Metal Mythos: GRIM REAPER

I am [Music] the new wave of British heavy metal of the late 70s and early 80s was to put it mildly a legend generator the immortal maiden the murderous Motorhead the savage savage Raven sex and Avenger throw a dart mule hit a kick-ass deposit but while many of the aforementioned past and future metal mythos luminaries called their influences from diverse Sonic strata from the blues of angel which the obvious Zeppelin worship of early Saxon Grim Reaper however were pure priests absolute unrepentant no-frills fist pumpin metal with no identity issues whatsoever my reasons for fashioning this edition of the mythos were twofold after hearing of the recent health laws of religion Derry frontman Steve gribbit who upon suffering a diabetes-related foot infection in South America had a large portion of his leg amputated I felt myself stirred to action we'll discuss this more near the end of this video but anyone who knows me knows I have never shield I don't salute my fanboys for patreon donations I don't even have a [ __ ] patreon I don't [ __ ] and I don't advertise but if there's a more worthy crowdfunding endeavor they put a heavy-metal legend back on his feet after being asked but by his insurance company and stranded in South America I've certainly never seen it the link is in the description consider donating buy a few records and maybe a shirt from their website which after hearing their unceasingly savage discography I suspect may be an outright [ __ ] reflex the other reason of course is I wanted to see if I could devote a mythos episode to a band I'm not particularly familiar with and until just a few weeks ago outside of a tune or two I wouldn't have known Grim Reaper from Grim Fandango what I discovered however is a leaning power of consistency abandoned album after album year after year continues to [ __ ] shred they dominated the decade of the 80s and since returning through hails of health I are just last year under the lawsuit friendly moniker of Steve Griffiths Grim Reaper they appeared to have picked right to [ __ ] up where they left off without further delay let's dive dick first in a new wave of British heavy metal maestro's grim [ __ ] Reaper what is the grim reaper music Gremory music you could say it's metal with melody I think that's very scoring here at the moment we all liked it or I especially like to put a lot of melody into what we do and I think we succeeded in that sofa [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is it true that the band was discovered as part of a battle of a band yeah we won two-bathroom the bands in succession the first one one of the judges was a guy called royal woods from a bank or was it so that got us a recording that got us in the recording studio where Judas Priest recorded in many ways Grim Reaper was the right band at the wrong time materializing in the mid 80s by the time the band's inaugural last punch see you in hell hit the shelves the new wave of British heavy metal had already hit the skids with many of its most striking disciples like angel which an Avenger already fading fast if not outright deceased and even many of the more successful acts like Saxon were already struggling to cope with an industry suddenly overtaken by radio friendly Def Leppard metal and then the Covenant kick-ass Grim Reaper kick down the front [ __ ] door with a base of a record signed a hole-in-the-wall Punk label evany records the very same outfit that would ultimately be largely responsible for the annihilation of the very same band the production on this record lapses well into low-five territory which for late 70s early 80s NWOBHM was badass squared but for more polished transparent priest worshipers like Grim Reaper probably goes a long way to explaining why such an exceptional record went largely undiscovered throughout the decade in fact until beavis and butt-head strung together a procession a lazy fat jokes for their fellow grunge humping goofs in the 1990s most people weren't even aware Grim Reaper's even recorded a [ __ ] video look at it babe yeah it's Facebook everything I think these guys played at the State Fair last year yeah they won a blue ribbon in the pig contest what happened in 90s nonsense still nearly a decade distant it was up to the band themselves to craft a killer debut and kill if [ __ ] does [Music] [Music] well [Music] [Applause] axé lawyer Nick BOE cots savages the six string with a laser precision to rival even Titans of the genre like Brian May George Lynch or even eddie van halen but the weakest link by far sorry fanboys is the dog [ __ ] drum work of Lee Harris [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] kick drum or John Goodman's heartbeat we report you decide fortunately Lee wasn't long for this band apart from a few air and suck-ups he stays well the [ __ ] out of the way of a song writing which is exceptional by the by embracing brevity over braggadocio see you in hell hit hard without once wearing out its welcome falls out British metal with fists held high and among the strongest opening salvos from any band of their era by it lovingly caress it but god damn listen to it next so once we sure I'm backstage at White Zombie concert and my judges there he said he's like this big on this looks like in return early on Walter said to me have do you want have some fun with this now said sure and I can't repeat the words I said because you are TV but I had said you effing see how they you do this to me right but I couldn't keep a straight face so I was just laughing I started laughing on to me later and said to him so if you thought that first video was funny you should do the second one we had an amphibious landing craft and the serving I thought it was great what legal prison would be toxic Avengers like I'll find them yeah like this guys suck so bad that because our concert in the armored vehicle no that's my harem he looks a little better in this video I'm like he doesn't look it ugly yeah nevermind yeah okay too bad he's not good-looking like me [Music] [ __ ] relentless it's impressive in opening outing and see you in hell was fear no evil surpasses it in every respect more directly or polished with not one frak clocking in over five minutes and most not exceeding a 3-minute mark Pesci is the clap and twice as hard to shake if you dare to spin this record once he will fuse to your Victrola for [ __ ] eternity best of all seeing as Lee Harris couldn't find a beat if he was picked up in a taproot orchard Grim Reaper and listed the infinitely superior mark Simon the results were as immediate as they were merciless [Music] the way with [Applause] and the upgrade isn't the sole domain of the drums everything about the band is level the [ __ ] up since the last record Steve Griffith piercing shriek is pitch perfect Nick Botox guitar screams from track to track in the basis inaudible is [ __ ] always sorry bassist learn to play a [ __ ] guitar and maybe you won't have to make a nine-to-five career out of pulling a drummers sloppy seconds better still with additional support in America from the AMA part CA they had an actual budget and could spring for a proper promo video [ __ ] in medieval finery Pyro's hot [ __ ] and honest - let me spike the speckled hovertank but with all those samolians going to siege engines it's just a shame they didn't sprinkle some on the [ __ ] monster costume the eponymous Grim Reaper is apparently played by Joan Rivers after an acid bath and what in the [ __ ] is this supposed to be [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] don't judge Lou Ferrigno needed to work in the 80s no no actually wait I think I've seen this episode of Fawlty Towers hello I am Yugi hello how are you hello major Haim today our Rangers are taste notwithstanding fear no evil is a stellar second relief laying unrepentant waste to the very concept of the dreaded sophomore slump better still it corrects every other band disconcerting lack of cover art featuring silicon's driving motorcycles a stained glass [ __ ] windows valiant attempt breaker but no cigar if there's one Achilles heel as a production while improve isn't quite there yet the grim reaper we're about to fix the [ __ ] out [Music] we're framing me sadly by this point the record company's avaricious advances had gone from heavy petting to five-alarm ass [ __ ] with label ebony Records suing the band into oblivion for effectively [ __ ] nothing resulting the untimely dissolution of one of the most promising bands of the era as a result you know we were signed to a label in England called evany records where they breached the contract so we left and went to RCA full-time then within within week we were being sued by evany records so that's basically why just dropped off the charts because nobody was interested in taking on a band Oh got that sort of trouble but they went bust and claimed us as an asset so the British Treasury has got half it fortunately the ass-munch in question fared about as well as a [ __ ] bag in a Charles Bronson film we we understand was a big lawsuit issue with a record company in England which who ripped us off but he ended up being exposed by a national TV show he went bankrupt literally overnight right but the badness that had already dissolved then and they'd already moved me to America but we're still the band were student world and yet another lawsuit with their American distributor RCA Records when an alarming proclivity for losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties right to [ __ ] up their nasal cavities Hank don't judge it was the 80s even my household pets had a coke habit and sadly these days of our lives dog [ __ ] overshadowed not only a superb record but one many grim reaper fans argue was in fact the finest of their career for the melody to the metal every solitary element of the Bands previous releases its present upon the first headcount but it's what's different that defines rock you to hell and the name of that divergence is some actual [ __ ] production [Music] thanks to an engineer with marginal [ __ ] competence turning the knobs instead of yanking there's rock you to hell took grim reaper from NWOBHM aspirant to abandon at least sonically were absolutely worthy you mentioned in the same breath as a like some Motorhead priests insects and better yet they broke into film and by film I mean Anna loosest possible skinemax after 1 a.m. pepperoni nipple pacemaker star sense of the word [Music] [Applause] with catchy or choruses and more pristine production rock you to hell serves as something in the sonic rainbow bridge between grim reaper and steve grim it's more melodic ladder your hair metal project lion's heart for all the [ __ ] good it did with ebony and RCA lawyers riding a luge down the base of their ass tracks by 1988 Grim Reaper had effectively dissolved just another name on the Olympian pile of talented metal acts that failed the subsistent at the flannel plated 90's steve grim it went on to Front English fresh legends on flood one of my very favorite bands in the genre from the record on an insulting ly underrated power thrash offering entitled in search of sanity [Music] in Sartre [Music] by the dawn of the 90s with fresh withering up and blown the [ __ ] away along with anything the [ __ ] else worth listening to he'd formed a band called Lions heart who released his string of spectacular albums throughout the decade and beyond guitarist Nick bow Cod for whatever reason effectively faded from view working with guitar companies doing demonstrations and design not a bad gig Manyu but for a technician of his caliber I mean if Avril Lavigne can get paid to play guitar what in the actual [ __ ] music industry is he's what technology no I helped with tunnel problems okay and he can't feel these two fingers and he can't do anything with them so that came to a head a few days ago and he calls so seductresses good rested and then after a handful of one-off festival reunions the gauntlet was thrown Steve gribbit albeit with an entirely different [ __ ] band at his back was reforming grim [ __ ] Reaper shorter kinda your band broke up for the first time in 1988 we had a lot of legal [ __ ] going on and that came to the demise of the band unfortunately Murs there would see Grim Reaper laying dormant but yet like a massive throbbing black Phoenix you have risen from the ashes why have you continued to carry the Grim Reaper flag into battle after all these years audience demanded I think that's why we're back because there aren't the bands are not writing old-school rock and the kids love it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Nick didn't want me to go out with with the name Grim Reaper he just won na so that size we'll look you know what I can call his speed limits Grim Reaper mean you know I did write half the stuff you know he didn't have a problem with that he just didn't want to have he didn't want me to go out as Grim Reaper because he didn't think that it was and of course it wasn't because it wasn't the original members if you wanted to be exceptionally Petty and pedantic after an errant glance of the lineup you could easily dismiss this as being more like lion's heart 3.0 and Grim Reaper 2.0 as far as this aviator where an asshat is concerned if it's merciless Metallica melodic its grim goddamn Reaper by any other name and listening to the sterling shredder II a former Lionheart Act wielder Ian Nash it's hard to muster even the beginnings of a [ __ ] complaint [Music] [Applause] [Music] so for you to vacuum the remains of your face from the [ __ ] floor Steve grim its grim reaper may not be sonically identical to the original incarnation of the band but with a shred fest like this I dare you to give a [ __ ] grimace voice has been astonishingly well preserved in his loose conglomeration of former Steve Grimek ban and lions hard players will have you head banging your ass clean the [ __ ] off with positive reviews being fired the band like a critical [ __ ] chaingun it seemed Grim Reaper were poised for a second run and then the tragedy and sadly the inspiration for this video struck from the blue finale a year now he had died vesicles on his foot he's been seeing the nurse every week he didn't really look after it and he's had no problems with it whatsoever and it was really healing very very nicely before they went South America we call ten days something happened for that I don't know what and that is what got infected and they said we've got to get you into surgery now we can't wait the infection has already spread from your toes your knee on your right leg and if we don't operate now you will live your whole leg if not more really I just can't wait to get out fit to start getting that you know a new leg and getting sort of getting back at that see my fans you know and obviously to thank all of you guys that I want to do that personally and not only did grimace leg have to be amputated his insurance company refused on the basis of a technicality to cover the cost and so he's left bedridden and stranded in a South American country monetarily unable to pay for the treatment he needs as rockstars the world over from former venom frontman Tony the demolition man goin to Neil Turbin rally and fundraise the fight he's far from alone the man is still in a very desperate situation so mythos faithful you know I've never asked you to support a Kickstarter a crowdfunding campaign before and I'm not necessarily breaking that trend now but if you dig the tunes and find yourself so inclined let's get one of the greatest front men in Rock back in action and crank it out Grim Reaper goodness even if you don't want to donate hit up their official site grab some merch or a CD you heard their music by now so you know damn well it's worth the [ __ ] shekels until I emerge once more for the myths of the mythos i'm razörfist wishing a fervent Godspeed to Steve Griffin vocalist of one of my new favorite bands grim [ __ ] Reaper missiles out [Music] and I haven't you can't go to Lotus [Music] coffee bubbles

Channel: undefined

Views: 101,110

Rating: 4.9390101 out of 5

Keywords: Grim Reaper, Steve Grimmett, Nick Bowcott, Dave Wanklin, Lee Harris, NWOBHM, Metal Mythos, Grim Reaper Retrospective, Heavy Metal, Saxon, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ian Nash, Onslaught, The Rageaholic, RazörFist

Id: pp_ZK9vldfY

Length: 19min 29sec (1169 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 19 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Xecotcovach_13]

Thanks for the post.

When is this twat gonna do one for Bathory?

[u/U-94]

Razorfist always makes me wanna revisit some stuff. I had that "Greatest Hits" album 17 years ago but never dove any deeper into Grim Reaper.

[u/Ogre3030]

"That's not Wolverine Butt-head!"