Liberty or Death (album)

Liberty or Death
Studio album by Grave Digger
Released	January 12, 2007
Recorded	August-October 2006 at Principal Studios, Germany
Genre	Heavy metal, power metal
Length	56:48
Label	Locomotive Music
Producer	Chris Boltendahl, Manni Schmidt & Jörg Umbreit
Grave Digger chronology
The Last Supper (2005)The Last Supper2005 Liberty or Death (2007) Ballads of a Hangman (2009)Ballads of a Hangman2009

Liberty or Death is Grave Digger's 13th studio album. It was released on January 12, 2007 by Locomotive Records.

Track listing

All songs composed & arranged by Boltendahl/Becker/Schmidt & Katzenburg; all lyrics by Boltendahl

1. "Liberty or Death" - 6:33
2. "Ocean of Blood" - 4:12
3. "Highland Tears" - 6:15
4. "The Terrible One" - 4:08
5. "Until the Last King Died" - 5:46
6. "March of the Innocent" - 5:56
7. "Silent Revolution" - 6:24
8. "Shadowland" - 6:26
9. "Forecourt to Hell" - 5:02
10. "Massada" - 5:58

The Digipak-version includes the bonus track "Ship of Hope"

Lyrical themes

• Vocalist Chris Boltendahl was inspired with this album by the book named "Liberty Or Death" by the Cretean writer Nikos Kazantzakis, whose title is the English translation of Eleftheria i thanatos. The book directly inspired the title song about the Greek revolution on Crete, with lyrical references to the Greek national anthem.
• Two songs deal with Germany's treatment of the Jews in the Second World War and a further two more about more Ancient Jewish history. "Ocean of Blood" tells of Moses parting the Red Sea and "Massada" tells of the siege of Masada at the end of the First Jewish-Roman War. "March of the Innocent" is about the Holocaust and "Ship of Hope" tells of the "Voyage of the Damned" of the SS St. Louis. Boltendahl said that the number of songs on this subject was not intended, but that the stories were interesting on their own.
• "Highland Tears" deals with freedom in Scotland. "Forecourt to Hell" deals with the gladiators in the Roman Empire age. "The Terrible One" is about Ivan the Terrible. "Until the Last King Died" is about the French Revolution. "Shadowland" is about the atrocities of the Ku Klux Klan in the USA.

Album line-up

• Chris Boltendahl - Vocals
• Manni Schmidt - Guitars
• Jens Becker - Bass
• Stefan Arnold - Drums
• HP Katzenburg - Keyboards