Grave Digger是一支德国四人乐队，组建于20世纪80年代，由吉他手Peter Masson,贝斯手Willi Lackmann，鼓手Albert Eckardt以及乐队核心Chris Boltendahl。 Country of origin: Germany Location: Gladbeck, North Rhine-Westphalia Status: Active Formed in: 1980 Genre: Speed Metal (early); Heavy/Power Metal (later) Lyrical themes: Horror, War, Mythology, History, Metal, Death Current label: Rock of Angels Records Years active: 1980-1986, 1986-1987 (as Digger), 1988-1991 (as Hawaii), 1991-present Founded in November 1980 by Chris Boltendahl and Peter Masson. After three albums, in 1986 Grave Digger decided to change their name into Digger and commercialize their sound. Boltendahl later admitted that their main motivation for this change was to make more money; this failed and the band split up in 1987. Later after Digger's commercial flop the band Hawaii was founded by Boltendahl and Uwe Lulis. Hawaii released a demo called Bottles and Four Coconuts in 1989 before renaming themselves in 1991 to Grave Digger again. Ballads of a Hangman is the first (and, to date, the only) Grave Digger album with two guitarists, with Thilo Hermann joining the band in 2007. After releasing the album and ending an European tour, the band parted ways with Hermann in February 2009 after deciding they were not comfortable with the new six-piece arrangement. Only a few months after these events, the remaining guitarist Manni Schmidt also left due to disputes with Boltendahl over the running of the band. Axel "Ironfinger" Ritt covered as a touring musician for a few months before joining permanently the next year. Grave Digger appeared on the A Tribute to Accept album (1999, Nuclear Blast) with the cover song of "Starlight".