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Holy Moses: Redefined mayhem
19/05/14 || gk
Holy Moses formed back in 1980 and this German thrash/ speed metal band hit its creative peak in the late 1980s with the release of “Finished with the dogs” in 1987 and the great “The new machine of liechtenstein” in 1989. Led by the charismatic Sabina Classen who could wail, scream and shout with the best of them, the band has been releasing albums of varying quality through the years and 2014 sees the band release its latest full length “Redefined mayhem”.
Having missed most of the more recent output of the band, I wasn’t too sure what to expect with “Redifined mayhem” and this album is some melodic thrash metal with vague touches of modern European death metal rearing its head every now and then. Shades of latter day Exodus and even Arch Enemy are present on some of the songs and the riffing is mostly modern thrash metal with lots of melodic fills and solos that accentuate the riffs and provide the hooks. Still, it is Classen’s vocals that take centre stage through much of “Redefined mayhem” and this lady still has it. She’s a commanding and domineering presence and at times even makes up for some pedestrian song writing. The backing vocals as and when they appear are a nice touch and add to the texture of the songs here. The one big problem though is that there is a quite a bit of filler material here. With 13 songs coming up to just over 45 minutes, the length isn’t really a problem but too many of these songs sound similar to each other without enough stand out riffs to really set them apart.
Stand out tracks include “Hellhound” and “Undead dogs” both of which come with catchy choruses and some solid riffs while “Fading realities” is aggressive and has a great performance from Classen that sets it apart in spite of its overly modern approach to songwriting. “One step ahead of death” has a slow, brooding start and its mid paced riffing fits in nicely with Classen’s rabid vocals, some nicely done backing vocals and a pretty cool bass line that runs through the song. It’s probably my favourite song on this album mixing aggression and melody in equal measure and the band manages to turn in a song that is quite memorable.
Overall there are more misses than hits on “Redefined mayhem”. Yes, Sabina Classen sounds great through much of this but occasionally her vocals are a bit too aggressive for the music on the offer and maybe deserved a more manic and aggressive thrash delivery. The songs are a bit inconsistent in quality and the mediocrity of the album is broken up by a few good songs here and there.
I’m finding it difficult to whole heartedly recommend “Redefined mayhem” to anyone but I guess if you’re a fan of the band’s more recent offerings then there’s probably something to like here. I think I’ll stick with those two albums I mentioned earlier though.
- Information
- Released: 2014
- Label: Steamhammer
- Website: Holy Moses Facebook
- Band
- Sabina Classen: vocals
- Peter Geltat: guitars
- Thomas Neitsch: bass
- Gerd Lucking: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Hellhound
- 02. Undead Dogs
- 03. Sacred Sorrows
- 04. Triggered
- 05. Into the Dark
- 06. Process of Projection
- 07. Delusion
- 08. Fading Realities
- 09. Liars
- 10. Whet the Knife
- 11. Redemption of the Shattered
- 12. One Step Ahead of Death
- 13. This Dirt
