Thrash metal in Germany, that’s many ambitious bands from the early days and some being newcomers. What units them is the unbound dedication to this furious version of heavy metal. The ignition that helped to establish thrash metal from Germany happened in the early ’80s, with the Ruhrgebiet being one of the epicenters. Bands like Kreator and Sodom were forerunners for Teutonic thrash metal and it’s the latter, releasing a new album at the end of the month November.
Sodom started 1982 when metal was still in its infancy and far away from the status metal has nowadays. The band premiered in 1986 with ‘Obsessed by Cruelty’, a starting point for many more records to come. With the hard-working approach of a coal mine worker, Tom Angelripper navigated the band through the metal-unfriendly ’90s and never lost his believe in Sodom.
With ‘Genesis XIX” the next Sodom album waits in line and quite some things changed compared to the latest album ‘Decision Day’ from 2016. The band underwent a bigger line-up change in 2018. Not being a trio anymore, Sodom became a quartet with two guitarists, Yorck Segatz and no less than Frank Blackfire, the latter bringing already a lot of riffpower to ‘Persecution Mania’ and ‘Agent Orange’. Also the stool behind the drumkit changed owners. Husky became the new Sodom’s new drummer in 2018 and handed over the drumsticks to Toni Merkel in 2020.
After having all the changes completed, Sodom could focus on a new album, that starts with a short intro called ‘Blind Superstition’ before ‘Sodom & Gomorrah’ takes over. The song has been revealed already earlier and is a typical Sodom smasher. In general, ‘Genesis XIX’ comes with an oldschool vibe and instead of adding bigger changes to their sound, Sodom fine-tunes their skull-crushing interpretation of thrash metal.
With two guistarists on board, Sodom has a wider range of possibilities they can realize when it comes to songwriting, something being reflected in tracks like ‘Genesis XIX’ and ‘The Harpooneer’. Both tunes are with seven minutes rather long ones while not being lengthy at all. Breaks, like the acoustic part in the middle of the title track, are well-placed distractors before the blast continues in a raging fashion.
Sodom 2020 means a lot of fast-paced headbangers, amplified by calmer moment with reduced tempo, like in the beginning of ‘Dehumanized’. ‘Occult Perpetrator’ follows a similar pattern, but focusses more on a very solid groove in a moderate pace.
‘Genesis XIX’ is a Sodom album without frills and decoration. Tom Angelripper and band deliver an oldschool album that gets straight to the point. The guys forged a record that entertains right away and each of the 12 songs unfolds its infernal pleasure. Still there is enough new to discover in round 2, 3, 4,… What a hellish energizer.
Tracklist:
- Blind Superstition
- Sodom & Gomorrah
- Euthanasia
- Genesis XIX
- Nicht mehr mein Land
- Glock N‘ Roll
- The Harponeer
- Dehumanized
- Occult Perpetrator
- Waldo & Pigpen
- Indoctrination
- Friendly Fire
Label: Steamhammer/SPV
Genre: Thrash Metal
Release Date EU: November 27th, 2020
Website
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