Holy Moses - Queen of Siam - May, 1986

The thing that immediately jumps out at you when you first spin Holy Moses' debut is Sabina Classen's absolutely shredded vocals. Up to this point, the only female thrash vocalist we've seen is Znowhite's Nicole Lee, who is a fine vocalist in her own right, but Classen is trying stuff that very few men have tried up to this point! I mean, this is 1986 and this chick sounds downright rabid at times!

Unfortunately, the music accompanying Sabina's inhuman cries is not quite up to snuff. The music rarely rises above mid-paced, and unlike a lot of other German bands of the time, it's pretty melodic stuff too. In fact, there are times when an actual melodic vocalist would match the instrumentation much better than Classen's growls -- so much so that they sound almost comical at times. The riffing is really standard stuff for the most part, although there are some tasty leads thrown in from time to time. All in all, this album is only a must-own if you're a die-hard completist, because there are much better examples of thrash out there, like the band's next one.

1. Necropolis
2. Don't Mess Around With the Bitch
3. Devil's Dancer
4. Queen of Siam
5. Roadcrew
6. Walpurgisnight
7. Bursting Rest
8. Dear Little Friend
9. Torches of Hire

Score: 4.5/10