''Liberty or Death'' is the 13th studio album by German heavy metal band

Grave Digger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), ...

. It was released on 15 January 2007 via

Locomotive Records Locomotive Music or Locomotive Records is an independent record label based in Spain. The label's music catalogue was acquired by One Media iP on 25 February 2019. Selected artists * Adagio * Alogia * Anubis Gate * Astral Doors * Barón Rojo * ...

Track listing

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

Lyrical themes

* Vocalist

Chris Boltendahl Grave Digger is a German heavy metal band that was first formed in 1980 by Chris Boltendahl and Peter Masson. Emerging from the early-to-mid 1980s heavy metal scene of their native country, Grave Digger has been referred to as one of the so-c ...

was inspired with this album by the book named "'' Liberty Or Death''" by the

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

an writer

Nikos Kazantzakis Nikos Kazantzakis ( el, ; 2 March ( OS 18 February) 188326 October 1957) was a Greek writer. Widely considered a giant of modern Greek literature, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in nine different years. Kazantzakis's no ...

, whose title is the English translation of

Eleftheria i thanatos ( el, Ελευθερία ή θάνατος, ; 'Freedom or Death') is the motto of Greece. It originated in the Greek songs of resistance that were powerful motivating factors for independence. It was adopted in 1814 by the , a secret organizati ...

. The book directly inspired the title song about the

Greek revolution The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

on Crete, with lyrical references to the

Greek national anthem The "Hymn to Liberty", or "Hymn to Freedom" ( el, Ὕμνος εἰς τὴν Ἐλευθερίαν, also ), is a poem written by Dionysios Solomos in 1823 that consists of 158 stanzas and is used as the national anthem of Greece and Cyprus. It ...

. * Two songs deal with Germany's treatment of the Jews in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and a further two more about more Ancient Jewish history. "''Ocean of Blood''" tells of

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

parting the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

and "''Massada''" tells of the siege of

Masada Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dea ...

at the end of the

First Jewish-Roman War First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. "''March of the Innocent''" is about the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

and "''Ship of Hope''" tells of the "Voyage of the Damned" of the

SS St. Louis MS ''St. Louis'' was a diesel-powered passenger ship properly referred to with the prefix MS or MV, built by the Bremer Vulkan shipyards in Bremen for ''HAPAG'', better known in English as the Hamburg America Line. The ship was named after th ...

. 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 Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

. "''Until the Last King Died''" is about the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, "''Shadowland''" about the atrocities of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

in the USA and "''Silent Revolution''" deals with

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

's non-violent struggle against the oppression of the Indian people

Album line-up

* Chris Boltendahl - vocals *

Manni Schmidt Manfred "Manni" Schmidt (born 27 November 1964) is a German heavy metal guitarist, best known for having been a member of Grave Digger and Rage. History Born in Andernach, West Germany, Schmidt begun his career starting his own band Facto ...

- guitars *

Jens Becker Jens Becker (born 24 May 1965) is a German heavy metal bass guitarist who currently performs with Grave Digger. History Becker was born in Fürth. His first major band was Running Wild, which he joined in 1987. He stayed with them for four ...

- bass * Stefan Arnold - drums * HP Katzenburg - keyboards

References

{{Authority control Grave Digger (band) albums 2007 albums Locomotive Music albums