Holy Moses - 'Agony Of Death'

Even though they've been around since the early 1980s, German thrashers Holy Moses have never drawn a huge amount of attention, at least not in North America. They've released some excellent albums over the years, and after taking several years off, reunited in the early 2000s and have been going strong since.

Agony Of Death is typical German thrash, straight ahead and powerful. The tempos are fast, with fine guitar work from Michael Hankel and Oliver Jaath. There's a ton of guest musicians on the CD. Ferdy Doernberg (Axel Rudi Pell) adds keyboards and samples, as well as intros and outros.

Ralph Santolla (Obituary, Deicide), Trevor Peres (Obituary) and Janos Murri (Demolition) lend guitar solos to the mix. Guest vocalists include Henning Basse (Metalium), The Wolf (Darkside) and Schmier (Destruction).

The dozen songs on Agony Of Death clock in at over an hour, and it does get repetitive in spots. But the various guests help add variety to the proceedings, and the songs are very well-written.

Female vocalists in thrash aren't very common, but Sabina Classen is no novelty. She delivers powerful screaming vocals that are aggressive and range from low pitched growls to high pitched screeches. If you're a fan of European thrash and haven't checked out Holy Moses, Agony Of Death is the perfect introduction to this underrated group.

(released October 7, 2008 on Wacken Records)