Sodom – The Arsonist
A creepy intro, the deep breath before the plunge and then BOOM! That’s right folks it’s the latest album from German thrash metal icons Sodom.
What can we say about this band? Formed way back in 1982 they’ve been consistently releasing (apart from their noted and well documented lean period during the 90s) heavy, aggressive, brutal thrash metal for over 40 years and this, their seventeenth studio album, The Arsonist, is certainly no exception.
After that creepy, atmospheric intro we’re straight into the opening track, Harvest Moon, which simply grabs us by the throat and starts to pummel; and this audio assault then continues with the next track Trigger Discipline. This one, two punch opening is followed up with the song, The Spirits That I Called; an absolute stand-out track and one that’s more than proud to display its early thrash influence and instantly puts me in mind of bands like Venom, Bathory and Celtic Frost. The next track, Witchhunter (a tribute to former drummer Christian “Witchhunter” Dudek), opens with a riff reminiscent of Jake E. Lee era Ozzy Osbourne and could be a lost Motörhead song but SO much heavier! Next up we have a couple of tracks that give us that dark, classic early Sodom flavour which was such an influence on the second wave of black metal, and then it’s just classic thrash song after classic thrash song: AWTF, a nod to NWOBHM cult icons Tank and a fitting tribute to Algy Ward; Obliteration Of Aeons with its almost doom tinged brooding heavy metal and finally we close out the album with another stand-out and classic sounding Sodom track, Return To God In Parts.
Production on the album is very good: it’s well balanced, powerful and the relentless metal rhythm guitars are really well produced. This sort of “chugging” guitar can often sound muddy and flabby if badly produced but here they’re handled perfectly. Drums and bass are just relentless and Tom’s vocal is killer; not bad at all for a man now in his early 60s. There’s nothing new or unexpected here; it’s an album by a band who are drawing on their decades of experience, who are comfortable in their own skin and know exactly who and what they are and what they should sound like.
After the release of this album band leader Tom “Angelripper’ Such announced that the band would be taking a break from both touring and recording and going on a period of hiatus with no details of the length of this being released. If this is to be the last ever Sodom album (and I really hope that it isn’t, although the inclusion of two tribute songs on the album may not be good news with regard to this!), then what a fitting end to an outstanding career. Sodom are not only one of the most important thrash metal bands of all time, but their early influence on the emergence of European black metal back in the late 1980s and early 1990s cannot be overstated. That said I truly hope I’m completely wrong and that I’ll be reviewing the next Sodom album in a few years time!
Rating: 9/10 – Excellent
Label: Steamhammer
Wayne McAloon | Now Spinning Magazine
