Grave Digger

Part of the Teutonic thrash metal scene that sprang up in Germany in the early 1980s, Grave Digger originated as a speed metal outfit before marrying their love of American Bay Area thrash with melodic power metal in the '90s. Alongside contemporaries Accept, Helloween, Kreator, and Sodom, the has band carved out a huge swath of regional sonic real estate, becoming one of Germany's elite metal institutions with career-making albums like Heavy Metal Breakdown, Witch Hunter, and Tunes of War. Grave Digger continued to explore the fantastical into the next century with power-metal-forward offerings like The Last Supper, The Clans Will Rise Again, and The Living Dead. In 2025, the band celebrated its 45th anniversary with the release of Bone Collector.