing as the warm-up act for Manowar. In 1995 the album Heart of Darkness appeared; it was a very dark album with many influences from the early works of Annihilator.
In 1996, Stefan Arnold became the band's new drummer. This year also marked the release of the concept album Tunes of War, which dealt with the history of Scotland. This album was the first part of the Middle Ages Trilogy, completed in 1999. The second album, Knights of the Cross, with Jens Becker as bass guitarist, was completed in 1997 and was about the rise and fall of the Knights Templar. The final part of the trilogy, finished in 1999, Excalibur explored the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Shortly after this followed a world tour with the keyboardist Hans-Peter Katzenburg, who later became a permanent bandmember.
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