Band:	Holy Moses
Album:	Invisible Queen
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	April 2023

Disc I [Invisible Queen]
01. Downfall Of Mankind
02. Cult Of The Machine
03. Order Out Of Chaos
04. Invisible Queen
05. Alternative Reality
06. The New Norm
07. Visions In Red
08. Outcasts
09. Forces Great And Hidden
10. Too Far Gone
11. Depersonalized
12. Through The Veils Of Sleep

Disc II [Bonus CD - Invisible Friends]
01. Downfall Of Mankind [feat. Marloes Voskuil]
02. Cult Of The Machine [feat. Bobby Ellsworth]
03. Order Out Of Chaos [feat. Diva Satanica]
04. Invisible Queen [feat. Ingo Bajonczak]
05. Alternative Reality [feat. Tom Angelripper]
06. The New Norm [feat. Chris Staubach]
07. Visions In Red [feat. Chris Staubach]
08. Outcasts [feat. Rægina]
09. Forces Great And Hidden [feat. Leif Jensen]
10. Too Far Gone [feat. Andreas Geremia]
11. Depersonalized [feat. Daniela Karrer]
12. Through The Veils Of Sleep [feat. Rykers]

Holy Moses — they're back! And after nearly a decade in the dark, Sabina Classen shows that she is no longer The Invisible Queen of thrash.

Established back in 1980 and since going on to release another 10 albums following their 1986 debut Queen Of Siam, you can't argue the fact that there are very few bands out there as experienced in thrash as Holy Moses. Fronted by the impressive female vocalist Sabina Classen, Holy Moses began their career in Germany during a time when thrash was most prominent in the world of metal music. Germany had a particular type of thrash scene that stood out from the more popular Bay Area thrash scene during that era, a style known to be generally more aggressive and perhaps more technical. This is commonly known now as teutonic thrash.

Now, I'm sure you've all heard of Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and Tankard. Well, Holy Moses were also established alongside those acts (and, in fact, pre-dating them all). Despite this, however, Holy Moses have always seemed to be a band trapped in the shadow of those big names, to many of us at least. Well, here they still are, over forty years after their establishment, and we find ourselves listening to their twelfth release, Invisible Queen, fourteen years after they presented us with their previous release Redefined Mayhem.

How does this album stack up in this new era of thrash and after several new changes in line-up? Well, firstly, you'll be glad to know that Sabina hasn't lost her touch. Her vocals are still just as aggressive, charismatic and energetic as they were thirty-plus years ago. Secondly, this band certainly doesn't hold back from their traditional aggressive and ferocious roots. Throughout this twelve-track album, at just shy of fifty minutes, I can't say there's too much experimentation going on. Despite falling short of catchiness, it's still a fairly simplistic, traditional, in-your-face thrash approach, just as it was back in the early days. Great news if you're a traditional thrasher, and nothing more.

The album starts off all guns blazing with the opening track “Downfall Of Mankind”, which really shows that the band mean business. Their no-nonsense approach, through frenziedly savage, breakneck riffing and relentless, aggressive tempo provided by the rhythm section, will take your breath away. There are no stand-out melodies from the riffing as such, but it's the relentless speed, aggression and technicality which helps drive the album's ferocious energy forward, rather than catchiness and melody.

The instrumental elements, from the riffing and lead breaks to the powerful bass sound and furious drumming pounding away, truly help compromise Sabina's vocal style. Her aggressive vocals really feed off the energy provided by the instrumentation. To think Sabina is nearly sixty years old and still manages to pull off such a performance is truly staggering. Whilst vocalists much younger seemingly drop in quality, Sabina simply hasn't done so. This is inspirational to both female and male thrash vocalists across the wide metal world.

So, the vocal performance is excellent, and the ridiculously ferocious tempo and aggressiveness behind the music certainly matches the vox, but if you're expecting catchy songwriting and memorable melodious riffs, you'll struggle to find the sort here. What you do get, though, is almost fifty minutes of pure, aggressive, insanely fast, no-nonsense, old-school German teutonic thrash.