"I'm not afraid of death, but I'd like to live longer!"

Holy Moses' frontwoman Sabina Classen discusses her band's new album and the upcoming first-ever show in Bulgaria...

Vassil Varbanov: Hello Sabina, how are you?

Sabina Classen: Hello, I'm really fine, thanks very much!

V. V.: It's been a couple of days after Holy Moses' first-ever concert in Bulgaria has been confirmed now.

S. C.: Yeah, finally! I'm really happy!

V. V.: Who are going to tour with Benediction?

S. C.: We got a mail from Benediction - they were searching for a band of the same age, and also people who like to drink on tour, ha-ha, and having party and fun! We have the same booking agency, M.A.D., and they told me, "The Benediction guys are asking whether you'd like to go on tour with them", and I said, "Man, that is perfect!", because our album is coming out in Europe on September 29, and the tour starts on September 24, so everything works out really perfect. So we have the whole first month with the release of "Agony of Death", the tour with Benediction and... Yeah, it's really perfect!

V. V.: You just mentioned that "Agony of Death" will be released in almost a month. Why do you start the promotional campaign so early?

S. C.: There are a lot of bands and a lot of new albums coming out, so we need a long time to promote the CD in order really everybody to get to know about it.

V. V.: You'll be releasing "Agony of Death" in several different versions, including one special edition with bonus tracks and special features between the songs, and one "die hard" version without intros and outros...

S. C.: Yes, because there's some kind of concept behind the new album. "Agony of Death" means to have a fight against death - I mean the whole life is a fight against death. On the other side, to be such a long time in the metal business like Holy Moses is - 27 years now - is also some sort of an agony of death for the band. All the genres change, the metal business changed a bit... It's an agony of death. That's why we decided to make it more like a kind of movie - with a lot of pictures and music. That's why we did these intros and outros between the songs in order to show that there is a concept, a deeper meaning. However, I know a lot of fans don’t like that stuff and want to have just in-your-face music, without intros and outros, that's why we decided to make this second version. Besides, we also have a special double vinyl version with bonus tracks, with only one intro and outro on each side of the record. This makes three totally different versions of the album.

V. V.: Why have you waited 27 years to do such a concept album? Does it mean that today you're ready to say that you're not afraid of death?

S. C.: No, I'm not afraid of death. If you live longer, you get so many impressions from the world. As a member of a band I'm going around the whole world and meat so many nice people, that I can say that I have live two or three lives already... I mean I've seen so many things that other people could see only in at least 2-3 lives... It's like a view in the past, but also a view into the future - I'm not afraid of death, but I'd like to live longer, ha-ha! However, you also have kind of mental death. I was losing some band members in the last years, because they got mental problems because of all the business and private life and stuff... So it's like a view back into the future to feel that life is an agony of death. When you're a kid, everything is fun as you don't see the serious side of life, but when you grow older, you see how hard life is, so that's the reason why this album is coming out after such a long time.

V. V.: Technically speaking, what has been interesting while recording the album?

S. C.: It was really interesting that we could record it for a long time. We started making the songs more than one year ago. During the recordings we went on tour with Obituary, which was also interesting, because we could get the feeling from the road into the studio. This time we produced the CD on our own, with our guitar player Michael Hankel in his own studio, so we had time to record the vocals for six months! This was perfect, because as a vocalist you need time to "tune your instrument", which is really hard sometimes. Your voice sound one way if you're in good mood than on another day... So now you can hear all the different voices of Sabina on one album.

V. V.: I know you have many Bulgarian friends. Does this upcoming show in Sofia on October 17 have any special meaning for you?

S. C.: Oh, yes, definitely. We have such a deep following for many years in Bulgaria. The head of the fan club is Krindo, and there are many people I met when I was in Bulgaria two years ago, and I could see how many fans we have although we've never played in Bulgaria. October 17 will be something really special for me, and I'm looking forward to meeting all my friends in Sofia and having a good party!

V. V.: Do you know what else is Krindo doing now?

S. C.: No, but I saw he has translated our whole website in Bulgarian, so that everybody cn read it on www.holymoses.de in Bulgarian as well. I hope we'll speak with him on October 17 about the website and the fan club. You know, the Holy Moses fan club is a worldwide organization now called Bloodbound Alliance. It's great, because they are all working really hard for Holy Moses - it's such a great feeling to have such a following coming from Argentina, The Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland... It's really amazing!

V. V.: Regarding Krindo, he's very much into organizing paintball tournaments.

S. C.: Ok, ha-ha!

V. V.: You are a lady in an extreme metal genre. Does this open doors for you or it's just the opposite?

S. C.: I'm doing it for such a long time now so it's not a problem anymore for us, but in the beginning it was the opposite - it was not opening the doors, because nobody was believing in me that I was having really that voice. People thought that Holy Moses have success only because they have girl in the band, but then they saw that we're doing really strong all over these years, and now they know and respect that I'm doing it for 27 years, that it's not a joke and I'm really earnest... and that I'm really heavy metal!

V. V.: There are many ladies in the metal world of today. Who of these girls is your best friend?

S. C.: Doro Pesch. I know her for such a long time, and she'll celebrate her 25 anniversary now. Actually, tonight I'll go into the studio and record a song together with her for her anniversary party in Germany. She's a really good friend of mine.

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock