Dated yet Timeless. – 80%
hells_unicorn, February 12th, 2007
The story of Grim Reaper is quite a bit interesting; it depicts 4 British musicians who come out of the massive blob of bands being pumped out in the NWOBHM and procuring a recording contract by winning a whopping 99 other bands in order to get studio time to get a demo recorded, which in turn led to them recording this debut LP. Although this Cinderella story would be told many times in the metal scene of the 80s, here we see a band that essentially worked their asses off for 6 years and still struggled just to make ends meet (Nick Bowcott had to give a lot of guitar lessons to keep his financial head above water in the mid 80s), only to be the subject of ridicule in the 90s by the caricatures of Groove Metal stupidity Beavis and Butthead. Granted, this show also made fun of Accept, Judas Priest (the Breaking the Law video) and Death so obviously this means little to real metal fans.
The production on here is obviously dated due to limited technological capabilities in studios at the time, the drums are a bit thin sounding and the vocal tracks are a little bit too high in the mix. However, other than a little bit too much repetition during the choruses, the songs on here are quite solid and easy to get into. Nick Bowcott’s guitar style is reminiscent heavily of Tony Iommi’s love for multiple guitar tracks like the kind found on the early 70s material, although his solos are a lot more technical and flirt with being a fairly intense marriage of Eddie Van Halen’s speed playing and the Sabbath axe man.
The standout tracks are pretty obvious as they all tend to sound a bit similar in style and tempo. The famous hit that first got them on the Beavis and Butthead hate list “See you in hell” has an infectiously catchy main riff, not to mention some gut wrenching banshee screams that will make all male listeners check their own manhood. “Wrath of the Ripper”, “Run for your life” and “Now or Never” are cut from a similar vain, emphasizing the guitar and occasionally providing some fast rock beats. “Liar” is a bit short and lyrically a bit corny, but still rocks hard. The only weak link on here in the songwriting department is “The Show Must Go On”, which is an exceptional melodic guitar display, but is a little bit too long for its own good and underdeveloped.
For fans of the NWOBHM, this is a good album to have, although its production holds it back a bit. Fans of this band that already possess this album are encouraged to pick up the other two, as the second one resolves most of the production problems, while the 3rd takes care of the repetition issues. If you like your metal with plenty of hooks and riffs, you’ll like this band.
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