Sodom - Obsessed by Cruelty (1986)

I suspect I'll eternally have an appreciation for all early pioneering extreme metal no matter how sloppy, lo-fi and primal it may sound, and in the case of Sodom's debut full-length were talking face melting skull crushing madness on, 'Obsessed by Cruelty.'

Arriving exactly two years after the bands EP, 'In the Sign of Evil,' its by far the most intense and violent of the big three of German thrash metal debuts. After a short intro track with an ominous feel, 'Deathlike Silence' proceeds to wallop the listener through this opening cut that isn't entirely different from the EP material, but tends to show a more thrashy/proto-death/black metal rather than the more straightforward blackness of the EP. 'Brandish the Sceptre' relents in no way, lacerating and pulverizing it hits quite hard too, and it likely becomes clear by this point that the production is very raw and unusual. Largely because the drums greatly dominate over the guitar and the bass is completely absent, which sounds odd, but mixed with Angel Ripper's hellish snarls this chaotic mess works.

Deathlike Silence

Perhaps if there is a problem to be found within this debut its the simple fact that the formula is mostly the same from start to finish, save for the opening of the title track. Its sort of the same flaw that Kreator's debut, 'Endless Pain' has, while I enjoy both, the lack of infectious riffs and memorable solos sort of leaves you longing for a bit more after its thirty seven minute duration. So, in a way I sometimes prefer listening to these songs on a more individual basis as I tend to notice individual nuances between them. That's not to say that the riffs or solos are bad, or that there is any lack of energy within this beast, but sometimes taking it all in at once can result in it being something of a blur. Curiously I ask myself if had the EP featured more tracks would I have felt a similar thought?

Nevertheless, I still am quite a big fan of, 'Obsessed by Cruelty' and enjoy it for that early pioneering madness, but the EP has always lasted stronger in my mind and of course everyone knows the immense offerings Sodom would soon choke out during the remainder of the 80's.

Sodom - In the Sign of Evil (1984)

During the nearly thirty years that its been since Thrash metal was established as a metal sub-genre it hasn't exactly evolved much, though its interesting going back to the initial early years of the genre and seeing the small developments it made. If you go back to '83 and listen to the debuts from Slayer and Metallica you're ears bare witness to high octane aggressive music that has tons of energy and an underlining sort of party-ish atmosphere to it, but within a single year of these early examples of thrash the genre would began to twist and turn in a most violent and dark way.

Sometime in 1981 three maniacs from Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany who choose to perform under the names of Angel Ripper, Grave Violator and Witchhunter and to collectively be known as Sodom released, 'In the Sign of Evil' in early May of 1984 to an unknowing thrash metal scene worldwide.

After a short intro, 'Outbreak of Evil' slowly builds up and rips out of your speakers in an absolutely violent, demonic, hasty and raw way unheard of at the time. Angel Ripper growls and rasps out words of blasphemy an evil while Grave Violators heavy guitar and Witchhunter's sloppy pummeling drum work levels you. Its an all out battle from the first song to the last as characteristics of Venom, Motorhead, Slayer and perhaps some punk all come together as one devilish assault of the senses. 'Sepulchral Voice' and 'Blasphemer' are just pulverizing fast evil tunes completely unheard of at the time, while 'Witching Metal' is slightly less intense and shows more obvious Venom traits, but is nonetheless enjoyable in my own opinion. The final song on the EP, 'Burst Command Til War' brings back the more primal wild side once again with an absolutely crazy echoing hellhole of insane voices during the chorus.

Since this was Sodom's first official release after their two demos its obvious that the band was just trying to blast the listener away, but at the same time they took thrash to new territories and also set black metal music in motion too. Of course, Sodom would get a hell of lot more technical and more straight forward thrashy by the the time they released, 'Persecution Mania' in '87 and their masterpiece, 'Agent Orange' in '89. Nevertheless, you know me, and I love all extreme pioneering metal no matter what sub-genre it belongs to and I can say without hesitation that both, 'In the Sign of Evil' and the bands '86 debut, 'Obsessed by Cruelty' fucking rule!

Sodom - Agent Orange (1989)

As sad as it sounds this is the only Sodom record I’ve heard and since I’ve known about the band for a long time it really just doesn’t make sense. Nevertheless its true and I’ve come to realize recently that I just don’t care much about new music, I really don’t. Sure, I’ll still buy the new albums from my favorite bands, but truly the days of randomly trying new bands is not something I’m much into. Especially when there are just so many amazing albums from the 80’s and even the 90’s that I haven’t gotten my hands on yet. Anyway, though, let’s talk about Agent Orange.

Released twenty one years ago today, ‘Agent Orange’ was the third album for these Germans and although I’ve heard that earlier Sodom is quite intense and fast, this album is a bit toned down. Of course some songs like, ‘Agent Orange’ & ‘Incest’ are quite fast and frantic thrash metal songs, but then there’s the slower almost epic sounding, ‘Remember the Fallen’ and you’ve also just got to love Sodom’s cover version of Tank’s, ‘Don’t Walk Away,’ which is not thrash at all, but pure NWOBHM styled music. ‘Ausgebombt’ has always been my favorite from this album since it’s actually quite catchy and ‘Exhibition Bout’ is just pure headbanging thrash metal bliss. As well I think it’s interesting the way the band throws in the acoustic part in the middle of ‘Tired and Red.’ While a band like Metallica had used acoustic intros to their songs I don’t seem to recall any other thrash band in the 80’s having acoustic guitars popping up two minutes into their song.

In the booklet the band writes, ‘This album is dedicated to all people - soldiers and civilians - who died by senseless aggressions of wars all over the world,’ but of course the title of the album is a reference to the chemical the U.S. army sprayed across the Vietnam countryside during the Vietnam war.

When all's said and done, Agent Orange is a fantastic record, although it’s a bit interesting how different this album is when compared to the records their German comrades in Destruction and Kreator were making at the same time. Nevertheless a great release and as stated in my opening paragraph it’s time to turn back to the past and get my hands on all these old treasures I’ve been neglecting all these years.