Best of Grim ReaperGrim Reaper |
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Are you ready for the return of Reaper madness? When I first learned this comp was available, I must admit being a bit puzzled… You mean there actually are people out there who care? Enough to do a full on "Best of" for a band better known in recent years for being the brunt of some unflattering commentary from Beavis & Butthead? Two things I need to address first-how in God's name were they able to pull a full seventeen tracks from a band that lasted for only three albums where most people could only name three or four songs at the most, and, were there really four band members the whole time? Oh yeah, the phantom bassist… Well anyway, Grim Reaper, talented enigma though they may have been really busted loose during the formation of the NWOBHM movement that swept through the early 80's-yes, they WERE a part of it! And how refreshing is it to hear what had to be music recorded at such a deficiently crude level digitally updated and available on disc featuring all of their greatest (grimmest) moments? If you were to break down the individual accomplishments of, most notably Steve Grimmett on vocals and Nick Bowcott on guitar, there were few that could match their musical skill and knack for mixing a gruesome fascination with occult-related lyrical phenomena with dark and inviting melody-based fist-driven rhythms! No they weren't always at their most creative during their run, as about half of 85's "Fear No Evil" could attest to, but they were consistent. The highlights of this "Best of" are basically the entire first album, 84's "See You in Hell," featuring "Dead on Arrival," "Now or Never," "The Show Must Go On" and begining with what else, their best known classic "See You in Hell!" "Fear No Evil," "Never Coming Back" and "Final Scream," which closes out the collection, of course, are the feature attractions of "Fear No Evil," which as a follow up to "See You In Hell" didn't quite possess the passion-or finesse for that matter, of its predecessor. They had a penchant for beginning each of their three albums with a strong title track, and '87's "Rock You to Hell," was no different. Characterized by a slightly polished sound, the fantasy-based evil conceptuality of the past gave way to a higher level of reality that stood out in the form of "Lust For Freedom," "Waysted Love" and the overtly serious… "Suck it and See!" all of which make it here. The band just dropped off the face of the earth after that final release. Maybe they heeded their own advice and went to Hell! Actually they remained active individually in other projects-Grimmett went on to front the likes of Onslaught, Lionsheart and most recently doing vocal work on some interesting Maiden tributes, while Bowcott could be readily seen in the back pages of then metal magazines like Circus doing guitar clinics-and trust me, he deserved every bit of space he received. As far as southpaw six-stringers go, everybody points to Iommi, and rightly so, but Bowcott came up with some pretty impressive work in his own right. Regardless of what occurred following the wake of Grim Reaper, for fans, and apparently critics alike, all of it paled in comparison as this well designed "Best of" collection serves to prove! Could it be that after all this time we might once again get to feel the wrath of the reaper? Released by RCA Review By Vinnie Apicella |
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"See You in Hell" (Re-Issue) GRIM REAPER |
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Somewhere in the basement,
amongst the T-Shirts from shows past and well read copies of Kerrang from
the Mid-Eighties is a promo-45 that I cut out of some magazine that featured
30-second clips form GRIM REAPER's "SEE It was just one of
those silly little promotional tools that sucked me right into buying
the album, not that I am It has been years since I have listened to the record and I do have to admit to having missed its snapping and popping on my turntable. No need to reminisce further as I have the CD version, along with the two releases that followed it, right here in front of me. "SEE YOU IN HELL" is the best known of the GRIM REAPER albums due to the timeless title track. Every ounce of cheese available in the midlands of England went into this recording and the resulting video was justifiably lampooned by BEAVIS and BUTTHEAD years later but isn't it one of the most justified guilty pleasures ever recorded? The band does look like SPINAL TAP and the sound didn't even rate as AM radio quality but that has been rectified here on this clean and crisp CD version that just begs to be cranked. As much as "See
You in Hell" will resonate with the nostalgic there are several lessons
on just how to do this Heavy Metal thing here for the kiddies most importantly,
try to keep it simple. The basic stomp of "Liar" and the bare
bones of "Dead on Arrival" are brilliant in their simplicity
and resonate with as much power today as they did when first Put simply, this is a classic album that should have been available in this format years ago. "FEAR NO EVIL" was to be the "breakout" album after the groundwork had been laid with the previous release. Unfortunately, the record was largely ignored and that is a dirty shame too because this was GRIM REAPER coming into its own. Each track is a killer with the title track taking all the best bits from the original band concept and given them a bigger budget to explore the possibilities. This is classic, textbook
and sinfully delicious mid eighties Metal. Nick Bowcott establishes himself
as a stellar player on these tracks and his genus was recognized a few
years later when he began giving technical editorials to one of the "FEAR NO EVIL" was probably the strongest full album form GRIM REAPER and will hopefully be recognized as such shortly after these re-issues get a chance to spread. The playing and writing just got better on "ROCK YOU TO HELL" but the bands look and production drifted far to close to the LA hair-Metal category. Very disappointing for fans of the band that wanted to see them go in the harder, heavier direction on all fronts. Taken simply on ear value, GRIM REAPER had matured from a rough bunch of punters looking to rock and maybe get laid to industry standard for the later eighties. There was one track here that should have been a huge hit due to its brilliant mix of every Pop-Metal attribute available, "Lust For Freedom." For me the track that stands out is the lurid tale told on "Suck it and See." The guitars on "Suck" have absolutely perfect tone and Steve Grimmett's vocals are the best he has ever managed. If you are a fan you must have this and if you are only now discovering the band taste the first two discs first before trying to swallow this one. The liner notes, despite their barely being big enough to read, are a wonderful bonus to the music and the era specific pictures make the packaging of each disc preferable to the previous released version in any format. Everything about GRIM REAPER, the name, the music the visual presentation, was designed to appeal to Metal-Heads before the term was truly defined so if a bit of Metal-music archaeology is what you are up for there is no better place to start your dig than with these three discs. Released by Spitfire
Records. Review By David Lee |