Twelfth studio album in for long running German Power Metallers 'Grave Digger' and 'Liberty or Death' follows on strongly from 'The Last Supper'. Like it's predecessor although not a full concept album does contain strong themes, this time around it's based upon freedom and explores such themes as Ghandi, The Fortress of Massada and the Crete / Turkey conflict. The line-up is still thankfully unchanged since 2001's 'The Gravedigger' and the tightness of the performances reflects this.

First up is the title track which opens with a scintillating classical style introduction that's graced with fitting sound effects, the song progresses as a decent if somewhat predictable mid tempo rocker, overall solid but in all honesty fails to live up to early expectations. The tempo is lifted for the brisk, pulsating 'Ocean of Blood' which at times slightly boarders on 'Primal Fear' territory, still identifiable as 'Grave Digger' thanks to 'Chris Boltendahl's' trademark vocals, while 'Manni Schmidt' gets in some fine hooks and a sweet solo. Bagpipes introduce the next track 'Highland Tears', before it changes tack into a pummelling rocker, lyrically this is strong stuff and features plenty of tempo changes to keep the interest, while the execution is as always superb. The next four tracks tell the story of Ghandi, and the concept unfolds with the hard hitting 'The Terrible One', a relatively simplistic track but very powerful, the rhythm work is fast and furious, while 'Chris Boltendahl' delivers with immense power. The tempo falls for the more plodding 'Until the Last King Died', personally I think this is pretty sluggish and when the song does get going it's spoilt by the trite, repetitive chorus. Not fairing much better is 'March of the Innocent' which is again marred by repetition, 'Manni Schmidt' gets off another fine solo, but as with the preceding track a little tedious at times. The short concept closes with 'Silent Revolution' which comes across more thoughtfully crafted than the previous two, a song that while not forcefully penned still unfolds powerfully and the closing spoken passage works especially well. The momentum is lifted with 'Shadowland', a solid if unremarkable and slightly long-winded up-tempo rocker, while the compelling 'Forecourt to Hell' gets us back on track in splendid fashion with astute lyrics and an overall sharp performance. 'Liberty or Death' bows out with the Eastern influenced, semi epic 'Massada', I'm not totally sure the sound totally fits in with the rest of the album and although far from a poor track, not really a highlight.

The bonus track included with the Digipac is the balladsy 'Ship of Hope', I've never really been a fan of 'Grave Digger's' slower material and this is no exception, although there's some nice piano work from 'Hans Peter Katzenburg' and 'Manni Schmidt' gets in some incisive guitar work.

Another very respectable piece of work from 'Grave Digger', although I found this a little patchy at times and as such would have to say not quite as consistent as the predecessor.