T.A.S.S.

T.A.S.S. stands for Terror Animal Sex Slaves; it was an American/German project. T.A.S.S. was born when Guido Eickelmann (alias Dr. Rabe) and Uwe Knak (alias The Voodoo) left as the rhythm section from German underground superstar band Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub and hooked up with American expatriate ingrate Jeff Collier in 1993. This unholy trinity released their debut album, “Maniafesto”, on Gun/BMG Records in 1994 to critical acclaim and MTV coverage all across Europe, stuffing the dancefloors with numbers like “Snakedance” and “If You Don’t Like My Dog” and leaving live audiences trying to catch their breath in the wake of a strobe-lit, honey-drenched, loud-as-f**k Metalfloor extravaganza. According to singer Collier, "Maniafesto" was “a declaration of war on a music scene and a society in general that’s become infested with predictability”. The music was dissonant and aggressive, and his lyrics took aim at everyone from God to Guns ‘n’ Roses. 1995 saw a number of changes for T.A.S.S., starting with the departure of The Voodoo from the band. Now a duo, Collier and Dr. Rabe set about making their ultimate end-of-the-millennium musical statement with the band’s 2nd album. “Suck” was released in 1996, and while their record company didn’t know quite what to do with it in the band’s homeland of Germany, the English music press went berserk: Kerrang!-UK rated “Suck” with 4 out of 5 K’s, while Metal Hammer called it “21st Century Rock n’ Roll”. One English newspaper described it as “Sepultura meets New Order in a dark alley. One of the best albums to cross our desk this year”.