Andy Classen is a German record producer, sound engineer and musician.

Holy Moses

He began his career in 1980 as a guitarist for the German

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

band

Holy Moses Holy Moses were a German thrash metal band active from 1980 to 1994 and from 2000 to 2023. They were well noted for being fronted by Sabina Classen, who was the only constant member of Holy Moses, and for being one of the first German thrash m ...

, fronted by his ex-wife

Sabina Classen Sabina Classen ( Hirtz; born 27 December 1963) is a German thrash metal singer, best known as lead vocalist of Holy Moses and Temple of the Absurd. Biography In 1981, Classen joined Holy Moses, where her then-husband Andy Classen was playin ...

. In 1989 the band bought a house in the village of

Borgentreich Borgentreich () is a municipality in the Höxter district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Borgentreich lies roughly 20 km south of Brakel and 10 km northeast of Warburg. The constituent community of Borgholz lies on t ...

-Bühne in the vicinity of

Warburg Warburg (; Westphalian: ''Warberich'' or ''Warborg'') is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany on the river Diemel near the three-state point shared by Hessen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is in Höxter distr ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. In 1990 they founded a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

named 'West Virginia Records' and opened the Stage-One-Studio in their new house (so named because "Bühne" is German for "stage"). He remained lead guitarist in Holy Moses till 1994. Creative differences that had arisen during the production of the Holy Moses album ''No Matter What's the Cause'' (1994) with bassist

Dan Lilker Daniel Adam Lilker (born October 18, 1964) is an American musician best known as a bass player, but also guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He has played bass in numerous heavy metal bands, including Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, S.O.D. and Holy ...

and Ryker's drummer Meff lead to Andy Classen leaving the band. Ultimately he and Sabina divorced, and West Virginia Records was dissolved. Holy Moses was inactive till 2001 when it was revived by Sabina Classen, with Andy Classen acting as occasional songwriter and producer. In 2005 Holy Moses recorded the album ''

Strength Power Will Passion ''Strength Power Will Passion'' is the ninth studio album by German thrash metal band Holy Moses. It was released in May 2005 on Armageddon Music. Track 12 includes a hidden track. Track listing All songs written by Sabina Classen and Michael ...

'' the first without Andy Classen's involvement.

Producer

Andy Classen became producer and engineer in Stage-One-Studio in 1990. Among his first productions were the albums ''When War Begins...'' by the German

thrashcore Thrashcore (also known as fastcore) is a fast-tempo subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the early 1980s. Thrashcore is essentially sped-up hardcore, adopting a slightly more extreme style by means of its vocals, dissonance, and occasiona ...

band Warpath and ''Mc Gillroy the Housefly'' by the German psychedelic

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band Incubator, both of which were critically acclaimed, with the latter still having a cult following in the death metal underground. He also became influential in the German

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

scene, being the producer for bands like Ryker's and Brightside. In 1994 he took over the studio completely and produced for other labels like

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a German heavy metal record label with offices in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by R ...

Gun Records GUN Records (''Great Unlimited Noises'') was a record label located in Witten, Germany, founded in 1992 by Bogdan Kopec ( DRAKKAR Promotion Musikverlag GmbH) and Wolfgang Funk. For a period, it was a subsidiary of BMG. Different artists on t ...

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records (often shortened to Metal Blade) is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982 based in the U.S. state of California. The label primarily focuses on heavy metal. History Metal Blade Records was ...

AFM Records AFM Records GmbH is a music label based in Schwalmstadt, Germany. They focus on the heavy metal musical genre, signing bands such as U.D.O., Doro, Lordi, Kotipelto, Masterplan, Nostradameus, Redlight King, and Annihilator. In 2005, Can ...

Massacre Records Massacre Records is an independent record label based in Abstatt, Germany, specializing in bands from the heavier genres of metal. The label was founded in 1991 by Torsten Hartmann. Associated with Massacre Records are the marketing and music ...

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...

, Armageddon Music etc. During the nineties Andy Classen established himself as one of the premier producers for hardcore, thrash metal and death metal music in Europe. His sound

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

usually are described as aggressive and powerful, yet transparent. Among others he produced records for the bands

Dew-Scented Dew-Scented was a German thrash and death metal band, active from 1992 to 2018. They released eight studio albums and were last signed to Metal Blade Records (Europe) and Prosthetic Records (USA/North America). Their name was inspired by the ...

Tankard A tankard is a form of drinkware consisting of a large, roughly cylindrical, drinking cup with a single handle. In recent centuries tankards were typically made of silver or pewter, but can be made of other materials, for example glass, wood, ...

Disbelief Disbelief (sometimes decapitalized to "disbelief") is a German heavy metal band from Hesse. Their music is rooted in death metal, but has melancholic tendencies. History The band was formed in 1990, but did not become one solid line-up for s ...

, President Evil (all from Germany),

Asphyx Asphyx is a Dutch death metal band formed in Oldenzaal, Overijssel in 1987 by Bob Bagchus and Tony Brookhuis. Since 2014, no original members are still in the band. Vocalist Martin van Drunen is the only current and long-term member that appea ...

(Netherlands), Legen Beltza ( Basque Country),

The Old Dead Tree The Old Dead Tree are a progressive death metal band from the city of Paris, France formed in 1997. Musical style Their musical style is a mixture of death metal elements, such as double bass drumming and heavy guitar riffing, and more mellow, ...

(France),

Graveworm Graveworm is an Italian extreme metal band from Bruneck, Brunico formed in 1992. History Before Graveworm even released a demo, they were signed by Serenades Records after a performance close to their hometown of Brunico, northern Italy. Gravew ...

(Italy) and Deafness by Noise (Croatia). From the year 2000, he has found increasing recognition for his work in the international scene, with bands like

Rotting Christ Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creat ...

from Greece, Criminal from Chile/Great Britain, Dark Embrace from Spain,

Krisiun Krisiun is a Brazilian death metal band, founded by brothers Alex Camargo (bass, vocals) (Born March 11, 1972), Moyses Kolesne (guitars) (Born August 11, 1973) and Max Kolesne (drums) (Born June 12, 1974). Since its formation in 1990, the gro ...

from Brazil as well as

Mantic Ritual Mantic Ritual (formerly Meltdown)Nuclear Blast press release
< ...

and

Solace of Requiem Solace of Requiem is an extreme metal band originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia. The group formed in 2001 with traditional death metal roots but began combining elements of technical death metal and black metal by the time of their 2010 rele ...

from the USA recording with him.

Richthofen and Seelenwalzer

In 1997 Andy Classen was founding member, songwriter, producer and guitarist with the German

Neue Deutsche Härte (; "New German Hardness", sometimes abbreviated as NDH), also known as dance-metal, is a crossover style drawing from Neue Deutsche Welle, alternative metal, groove metal, electro-industrial and techno. It developed in Germany and Austria d ...

industrial metal band Richthofen. After objections by the

Richthofen family The Richthofen family is an old and prominent German nobility, German noble family, whose members held the title of Freiherr, Baron in Bohemia and Count in the Kingdom of Prussia. The most famous member is the flying ace, air ace Manfred von Richt ...

the band was legally required to drop the name and Richthofen disbanded in 1999. In 2019 Classen and musicians of the original Richthofen band founded the band Seelenwalzer referencing the name of Richthofens first album. The debut album ''Totgeglaubt'' – German for "believed dead" – is being published with Massacre Records in May 2019.

Charts

In 2003, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter's '' Have a Nice Trip'' was the first album produced by Andy Classen to enter the charts, reaching number 95 in Germany. Since 2007, Legion of the Damned from the Netherlands have been able to chart regularly with Andy Classen-produced albums in Germany. '' Sons of the Jackal'' reached number 54 and in the following year, 2008, they even charted twice, reaching number 70 with '' Feel The Blade'' (and number 64 in Austria) and number 60 with ''

Cult of the Dead The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...

''. Austrians

Belphegor Belphegor (or Baal Peor, Hebrew: בַּעַל-פְּעוֹר baʿal-pəʿōr – “''Lord of the Gap''”) is, in Christianity, a demon associated with one of the seven deadly sins. According to religious tradition, he helps people make discov ...

also charted in 2008 (with '' Bondage Goat Zombie'') and 2009 (with ''

Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn ''Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn'' is the eighth studio album by the Austrian blackened death metal band Belphegor. It was released in 2009 on Nuclear Blast Records (their third for the label). Like its predecessors, '' Pestapokalypse VI'' and ...

''), reaching number 99 and 81 in Germany and even number 42 and 60 in Austria.

Credits

References

External links

Stage-One-Studio
– Andy Classen's official studio website
official myspace
– with sample songs from Andy's own new project 'Nine XI'
Seelenwalzer
– official website of the Seelenwalzer band

{{DEFAULTSORT:Classen, Andy German male musicians German audio engineers Living people German record producers Year of birth missing (living people)