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Sodom: In war and pieces
25/02/11 || InquisitorGeneralis
German thrash legends Sodom have always been hit or miss with me. I am not a fan of the band’s early work, but I dig “Agent Orange” quite a bit. Other songs like “The saw is the law”, “The vice of killing”, and “Marines” have also tickled my thrash boner. It is clear that the Angelripper and Co. know how to write solid, groovy thrash. When they play faster and more punkish, I lose interest. Thankfully, their newest effort “In War and Pieces” really nails the heavier, mid-paced material and is a hell of a lot more enjoyable than I expected. You don’t have to run with the young Joneses out there to be good, and it seems like Sodom have realized this on “In Vagina and Penises”; a strong effort that shows the band can still kick it almost thirty years into their career.
When it comes to the 21st century efforts by the Germanic thrash “Big Three” stalwarts, Destruction’s “The Anti-Christ” has always been my favorite. I could give a shit about and recent Kreator and 2006’s “Sodom” did not exactly blow my socks off. This, however, is some damn good, catchy shit even though “In War and Pieces” is not the fastest, most aggressive piece of insanity ever fucken done. The title track kicks things off with some low-effort thrashing but the grinding guitar work courtesy of Bernd Kost and built-to-head-bang sections make it pretty enjoyable. Tom “Coal Miner’s Daughter” Angelripper’s vocals sounds pretty good and do not overpower to fine work done by the rest of the band. I like me some power-trio action, and Sodom do it pretty fucken well. New drummer Markus Freiwald does not do anything mind-blowing on the drums but he keeps a solid groove going with healthy amounts of double bass, fills, and time changes that induce large amounts of head banging. Markus really stands out on “Feigned death throes”, one of the album’s heaviest tracks.
Good things keep coming with “Hellfire” and “Through toxic veins”. The former is fast and thrash while the latter has a slower, heavier feel. “Nothing counts more than blood” starts off with a nice, melodic intro before turning into another solid heavy hitter. Fuck, I am getting sick of saying the words heavy and heavier. I feel like I am describing a gangbang between King Kong Bundy, Divine from “Pink Flamingos”, and Daemonomania’s mother. “Kharrenheinz” is pretty thrashy and should satisfy all you old fuckers out there who yearn for the glory days of “In the Sign of Evil”. Honestly, there are no stinkers on here and wall-to-wall quality is one of the strongest aspects of “In War and Pieces”.
Sodom is a decent thrash band but a great heavy metal band when they choose to be. I really like this record and I would say this is the band’s best effort since the mid-90’s. To tell you the truth, I think I like this even more than the classic material from back in ze day, even the highly praised “Agent Orange”. I will take a good production with groovy, interesting songs over repetitive thrash blasting any day of the week. The fact that Sodom, a band I am not really that interested in, has won me over with a new record speaks volumes to how good “In War and Pieces” really is.
Cool cover too, although this time around things do not look like they are going so well for the Sodom storm trooper dude. It’s tough being a metal mascot; you get killed, eviscerated, crucified, strapped into a straight jacket, and blown to fucken bits on a regular basis. Keep on fighting the good fight Sgt. Sodom, the metal militia is right behind you… cowering in the trenches. Anyway, Sodom has impressed me and renewed my interest in what the Angelripper and friends have to offer. Nice job guys, welcome back to the world of the relevant… at least to me. For this review, that’s all that fucken matters.
GD note: Yes, we know Bobby did drums on this one. We just didn’t feel like correcting writer InquisitorGeneralis. Becoz we are assholes.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: SPV/Steamhammer
- Website: www.sodomized.info
- Band
- Tom “Canary in a Coal Mine” Angelripper: vocals, bass
- Bernd “Bernemann” Kost: guitar
- Markus “Makka” Freiwald: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. In War And Pieces
- 02. Hellfire
- 03. Through Toxic Veins
- 04. Nothing Counts More Than Blood
- 05. Storm Raging Up
- 06. Feigned Death Throes
- 07. Soul Contraband
- 08. God Bless You
- 09. The Art of Killing Poetry
- 10. Knarrenheinz
- 11. Styptic Parasite
