Grim Reaper

Led by Nick Bowcott's inventive guitar lines and the commanding vocals of Steve Grimmett, Grim Reaper delivered hard-edged yet tuneful British heavy metal that captured the dominant trends of the mid-1980s. Across three studio albums the band placed its well-received debut See You in Hell in 1983 before disbanding in 1988. Grimmett revived the Grim Reaper name in 2006 and resumed live work as Steve Grimmett's Grim Reaper. The project eventually reverted to the original Grim Reaper billing and entered the studio for Walking in the Shadows, issued in 2016 as the first collection of new material in almost thirty years.

Nick Bowcott formed Grim Reaper near Droitwich, England, around 1979. After cycling through several lineups he settled on vocalist Paul DeMercado, bassist Phil Matthew, and drummer Angel Jacques long enough to contribute the track "The Reaper" to the influential 1981 compilation Heavy Metal Heroes. The song's heavy riffs and unrefined production helped it stand apart from other New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts on the album, which in turn secured more club dates throughout the United Kingdom. A year later the band secured a deal with the independent label Ebony Records after winning studio time in a battle-of-the-bands contest and submitting a three-song demo. By then Bowcott had again rebuilt the roster, installing Steve Grimmett on vocals, Dave Wanklin on bass, and Mark Simon on drums.

Grim Reaper's debut See You in Hell appeared in November 1983. Though considerably more refined than the earlier single, the record initially drew little interest from European listeners who saw the energetic but conventional metal style as unremarkable. American audiences, however, found the album's blend of accessibility and aggression refreshing when RCA licensed it for worldwide release the following year; it ultimately moved a quarter-million copies and reached number 73 on the U.S. charts. Extensive American touring ensued, and the band's leather-and-demonic imagery prompted unfounded conservative-media claims of Satanic leanings that paradoxically lent the group a rock-star aura by the end of the year. Back in England the musicians needed only nine days to complete their 1985 follow-up Fear No Evil, an album that matched its predecessor in quality yet failed to match its sales. RCA soon lost interest, stalling the band's American momentum.

Bowcott and his bandmates spent much of 1986 rebuilding, and after drummer Lee Harris joined they prepared the pivotal 1987 album Rock You to Hell. Early U.S. chart movement took the record to number 93 before sales collapsed. Abandoned soundtrack plans involving several tracks hastened the group's dissolution, after which Grimmett briefly sang with power-metal act Onslaught and later launched Lionsheart, while Bowcott wrote regular columns for Circus Magazine and various guitar periodicals.

In 2006 Grimmett reassembled the band without Bowcott under the Steve Grimmett's Grim Reaper banner for a handful of concerts that expanded into full tours and festival appearances. Recording for a new studio album began in 2013, yielding Walking in the Shadows, released in 2016 on Dissonance Productions. Three years afterward the same lineup delivered the fifth studio album At the Gates. Steve Grimmett passed away on August 15, 2022, at age 62.