Raaaaghhh!
For all of you who can't get enough of the thrash metal revival should ear mark Holy Moses' new album 'Agony Of Death' for your next purchase. Although far from being new thrash upstarts, 'Agony Of Death' contains all the classic thrash trademarks to both satisfy and exhilarate your metal requirements. I also think that if such bands as Bonded By Blood, Toxic Holocaust and Warbringer had produced this album then the thrash metal fans would be pissing their pants in excitement. Holy Moses has delivered a great thrash album just when thrash is becoming more competitive again.
Those who are not in the know, Holy Moses are one of the original thrash bands. They began in late summer 1980 in Aachen, Germany. They may not have had the recognition of the American thrash bands that emerged during the eighties but they've been blasting out thrash for almost thirty years including ten full length studio albums. Sadly, the numerous line up changes have meant their continuity has stuttered. The nineties thrash slump saw vocalist Sabina take time out to form Temple Of The Absurd. She reactivated Holy Moses at the beginning of the New Millennium and is a constant reminder that before Angela Gossow, Sabina Classen was growling, screaming and shouting years before, a fact that she doesn't get much credit for.
There are two versions of this album, the Die-Hard version and the Digi-Pack. The difference being, apart from the packaging, is the Digi-Pack is laced with atmospheric interludes between the songs and adds twenty minutes to the disc's running time. The Die-Hard version is minus this faffing about and just has the head down thrash tunes. I have the Digi-Pack version and although the interludes are nice I think the album wouldn't have suffered without them, nor does it suffer with them. My advice, credit crunch considered, is to go with whichever is cheaper.
In hindsight the Digi-Pack version is a little too long clocking in at sixty-nine minutes long with only forty-eight minutes of thrash but it does break up the fury and bile that Holy Moses deliver on this album. The riffs are nasty, the vocals are even nastier and the whole experience is one of a vicious hyena lashing at your face with unclipped claws. There are many highlights on this disc, 'Imagination', 'Pseudohalluzination' and 'The Cave (Paramnesia)'. All of these hit the thrash mark with relative ease and you'd be fooled into thinking it was a fresh faced bunch of angst ridden attitude fueled teenagers. 'Schizophrenia' is the highlight on offer, or at least my favourite, most notably due to the guest appearance of Metalium's Henning Basse. In the thrash format he comes across as a cleaner Russ Anderson from Forbidden and compliments Sabina Excellently. But I'm biased because I'm a big Henning Basse fan.
The downside to this album is that it relies on its one trick pony of blistering pace and does, after a while, make the running order blend into one and the distinction between the songs begins to fade. On the plus side, if you take any song from this album and played it on its own merit then it's a great example of the genre. A whole album of this type of material is heavy going and difficult to digest (but digestible over increased listens) and a good argument to opt for the Digi-Pack version that allows the interludes to break up the constant thrash barrage. This isn't thrash of the quality of Testament or Exodus but it's a reminder of how heavy and unrelenting thrash can be and still is in the hands of a younger generation. 'Agony Of Death' is impressive and a triumph for a band who could've run out of ideas after twenty-nine years.