Finished with the Dogs

The second album of Holy Moses made clear that the owner of their record label had chosen a very suitable name. "Aaarrg" describes this work very concisely. Only two words must be added: fantastic killer!

"Finished with the Dogs" reflects a band that is much more focused than it was on its debut. The homogeneous song material leaves no doubt that the protagonists know their aim. Based on anger and determination, the songs barrel along in a breathtaking manner. Holy Moses show a much more mean face than on their debut and the playtime of less than 32 minutes serves as the final proof that the band has a certain weakness for hardcore. The gang shouts during the title track provide only the first indication, but the restlessly stirred and sometimes dominant bass guitar ("In the Slaughterhouse") as well as the minor roles of guitar solos underline that the band tries to connect the best of both worlds. Due to the energetic liveliness of the album, it becomes obvious: back in 1987, Holy Moses had penned a brutal bastard whose components of metal and hardcore met on an almost equal footing.

A song called "Six Fat Women" opens the B side and scores with its very shabby yet somehow funny charm. A good piece, but the most important woman is the seventh lady. Snotty little madam Sabina is in its element. She spits out the words as if she wants to win the award for Germany's most unfriendly woman. (I am sure she has won.) But the male vocals of her then husband Classen and Kusch also add value to the songs. Their well integrated militaristic staccato screams and shouts emphasize the punk approach and increase the level of harshness. Whichever way you look at it, in particular the A side is not interested in taking prisoners. The absolute highlight "Current of Death" with its merciless high speed verses and the mind-boggling chorus ("Ahaahaahaa - Current of death!"), the ingenious riffs of "Criminal Assault" and the highly contagious "In the Slaughterhouse" create a triple blow whose intensity has remained largely unparalleled. Not to mention the final track of the album's first half. The sinister and threatening "Fortress of Desperation" contrasts with the preceding numbers due to its mid-tempo approach without influencing negatively the fabulous impression that the previous tracks have left.

However, "Finished with the Dogs" works as a whole. The well produced work emanates a specific ugliness which is combined with juvenile defiance and the cover painting of Rainer Laws mirrors the fiery approach of the songs. Those of the B side also do not fall by the wayside. For example, "Life's Destroyer" will stick in your mind because of its simple yet very catchy chorus and the vibrant main riff of the inspired closer shows the brilliance of the band for the final time. No doubt, Holy Moses have preferred to release a compact and coherent album instead of creating a monumental work that suffers from a certain number of lukewarm fillers. The result is a unique output. Although I am relatively familiar with the German underground / thrash scene of the eighties, I do not know a comparable full-length. The music of Death in Action had some punk vibes, but nevertheless, their cocktail of punk and metal tasted completely different. Well, uniqueness is no value in itself. The fat asshole in my neighbourhood, whose only friend is his noisy lawn mower, is also unique in his very own way. But that's another story.

In order to avoid misunderstandings: "Finished with the Dogs" marks a unique milestone that has not yet noticeably aged. This album also makes clear that Noise Records did not have a monopoly on the marketing of German underground bands. Small but fine labels like Disaster (Backwater, Angel Dust, Exumer) also played its parts. Naturally, the same goes for the company whose name describes the here reviewed album sufficiently: Aaarrg!

I have to confess, for at least a year after I bought this back in 1989, I thought the singer was a guy. Female vocalists fronting full-on thrash assaults were such a rarity that I had just assumed that the vocalist was a particularly psycho male with a peculiar tone, not exactly high-pitched, but unusually unhinged. In fact, at the time, the only eminent thrash act I was familiar with featuring a female wailer was Sacrilege, and there was no questioning her gender, especially since my introduction to that band was Lynda's clean feminine tone gracing Within The Prophecy. There was also The (not so) Great Kat, but I try not to think about her. Sabina's hoarse ululations were a completely different and wilder animal though, and without a band photo in my bare-bones cassette sleeve, it actually never occurred to me that there were women out there that actually sang like that. Her name should have been a dead giveaway in retrospect, but I just sort of lumped "Sabina Classen" in amongst dudes with somewhat girly sounding names like Kim Ruzz, Kerry King and Grace Jones.

What an exuberant surprise though when I played it for the first time! A complete blind buy thanks to the promise of ferocity advertized by the album cover, I was immediately steamrolled by the sheer intensity of the opening title track without caring whatsoever about the fact that I couldn't decipher what the hell "Finished With The Dogs" was supposed to be about. It's a stomping motherfucker with nasty riffage, lunatic vocals and a ripping fast punked-out chorus. In other words, it's a perfect representation of the cover illustration.

Unlike the muddier engineering job of their debut, each instrument here is mixed razor sharp, allowing the riffs to be clearly discernible, with a guitar tone hovering somewhere between Reign In Blood and Eternal Devastation. In fact, Holy Moses' style and accelerated speed feel more influenced by Slayer and Destruction at this point than the Venom and Motorhead worship of their earlier material. Uli Kusch's drumwork is also more than commendable, and it's no surprise that he had a long and illustrious career after this recording.

The true highlight of Finished With The Dogs is, of course, "Current Of Death". One of my favorite thrash anthems, the frenetic pace combined with Sabina's delirious onslaught of anguish and pure rage is an intense adrenaline rush, the sonic equivalent of a bunch of lumberjacks going batshit with chainsaws in a forest reserve. I love Sabina's throaty screeches here, and I swear that if she actually were a guy and not the fine woman she is, she'd be sporting a dick that could plug up a sperm whale's blowhole. There's also that catchy sing-along chorus, giving the track immediate memorable status, and a couple of quick, entertaining guitar solos mixed loudly with an abrasive tone.

Although the majority of these tracks are high velocity speed-fests, there's a decent amount of divergences into different terrains, with "Fortress Of Desperation" being the most notable shift in gears. Slower and borderline haunting, it's a welcome addition at just the right time to provide a bit of respite from the barrage of fast riffing.

If there's one thing I would alter regarding this album, it would be the song order, simply because tracks three and four are a bit too similar, thus "In The Slaughterhouse", a solid tune on its own, suffers from being the twin sister of the prior track. The final two songs stand out by not having the bulk of their riffs built around the open E chord, and I personally would have switched one of those with "Criminal Assault" to spread out the variety. But other than that minor squabble and the moderately dopey chorus of "Six Fat Women", Finished With The Dogs is a brassy, sassy champion of the German thrash scene that holds up today, receiving more of my attention than most other metal output from 1987.

Whether intentional or not, Finished with the Dogs completely fixes and spins around just about every quality I found lacking in the Holy Moses debut, Queen of Siam. I'm not sure if it's the new rhythm section (Uli Kusch and Andre Chapalier stepping in on the drums and bass respectively), or Sabina and Andy Classen just had a really bad year before its conception, and frankly, I don't care, because this is exactly what I want to hear and it remains their career height even after decades of continued existence. It's like night and day, really: Queen of Siam was too rigid, too plodding and average, like taking apprehensive baby steps down the corridor of aggression; whereas Finished With the Dogs is completely out of control, ruthless and the sort of album you immediately want to spin again once it ends.

Let's start by talking about Sabina Classen, who sounds like she's completely on fire. Outside of Nicole Lee's impenetrable, metallic bite on Znöwhite's underrated masterwork Act of God, this is the single best performance by a female vocalist on a thrash album. Ever. She takes the froth and growl of Queen of Siam to entirely new plateau. Honestly, was someone punching the woman when she was recording this, repeatedly in the gut and face? Was she on fire? Poisoned? I can't think of any other reason a human of the finer sex could produce such sounds, but I'm glad she does, because she spearheads this record with conviction bordering on insanity, easily the equal of any of her German male peers: Schmier, Mille, Tom, I love you all, but you have nothing, and I mean nothing on this fucking performance. I hate to break out the gender card, but why...seriously, why can't we have more of this in extreme metal? Why are we forced to suffer the Disney soundtrack swooing of Cristina Scabbia and Tarja Turunen, when this is a distinct possibility?

But Sabina's not the only Classen who has undergone some sort of evolution here, because Andy is also on point, firing up scores of intense riffs that are not only catchy, but incendiary. There are single songs here with more dynamic fluency and punishing polish than the entirety of Queen of Siam. "Current of Death", one of the greatest European thrashers of them all, is 100% manic thrust, slathered barbarian woman vocals and they even throw in a hooky, wailing 'ah oh eh oh' in the chorus. This is the very definition of bristling, unstoppable thrash metal. If I were to close my eyes right now and dream of a future in which raving hordes of bullet belted, denim jacketed savages were dancing on the ashes of Lil Wayne fans after nuking their polluted cities, this is the soundtrack. Two and a half minutes of explosive paradise, and it's not alone here: "Criminal Assault", "Finished With the Dogs", "Corroded Dreams", "In the Slaughterhouse" and "Military Service" all have the same blazing axe, bass pummeling momentum, with riffs to spare and Kusch having a conniption on his kit the entire time.

But Holy Moses are not just some trick pony, and the album also presents some slower to mid-paced fare with more hooks to hang your weary bones upon. "Fortress of Desperation" weaves a brief narrative and a resonant, distant melody into its gradual escalation. "Six Fat Women" is an angry charger which must revolve around some personal encounter with a bevy of unpleasant obesity, with lyrics a little more poignant that one might fathom. "Life's Destroyer" is almost inescapable, enthusiastic bombardment thrashing which immediately urges fists into the nearest faces available, with a fantastic acceleration in the bridge. "Rest in Pain" is the most laid back track on the album, almost a swagger chaotic thrash/blues piece where light synths and Sabina congregate prior to the incredible burst in the median.

In all, there might be a half dozen individual riffs here that slightly miss their mark, so it falls ever so shy of perfection, but what a fun brush that is. The production is immense, not sounding a day old by today's standards, with a no holds barred roughness that could peel the remaining paint of a scrap field of rusting motorcades. The lyrics are actually quite good for the majority of the album, more insightful than nearly any other band out there of this type (at least for its day). Even the cover image and album title just bleed the voracious qualities that this album enjoys. In my opinion, the only other 1987 German thrash effort surpassing this was Kreator's Terrible Certainty, and that only narrowly skates by on the strength of its manifold, multiplex riffing schemes. Finished With the Dogs certainly sounds better and has better vocals. Sadly, despite the album's relative obscurity, Holy Moses set themselves up so high here that every future album could only disappoint. But let's be real, even having one of these in your career is a feat worthy of the most inflated envy.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Yes, after the somewhat dull but decent speed metal debut Queen of Siam, Holy Moses return with a furious thrash monster. Finished With the Dogs has it all! Well, no high pitched screams obviously, but a relentless thrash assault nonetheless. And there’s much more to enjoy here than just their classic song ‘Current of Death’.

‘Current of Death’ is pretty much the only song on which it seems Sabina Classen actually sings from time to time. But it doesn’t go much further than the melodic ‘ohohohoho’ section on the chorus. The rest of the album: the rawest female thrash vocals possible. One step further and it’d be death metal.

The average pace of the album is high. The polka is all over but there are plenty of breaks to keep things interesting. And Kusch’performance on double bass is outstanding. Yes, Uli Kusch. The guy from Masterplan Helloween, Gamma Ray, Mekong Delta and many more. More than just an able musician you’d agree.

It’s not until the fifth song ‘Fortress of Desperation’ that the band slow down a bit. The song is an omen of what would happen on their next Liechtenstein album. Slow and midpaced technothrash with an eerie atmosphere. After that we have the half slow/half fast ‘Six Fat Women’ which has a lot of S.O.D.-ish riffs and touches on the crossover side of Tankard even but effectively sung into a Holy Moses song by Sabrina.

On ‘Corroded Dreams’ the band really start to pick up pace again and effectively thrashes on. The catchy sing-a-long chorus ‘Life's Destroyer’ is yet another memorable part of the album. But then if you think the album will now stay ‘just’ great towards the end, we’re confronted with another absolute highlight. ‘Rest in Pain’ combines the aggression and speed of the first half of the album with the diverse technotrash on ‘Fortress of Desperation’, resulting in a wonderful blend no thrasher should live without! And if people thought some riffs are interchangeable, think again. The riffing is the centre point and highlight of ‘Military Service’. Andy Classen didn’t become a household name for nothing!

There’s so much happening on ‘Finished With the Dogs’, it’s still fun to listen to after all these years and still sounds relevant, energetic, dynamic and diverse without losing any aggression. A marvellous album!

When Holy Moses debuted with 'Queen Of Siam' in 1986, they were a Thrash-ish band, slightly remniscent of Venom's sloppy kind of upgraded NWOBM. With a female singer who did grunt-like vocals. 'Queen Of Siam' was an okay album, but nothing really special. Nobody would probably have suspected that a year later, they would release an absolute killer album.

'Finished With The Dogs' forgives them for every mistake made on the debut. What Holy Moses does here is bordering on the incredible. From beginning to end, the album is a vicious Thrash fest executed with precision, energy and a shitload of aggression. Sabina Classen's vocals have gained aggression and sincerity, Andy Classen has turned into the absolute top of European rhythm guitar, only equaled by Kreator's Mille Petrozza, and forms a great team with the drumming of Uli Kusch. To say the least, 'Finished With The Dogs' is an enormous step in the right direction.

The opening title track is a powerful punch in the face right away, the mayhem doesn't need any time to build up in little pretty intros and such, it just starts at the same time the track starts. The song is a killer Thrasher with a raw, punky attitude and it's hard to sit still to. Apart from Sabina's kick ass screaming, Andy also does a great job on the vocals in the chorus. I have a hard time keeping up with the words in the chorus, but he does it very, very well.

When that song is over after less than two and a half minutes, there's not much time to breathe, because that's when 'Current Of Death' starts, one of Holy Moses' most popular songs. It's probably one of the few popular Thrash songs ever to come from Europe, but it's rightfully one of them. The tempos are high, almost bordering on insanity, and so is the quality. The sing-along part of the chorus probably has its share in making it a popular one too. And even though Andy Classen mostly stands out as a rhythm guitarist on this album, his guitar solos on this track are absolutely great.

The rest of the album is killer too. A few tracks are a little less memorable than others, but that is nothing else than normal on an album. Standout tracks to me are the two I have mentioned before, the bang-your-head-or-die riff fest 'In The Slaughterhouse', the crazy 'Six Fat Women', the video hit 'Life's Destroyer' and the closing re-recording of 'Roadcrew' from the debut album, which is vastly superior to the original version in terms of precision, production and instrumentation.

Most of the album goes by at high tempos, but the slower songs, such as 'Fortress Of Desperation' and the intro 'Corroded Dreams', add a diversity to the album which it screams for. I doubt if the album was as interesting without those parts.

So here's what you get: high quality European Thrash Metal at sometimes insane tempos. If that is something of your liking, I see absolutely no reason for you to not buy 'Finished With The Dogs'.