Artist: The Steve Grimmett Band
   Title: Personal Crisis
   Label: Metal Heaven

So here we have the new project from Steve Grimmett, with a history starting with Grim Reaper, through Onslaught, then on to Lionsheart.  Steve Grimmett is a truly great british talent with an incredible and original vocal style. 

This new album has been produced by the inimitable Dennis Ward, just when does he have time to work with his own band Pink Cream 69, and SGB’s drummer Pete Newdeck.  Feartured guests on the album are Eric Ragno on keyboards and Carsten 'Lizard' Schulz providing additional vocals. 

Opening the album with the blistering 'Karma', guitar, bass and drums thundering from the speakers. The song has power and melody in abundance and Grimmett’s voice commands your attention, setting the tone for the rest of the album.

'Wait Forever' is up next, leading on from the previous track, once again there’s power and melody and Ian Nash shows his diversity with a quirky guitar solo.  Opening with a keyboard and bass passage, 'Freedom' is a midtempo rocker. The guitar commanding the song and driving it along.

Once again we have a keyboard passage to open the next song, 'Lonely', Steve Grimmett giving his best vocal performance at this point and an absolute joy for this reviewer to wrap his ears around.

'Afterglow' is next and a flurry of guitars, bass and drums and a staccato type chorus that draws you into the song.  Next song up is the high octane 'Enemy', blistering guitars make this a melodic maelstrom pouring forth from the speakers.

Commencing with a piano passage, 'Promises' is a driving rocker, the energy and passion of the band flowing through the song.  'Invincible' has a great double bass drum passage from Pete Newdeck, a powerhouse of song echoing the melody and energy of previous tracks.  Keyboards once again introduce the next track, 'Strength', another driving rocker, with outstanding guitarwork from Ian Nash.

Penultimate song on the album, 'Wrath Of The Ripper' has overtones of both Maiden and Priest with the lyrics coming very close to Priest’s 'The Ripper'.  This is a truly classic rock song and will transport the listener back to the heady days of the early 80’s.

Closing the album is the frenetic track 'Fallen', a song filled with bombastic guitars and thundering bass and drums.  The structure of this song comes close to what Saxon are doing with Pete Newdeck giving it his all on those double bass drums.

The high points on this album have to be a combination of the high quality production and songwriting.  The album is dominated by Steve Grimmet’s strong vocals and Ian Nash’s powerhouse guitar, sat on the bedrock of Pete Newdeck’s huge drum sound and Ritchie Walker’s solid bass. 

This is an outstanding album full of melodic hard rock treats, played by a band that are enjoying themselves and hungry to impress.

* Review by Brassy.

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