By Avinash Mittur
Calling Sodom the German Motorhead is a mistake too many journalists make these days. Motorhead have undergone basically no musical evolution in their thirty odd years as a band, while Sodom have flirted with the likes of black metal, death metal, hardcore punk and of course, classic thrash. Calling Tom Angelripper the German Lemmy would be a bit more accurate though. Why does that analogy work a bit better? Both Lemmy and Angelripper give no fucks. The two men have always done what they want, when they want, and the results have been uniformly stunning for decades. With their new album, Epitome Of Torture, Sodom have refused to buck their admirable trend of writing some of the most brutal thrash metal around. There isn’t anything too different here, and frankly Sodom fans probably wouldn’t want it any other way.
After a minute-long march, ‘My Final Bullet’ barrels the listener with Bernemann’s familiar blitzkrieg chords and Angelripper’s shredded vocals. A catchier than expected chorus comes out of nowhere, but don’t think Sodom have gone metalcore or anything like that- ‘My Final Bullet’ is classic Sodom war-themed firepower. The band’s new self-named track is about as heavy a song as one could ask of these guys and even if the grunted spelling during the refrain is kind of goofy, it’ll surely make for a fun shout-a-long live. And of course, Angelripper’s kind of hilarious mispronunciation of the word ‘epitome’ has already made the rounds online. Seriously, just try and growl “Epitoom! Epitoom of torture!” with a straight face. Angelripper can and does, and do you want to know why? That’s right friends, Tom Angelripper gives no fucks. Luckily though, the points mentioned above are just about the only ‘concerns’ so to speak about Epitome Of Torture, the rest of the record is the familiar neck snapping ride we’ve come to expect out of Sodom.
For ‘Stigmatized’ Angelripper opts for a low, borderline death metal roar- the technique adds a breath of fresh air to an otherwise average Sodom track. Hardcore Sodom fans shouldn’t be crying foul though; the band already explored death-thrash territory on 1994’s Tapping the Vein. Kudos to the band for trying to spice things up though, and kudos to Waldemar Sorychta for once again giving Sodom a truly outstanding production. Bernemann’s riffs are full of muscle and heft, Angelripper’s bass is a perpetual growling presence and new drummer Makka’s toms pound hard and his snare cracks with fury. Makka acquits himself well, and especially shines on ’S.O.D.O.M.’ and the other high velocity tracks. Ironically enough, the really compelling and interesting songs on Epitome Of Torture are the more mid-tempo bruisers. On the last album, In War And Pieces, Sodom hit a total home run with the epic ‘God Bless You’ and on this new platter the band nearly repeats the success with ‘Into The Skies Of War’ and ‘Invokating The Demons’. These two tracks, especially the former cut, see Sodom strike a fine balance between melody and brutality and are easily the two highlights of Epitome Of Torture. Sure, the quick tracks like ‘Shoot Today Kill Tomorrow’ are a good bit of fun, but ‘Into The Skies Of War’ really delivers in a way that only the best modern Teutonic thrash can.
All in all, Sodom’s newest album is yet another solid and utterly respectable slab of heavy thrash. It’s a small step down from In War And Pieces, and it certainly doesn’t match the grand scope and ambition of their latter day masterpiece M-16, but Epitome Of Torture is an album that will fill Sodom fans with plenty of delight. It’s pounding, serrated thrash that pulls no punches and panders to no one. It’s an album that once again reinforces the fact that Tom Angelripper gives no fucks and does what he wants. And as long as Angelripper doesn’t try to take us higher like a super collider, I think Sodom fans will be okay for the long haul.
Rating: 8/10
Record Label: Steamhammer/SPV GmbH
Release Dates:
April 26th 2013 (Germany)
April 29th 2013 (Europe)
May 7th 2013 (US)
Track Listing:
1. My Final Bullet
2. S.O.D.O.M.
3. Epitome Of Torture
4. Stigmatized
5. Cannibal
6. Shoot Today Kill Tomorrow
7. Invokating The Demons
8. Katjuschka
9. Into The Skies Of War
10. Tracing The Victim
11. Waterboarding (bonus track)
12. Splitting The Atom (bonus track)
13. Ace Of Spades (Motorhead cover, vinyl-exclusive bonus track)
Links:
twitter.com/sodomized
facebook.com/sodomized
sodomized.info
myspace.com/sodom