Review of the Album Terminal Terror by German Thrash Metal Band Holy Moses

Terminal Terror is more than just the 5^thstudio album by the German thrash metal band Holy Moses. It is also a time of change for this band besides a shakeup in the lineup. Vocalist Sabina Classen experiments vocally here using death metal style growls and we also see a partial slowdown in tempo with the song called Two Sides Terror. The song is trying to address the flaws of human nature because unfortunately, mankind has sinned and sometimes resorted to violence to get whatever they want. This was not GOD’s original intent for mankind but since man has the choice to choose between good and evil these kinds of things have happened. This album is the first album after the departure of Uli Kusch. Kusch was replaced by German drummer Guido Richter.

The album isn’t a concept album in the literal sense but it shows us that the life we have been given isn’t always ideal because there is birth, life, pain, and eventually death. It becomes a never ending fight to try and make this life better. There are so many children around this world that are born into societies and countries that have been adversely affected by chaos and terrorism and for these poor children it is a fight to survive as the song called Distress and Death tries to point out. The songwriting is good but this is very unlike Holy Moses to have song titles that have such a negative connotation to them. Adult Machine starts with the sound of a music box as it plays in the background. That’s something we don’t hear from Holy Moses every day. As darkness falls upon us at the end of every day the night is associated with negative topics such as the start of war, death, and darkness not related to the rise of the moon. A mind that is out of control is sure to lead to a more sinful world as the song Malicious Race tries to point out but the lyrics are more complex than the way I am describing this song. The start of the album begins with the song Nothing for my Mum (Mom). The song is about the fact that when we are born into this life and we follow the same teachings of the Bible we become disillusioned because some of us feel that the Bible has failed us.

Terminal Terror may be a weaker album than World Chaos or The New Machine of Liechtenstein in spite of the lineup changes. Holy Moses is still better than Slayer because they have more melody in their songs and they don’t rely solely on speed to show or prove that they are a thrash metal band. The album ends with the fast song called Tradition of Fatality which is basically a song that talks about how many spent on the various wars around the world is like Christmas for the businesses because of the fact that war results in more money for armies and defense contractors. The strongest songs in this album are Nothing for My Mom, Creation of Violation and Tradition of Fatality.