German heavy metal institution GRAVE DIGGER will release "Faces Of Pain," their new studio album, on January 15, 2027 via Reaper Entertainment. The cover art comes from Uwe Jarling.
Forty-six years into the job, GRAVE DIGGER remain one of the load-bearing walls of German heavy metal. "Heavy Metal Breakdown," "Tunes Of War" and the perennial "Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)" are the records most often cited, but the through-line has always been frontman Chris Boltendahl, the band's only constant. "Faces Of Pain" follows "Bone Collector," the stripped-back, old-school album that marked their 45th anniversary, and continues down the same path.
Boltendahl is not underselling it. "The time has finally come: with our new album 'Faces Of Pain,' we are opening the next furious chapter," he said. "This record is filled with an incredible amount of heart, sweat and pure passion."
He credits much of that to his writing partnership with guitarist Tobias Kersting. "In particular, my collaboration with Tobias Kersting on guitar has grown incredibly strong and developed into a deeply rooted creative partnership. His riffs, my lyrics and our shared vision unleashed an incredible dynamic. The result is a mature yet highly explosive late-career work that uncompromisingly combines all the classic trademarks our fans have loved for decades."
He also makes a claim bands this deep into a catalogue rarely risk. "'Faces Of Pain' shows us at our most diverse in a long time. GRAVE DIGGER consistently follow their very own style — a style we have shaped ourselves over the years. The remarkable thing is that we never copy ourselves for a single second, yet every song and every note unmistakably carries the band's typical, mighty sound. Get ready for a true metal monster!"
The album leans on the familiar pillars: razor-sharp riffs, oversized choruses and Boltendahl's sandpaper delivery. Fast material such as the title track and "Satan's Tango" sits alongside mid-tempo anthems including "The Number," "Legends Never Die" and "When The World Is Calling You," while "Dead Sun" and "Say Hello To The Devil" push into heavier, darker territory. Boltendahl produced the record himself at Graveyard Studios in Senden, Germany.
The "Legends Never Die" tour starts the day before release, with MOTORJESUS and WARWOLF in support: January 14 in Siegburg, then Münster (15), Andernach (16), Nürnberg (21), Memmingen (22), München (23), Pratteln in Switzerland (24), Aschaffenburg (28), Mannheim (29) and Leipzig (30), before February dates in Berlin (4), Hamburg (5), Hannover (6), Markneukirchen (12) and Bochum (13).