UMUR "Queen of Siam" is the debut full-length studio album by German speed/thrash metal act Holy Moses. The album was released through Aaarrg Records in May 1986. It´s actually the first album released on the, at the time, new Aaarrg Records label. Holy Moses were founded as far back as in 1980 and they had released three official demos and recorded quite a few rehearsal tapes before releasing "Queen of Siam".

The music on the album is a heavy metal influenced thrash metal style (usually refered to as speed metal). It´s sort of like early eighties teutonic thrash meets early eighties Motörhead. There´s even a track titled "Roadcrew", which is obviously a tribute or at the very least a reference to Motörhead. It´s raw, it´s heavy and it´s very much to the point. For a female vocalist Sabina Classen has quite the caustic delivery. Today it would probably be called a blackened vocal delivery, but back then this was just considered really raw and aggressive. She really is a convincing vocalist and her German accent provides the music with an awkward charm. The rest of the band members are also well playing. The sound production is raw and powerful. Considering this was released in 1986, the sound production is actually very well sounding.

It would probably be a lie to say this sounds particularly original. Already in 1986 there were plenty of other artists playing this style. Some better, some worse. "Queen of Siam" is still overall a pretty strong debut album by Holy Moses and while some tracks could have been slightly more memorable a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature One step ahead...

Genre: thrash metal

Formed in 1980, Holy Moses is possibly the oldest thrash metal band around... I mean, it's older than thrash metal itself. Thus, one might expect the band to pursue a more retro thrash metal style on their latest album "Redefined Mayhem".

That is not the case, as the German band embrace a fierce style of modern thrash metal, which is primarily uptempo and aggressive. While capturing energy of classic thrash metal, Holy Moses lean slightly towards a quasi-technical approach at times, not unlike what you might hear from the hands of Dark Angel. The tone is pretty much set with the opening track 'Hellhound', so, if you like that one, you are going to like the entire album.

Virtually all tracks on the album are strong, which reflects professional songwriting skills and musicianship, which is of course also reflected in the solid performance on the album. The band's central member, Sabine Classen, is definitely a thrash metal veteran, whose harsh vocals rival those of any of her male peers. Her vocals and the music itself are backed by a tight and modern production, which suits the compositions and performance very well.

Holy Moses' "Redefined Mayhem" is a solid slab of aggressive modern thrash metal, and fans of the genre will definitely miss out on something if they don't give it a listen.