Review by Felix on May 28, 2023.

In my humble opinion, Germany’s thrash history is the only one that is almost on a par with that of the United States. More or less immortal legends have influenced legions of later thrash and black metal formations. But let’s look the truth in the eye: they did it with their early works. “Chemical Invasion” kills “Two-Faced”, “Pleasure to Kill” laughs about “Hate über alles” and “Infernal Overkill” destroys “Spiritual Genocide” with great ease. So when it comes to “Redefined Mayhem”, you better do not expect another “Finished with the Dogs”. Of course, a “Hellhound” and some “Undead Dogs” show up again and the latter have really cool riffs and lines stacked in their dog mausoleum. However, 30 years after the first steps, the juvenile energy does not reappear. We learn: even Sabina cannot deny the rules of ageing. To be honest, that is frightening and reassuring at the same time.

Sabina hisses, shrieks and rattles as ever, while the faceless instrumentalists deliver mostly solid thrash metal of the predictable kind. A few number of pieces you forget before they have even faded away (“Sacred Sorrows”) and it is also true that a chorus totally fails every now and then (“Process of Projection”). The male background vocals do not fully convince on this album, they rather damage the unique selling point of Holy Moses. In addition, the band likes to sound scratchy and unruly, which is expressed in bulky rhythms. Too bad that they are at the expense of the flow of some songs. “Liars”, for example, starts with a dynamic riff, but its power gets lost during the bridge and the crossover-like chorus. Anyway, it is not only the clean yet aggressive production that delivers some positive aspects. Holy Moses avoid the rough crash landing because of some good moments.

For example, from time to time the spirit of “Near Dark” shimmers through the guitar work and appears like a signature. I also appreciate that the quartet does not run out of breath. “Delusion” is a late (little) highlight with its rubbery guitar riff. I know albums with less good tracks on position eleven. By the way, Sabrina is not spared self-knowledge in this song – “my past is what I am”. Guess this is not totally wrong; only in musical terms, of course. So at the end of the day, “Redefined Mayhem” is an album with ups and downs that lies stylistically in close proximity to its predecessors. The guitar work is cool, the drumming sounds pretty mechanic and the vocals are Sabina. “Undead Dogs” is the title I can recommend most due to its great chorus. Here the Liechtenstein riffing becomes superior. But the gloomy, dragging “Into the Dark” is able to spread an attractive aroma as well. However, unlike some works from the eighties, "Redefined Mayhem" has not become a widely used source of inspiration.

Rating: 6.9 out of 10

Review by Michael on April 3, 2024.

Two years after Slave Driver Dead Head (still one of the most underrated thrash bands in the whole universe and probably in all parallel universes) from the Netherlands offered a new EP called Shadow Soul with eight brand new tracks to celebrate their 35th band anniversary. To call this an EP is pretty hard though, considering how many bands released less than 30 minutes running time as a full-length album.

So here we go with a total running time of around 28 minutes and pretty much all catchiness and aggression in the songs. Not too much has changed in the style of the quartet but what is quite remarkable is that they found back to the groovy parts I missed a little bit on Slave Driver. A song like 'Serpents Of Fame' starts as a fantastic mid-tempo stomper with many simple yet effective riffs to bang along with and vocalist Ralph de Boer who is on board again since Slave Driver spits a lot of hatred into the microphone. In the ongoing process of the song the guys pick up the pace and so the serpent reminds pretty much of Dark Angel. But not DA only are a source of inspiration but also old Kreator like in 'The Age Of Hype' (which also was the first single from the EP) clearly shows. The guitar leads sound very much like the Germans did back on their albums up to “Extreme Aggression” and of course there are some similarities in Ralphs high vocals, too. When you listen to his other band, Bodyfarm, you couldn't guess that this is the same person because his vocals sound so so much different in both bands. With 'Defiance' and 'Dark Emptiness' there are also two short instrumental tracks on the album. While 'Defiance' is a quite fast and catchy introduction for 'The Age Of Hype' with some riot samples in the background, 'Dark Emptiness' is the outro for 'Shadow Soul' so to speak. This one turned out pretty much atmospheric and very different from the usual style Dead Head play. Maybe you pick up some acoustic stuff from “The New Order” by Testament and then you get what I mean. The other tracks I didn't mention in detail are also kept very thrashy and much more accessible than some of the stuff on Slave Driver. If I had to compare it to some previous Dead Head stuff, I would day it is like Haatland which is my second favorite Dead Head album after the fantastic Dream Deceiver.

So, let's celebrate the 35th anniversary of the very likable Dutch guys by listening to this album and (because it is legal to smoke weed in the Netherlands) maybe do it while smoking some pot like the mummy on the cover does. But only if you were born when Kill Division was released already please!

Rating: 9 out of 10 shadow souls