As I sit here typing this while wearing my custom-made Onslaught In Search of Sanity shirt (good luck finding that on Hells Headbangers, BRAH BRAH), it got me thinking: If there’s any singer in metal history who’s underrated, it’s Steve Grimmett. Everyone goes on about the Halfords and the Dickinsons and the King Diamonds of the metal universe, and rightfully so. They are the respective bar that all traditional metal singers have been measured by since. However, seldom do we hear Grimmett’s name within that conversation. Why? Technically speaking, he was just as talented as the rest of the bunch, with a strong sense of melody, and he lent his talents to many various bands and albums over the course of his 40+ year career. On that note, today we pay tribute to one of my biggest vocal influences, Steve Grimmett, with our Top 10 Steve Grimmett Albums.
10. Steve Grimmett – Personal Crisis (2007)
Kicking off this list is the first and only album released under the Steve Grimmett moniker, Personal Crisis. When this album was released in 2007, traditional metal was slightly more in vogue than it was a decade earlier, and by “slightly more”, I mean if your name was Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. The rest of the ’80s bunch were isolated to indie labels from Europe and Asia, no matter how good your album was. This was unfortunately the fate of Personal Crisis, which despite boasting melodic metal anthems like “Karma”, “Wait for Ever”, and “Afterglow”, went virtually unnoticed outside of a dedicated circle of ’80s metal aficionados. The band who played on this album would soon be rebranded as…
9. Steve Grimmett’s Grim Reaper – Walking in the Shadows (2016)
It’s the mid ’10s and surprise, everyone cares about traditional metal again. I’ll rant about the scene’s fair weather tastes another time, but I digress. The NWOTHM is in full swing and thanks to a burgeoning wave of revivalists (some good, most not so much), youngsters like myself are implored to go beyond the Maidens and Priests of metal’s golden era, discovering such bands as Tokyo Blade, Ostrogoth, and, you guessed it, Grim Reaper. As a result of said resurgence, Grimmett rebranded his solo band as Steve Grimmett’s Grim Reaper and released the gloriously retro Walking in the Shadows. Did it scratch the brilliances of the OG Grim Reaper’s ’80s run? No, but man, I’d be lying if I said “Wings of Angels” didn’t get me hyped to this day. It’s easily one of the best album openers of the decade!
8. Lionsheart – Pride in Tact (1994)
Lionsheart: Right place, wrong time. I’ll rant more about this later on in the list, when we tackle their masterpiece debut, but for now, it’s their anything but a sophomore slump, Pride in Tact. Upon first listen, you’d be forgiven for thinking it came out 5-7 years earlier, sounding more in line with the MTV tailored sounds of metal’s most commercial era than the age of Stone Temple Pilots (yuck) and Bush (double yuck). Like its self titled predecessor, Pride in Tact is a hit parade of Whitesnake ’87 worship, fusing bluesy hard rock with fiery euro melodic metal, all wrapped up in a sheen of glossy production. Like I said, it’s a story of “coulda, woulda, shoulda” with these guys, which will be explored in depth further.
7. Medusa – Clash of the Titans (2005)
Alright, we’re partially cheating with this one, but bear with us. We promise our explanation is a good one. In 1978, Grimmett joined his first band, Medusa. A scruffy NWOBHM outfit from Evesham, Worcestershire, the band released two demos before folding in 1982. The fruits of their labor, coupled with an unreleased live rehearsal, were compiled together for 2005’s posthumous Clash of the Titans. Drawing heavily from the likes of Purple, Priest, and ’70s progressive rock, Medusa were an incredibly advanced band compared to many of their peers who scored record deals. One could only imagine how these songs would’ve sounded with a proper production job, but it’s that raw demo quality that adds to their charm. The epic, Rush-esque “Conquest of the Skies” is the undisputed highlight.
6. Chateaux – Chained and Desperate (1983)
A year after Medusa splintered, Grimmett made his full length debut as the voice of Chateaux on their debut album, Chained and Desperate. If you like your NWOBHM simple and straightforward, this is the album for you. Aside from the pseudo-prog metal of “The Dawn Surrendered”, Chained and Desperate is an unabashed collection of loud n’ rowdy classic metal anthems, guaranteed to get maniacs singing along at the top of their lungs. Vocally speaking, Grimmett isn’t nearly as flashy here as he’d be on future releases, and that’s largely because the music itself isn’t flashy. Guitarist Tim Broughton was much more concerned with, “Check out this crunchy power chord-fest.” as opposed to, “I can solo like Randy Rhoads with my eyes closed.” Indeed, Chained and Desperate is a case study in the less is more philosophy!
5. Grim Reaper – Fear No Evil (1985)
As much as I hate to brand Fear No Evil a “sophomore slump”, there’s something about it that’s just lacking in comparison to its predecessor, See You in Hell (1983). The title track is immortal (as is “Never Coming Back” for that matter), no doubt about it, but the rest of the album? Compared to See You in Hell, the songwriting, production, and overall cohesiveness just isn’t there. And yet it makes it all the way up to #5 on this list. Why? Because prime Grim Reaper at their most middle of the road still obliterates most traditional metal bands at their finest. That’s how otherworldly this band was back in the day, and it’s criminal that more don’t talk about them in the same breath as say Saxon or Angel Witch.
4. Onslaught – In Search of Sanity (1989)
UK thrashers Onslaught went through MANY reinventions throughout the course of their initial run. Their earliest demos were pure d-beat. Come 1985’s Power from Hell, they fused that punk filth with the intensity of thrash, crafting a first wave black metal masterpiece along the way. By 1986’s The Force, the punk leanings were abandoned altogether, in exchange for an evil thrash attack à la Slayer or Exodus. And come 1989’s In Search of Sanity, the band shifted towards a headier, melodic thrash sound, similar to what Metallica was doing at the time, but much cooler. Joining the fold was none other than Grimmett, who proved that even a singer with a melodious delivery such as himself could thrash! I don’t care what any pizza thrash dork says about this album being “too long” or “played out”. I will never not circle pit violently to the title track, “Shellshock”, and “Blood upon the Ice” in all their sophisti-thrash glory.
3. Lionsheart – Lionsheart (1992)
The Whitesnake ’87 effect on hard rock cannot be emphasized enough. From that album forward, it became industry standard to balance Zeppelin-flavored hard rockers, melodic metal headbangers, and ethereal power ballads…until the Seattle sound took over in ’91 and wiped out the formula overnight. Lionsheart, Grimmett’s new melodic hard rock/AOR outfit must not have gotten the memo, powering into 1992 with one of the greatest Whitesnake-core albums ever recorded in their self titled debut. Seriously, the fact that mainstream rock radio rejected such classy, virtuosic, and hooky material in favor for bands fronted by mopey mumblers is downright criminal. And why? Because overnight it was no longer deemed “cool”? Get bent. To this day, Lionsheart holds up, and is the epitome of a “crowd pleaser” album.
2. Grim Reaper – Rock You to Hell (1987)
Speaking of albums that should’ve been massive, how on earth did RCA fumble the ball on Grim Reaper’s third and final album, Rock You to Hell? After the underwhelming Fear No Evil, the boys returned with an expertly produced album (Max Norman to the rescue!) where virtually every track had hit single potential. Seriously, go back and revisit this album. I dare you to tell me otherwise. The title track, “Suck It and See”, “Lust for Freedom”, “Waysted Love”: Take your pick. It’s no secret the band were chasing the arena metal leanings of Scorpions and Dokken, but did so in a way that retained their core identity and sound, without coming off as trend-hoping phonies. In a crowded playing field that saw both Whitesnake ’87 and Def Leppard’s Hysteria go diamond, there’s no reason Rock You to Hell couldn’t have done the same.
- Grim Reaper – See You in Hell (1983)
I’m sure you knew as soon as you clicked this list that Grim Reaper’s See You in Hell would be #1. How could it not? It is not just the defining album of Grim Reaper’s career, or Grimmett’s for that matter, but a defining album of the NWOBHM’s tail-end, before glam metal and thrash metal would determine the trajectory for the rest of the decade. Every song is a stone cold, bona fide, scream-along-’til-your-lungs-burst classic. From the frantic “Dead on Arrival” and ominous “Wrath of the Ripper”, to the passionate “The Show Must Go On” and hellish title track, See You in Hell is a traditional metal masterpiece and a half, and anyone who says anything less shouldn’t be trusted. Until next time, maniacs, we’ll “SEE YOU IN HEEEEEELLLLLLL!!!!”.
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