Review SODOM ‘1982’ – EP – Markus' Heavy Music Blog

A band that truly belongs to the trailblazers of German thrash metal are Sodom. The band from Altenessen, a district of Essen, Germany, started in 1982 when heavy metal was a musical revolution and while bands of the NWoBHM started to gain momentum, thrash metal was still in its very early days. Still there was a very vibrant underground scene who loved releases like Sodom’s first demo tape ‘Witching Metal’.

With a lot of commitment and dedication, Sodom survived all musical trends and hypes in metal. Even the rather tricky 90s couldn’t hinder Tom Angelripper and bandmates to follow their passion for thrash metal.

More than 40 years later it’s a good moment to look back to the early days and Sodom does it with an EP they release. Simply called ‘1982’, the band went back to the sound of the early days and wrote with ‘1982’ a smashing thrash metal anthem.

In addition, the band recorded four classics from the demo days, all re-recorded and equipped with a raw and powerful sound that transports the early days into the here and now. The songs have been part already of the 40 years boxset and now it is the first time, that one gets these re-recorded classics in vinyl.

The artwork by Sebastian Feld is another moment of walking down the memory lane as it reminds a lot of the cover of the very first demo tape.

All in all, ‘1982’ is a release that features great songs from the raw and unpolished early days of German thrash metal and the biggest benefit of the release is the vinyl format, that was a missing link so far.