Gravestone - War (1980) (2008)

The origins of GRAVESTONE go back to 1975, when Rudi DORNER and Mike SCHMIDT formed a band called HEIZK?RPER. In 1976 they were joined by Berti MAJDAN and changed the name of the band to OREGON. In early 1977 they were also joined by Wolfgang RITTNER and Andy M?LLER, and at the suggestion of of Berti MAJDAN they changed name again to GRAVESTONE.

GRAVESTONE, like several compatriots of the time, initially experienced nothing but failure. Their two early LPs - 1979's ''Doomsday'' and 1980's ''War'' - remain relatively unknown even to this day, yet they hung around long enough to enjoy a small taste of recognition following the colossal 80's success of fellow countrymen like SCORPIONS and ACCEPT. Capitalizing on this sudden surge of interest, vocalist Berti MAJDAN - with a new line up featuring guitarists Mathias DIETH and Klaus REINELT, bassist Thomas SABISCH, and drummer Dieter BEHLE - released three additional albums from their home base outside the southern city of Stuttgart - namely 1984's ''Victim of Chains'' (featuring bassist Oli ORLITTA), 1985's ''Back to Attack'', and 1986's ''Creating a Monster'' - before morphing into a new band named 48 CRASH, who played a much more commercial brand of hard rock, releasing an album called ''Some Like It Hot'' in 1990.

1993 saw the release of an eponymous collection of GRAVESTONE's best 80's output, and guitarist DIETH went on to work with both U.D.O. and SINNER in later years.