I started my journey into heavy metal with the goal to explore all of the niches and to look into bands and styles I did not know - fully aware that there might be some that are not quite my cup of tea. So far I've been positively surprised as I liked nearly all the bands I've researched so far and I've been playing their songs on a daily basis for fun. Today's blog article features a band that I will very likely not listen to on a daily basis as it is a bit too aggressive and stressful for my ears.
While Holy Moses is not quite what I can enjoy listening to - they deserve to be mentioned in my project. For several reasons: They were formed in 1980 as one of the first thrash metal bands in Germany, pioneering Teutonic thrash metal togehter with Destruction, Kreator, Sodom and Tankard. They featured a married couple in their first stable line-up (Guitarist Andy Classen and vocalist Sabina Classen) and one of the few thrash metal female vocalists - Sabina Classen.
Holy Moses had many line-up changes, the most stable band member is vocalist Sabina Classen. She's been with the band from 1981 - 1994 and then again after the band' hiatus from 2000 - today. Before I played the first song by Holy Moses, I already new the band had a front woman. And what I heard was not was I expected. Sabina Classen's vocals are totally insane. Her range goes from guttural grunts to shrieks and the aggressiveness and evilness in her voice is mind-boggling.
The musical style of Holy Moses is categorised thrash metal but they are close to hardcore (gang shouts are frequent in their songs) and the punk-element in their music is very clear. Their music also features elements of speed metal, black metal and death metal, especially when it comes to Sabina's singing style.
The band's debut album Queen of Siam was released in 1986 and it is considered one of the weakest albums of the band, with bad production and only mediocre riffing and song structures. Nevertheless, the eponymous song Queen of Siam was one of the few songs I actually enjoyed listening to, so I put this one on my playlist. When listening to Queen of Siam, you can clearly hear the influences the NWOBHM had on Holy Moses, the intro part could also be a Motörhead song.
The second studio album Finished with the Dogs was released in 1987 and was well-received by fans and critics all around the world. The album is considered a masterpiece of thrash metal: incredibly fast, precise and aggressive music. The songs are short and need no intros, they are in-your-face music right from the first second. The second song on the album Current of Death is one of Holy Moses' most popular songs.
Until today Holy Moses have released 12 studio albums and they are still active although Sabina Classen is now not only shouting in a metal band but also working as a non-medical healing practitioner for psychotherapie.