biosodom

 

Sodom from Gelschenkirchen are legends of Teutonic thrash. In the early days of the band, they had a blackened almost death / thrashy sound, especially on In the sign of Evil (1984) and on Obsessed By Cruelty (1986). When Frank 'Blackfire' Gosdzik joined the band, Sodom adopted a more traditional thrash sound. The band also evolved as musicians and their material became more technical, it was also around 1987 the band fully adopted the war-theme that they perfected on albums like Persecution Mania (1987) and Agent Orange (1989).

 The nineties came and grunge rolled in, but Sodom kept going, even if the quality of their 90's material varied. In the late 90's Sodom started writing better material with albums like "Code Red" and 2001's "M-16". Former drummer Chris Witchhunter died after he re-joined the band for "The Final Sign Of Evil" in 2007. The band is still going strong and the Sodom troops are commanded by their captain, Tom Angelripper. 

THE NOISY BEGINNINGS (1981-1986)

Sodom was formed in Gelsenkirchen in 1981 by Tom Angelripper, Bloody Monster, Blasphemer and Aggressor. Thomas "Tom Angelripper" Such didn't want to work in the coal mines around the area so he desperately started the band in hopes to get out of the area.

In the beginning guitarist Frank 'Aggressor' Terstegen did the vocals before Tom Angelripper took over the vocal duties. Soon drummer Christian Dudek aka Chris Witchhunter joined the lineup and Blasphemer and Bloody Monster left. Sodom took influences from bands like Motörhead, Venom, Accept, AC/DC, Tank and Rainbow. In 1982 the trio of Tom Angelripper, Aggressor and Chris Witchhunter recorded the bands first demo titled Witching Metal. Two years later the same lineup recorded the Victims of Death demo.

Then Aggressor left and he was replaced by guitarist Josef "Grave Violator" Dominik. In 1984 Sodom signed a deal with Steamhammer Records, for whom they recorded their now legendary debut EP In the Sign of Evil, which was released in 1984. The EP is considered a cornerstone in the birth of death and black metal. After the debut EP guitarist Grave Violator left Sodom and Michael "Destructor" Wulf joined the band. The In the sign of Evil EP drew attention the whole way to America and Metal Blade who shared the publishing rights to the bands full-length debut Obsessed By Cruelty. The bands extreme lyrics, image and sound was so extreme that not that many took the band as a second rate Venom replica.

In 1986, Sodom album debuted with Obsessed By Cruelty and it was a continuation of the blackened thrash sound they had on their debut EP. After the recording of their debut album Michael Wulf left Sodom and joined Kreator instead. Michael Wulf can be seen on the backside of Kreator's 1986 classic Pleasure to Kill, but he wasn't a part of the band when the album was recorded. Wulf only had a short stint in Kreator before leaving and he later died in a Motorcycle accident in 1993.

THE FRANK BLACKFIRE YEARS (1987-1991)

But when Michael Wulf left the band Sodom was wise enough to recruit guitarist Frank ''Blackfire'' Gosdzik after a short stint with Ahätoor (Ex-Darkness). Frank Blackfire's guitarplay would revolutionize the bands sound and image. The satanic hints were dropped and Sodom started writing songs about war. The bands sound became more technical and even the noisy production values cleaned up. In 1987 the trio of Angelripper, Blackfire and Witchhunter recorded the EP Expurse of Sodomy, and it was the first taste of the bands new direction.

Two months later Sodom released Persecution Mania. The new lyrical approach and a higher level of musicianship the band started getting great reviews. The album was produced by Harris Johns and he brought out the best in the band. It was also the first time we were introduced to the bands gas-masked mascot Knarrenheinz. To promote the album Sodom toured Europe with Swiss thrashers Coroner.

After touring for the better part of 1987 and 1988 Sodom released the live album Mortal Way of Live. In 1988 the band went on their first professional tour (Sodomania '88) in Europe with American thrashers Whiplash. In 1989 Sodom returned to the studio to make another album. The final product, Agent Orange was released in 1989 and it sold 100,000 copies in Germany alone. This made Sodom famous inside Germany but also giving them worldwide critical acclaim, and secured their place alongside Kreator and Destruction as one of the great Teutonic thrash metal bands. To this date, Agent Orange has sold more than any other German thrash-metal album in the world. Agent Orange was produced by Harris Johns.

But the journey wasn't effortless, Tom and Chris had problems with alcohol and Frank had grown tired of his bandmembers and he distanced himself from the other guys. Mille Petrozza of Kreator offered Frank a position with his band Kreator and Frank accepted. Frank Blackfire left Sodom just three weeks before the band was going on their Agent Orange Tour with Sepultura as a supporting act. Angrily Tom Angelripper went out looking for a replacement and Uwe Baltrusch from Mekong Delta was hired for the tour. The tour went well even if fans kept asking for Frank Blackfire. But after the tour Sodom recruited Michael Hoffman, guitarist in Assassin. Michael Hoffman had previously recorded the album Interstellar Experience with Assassin.

THE EARLY NINETIES (1990-1992)

In 1990 Sodom recorded and released Better Off Dead, the album featured the anthemic The Saw is the Law, which was later released as a single. Sodom also recorded a cover of the Tank song Turn Your Head Around. But during the following South American Tour Michael Hoffman took a liking to Brazil and he decided to stay in Brazil instead of following the band back to Germany. Andy Brings replaced Hoffman and in 1991 Sodom became the first metal band to play in Bulgaria after the fall of communism. Sodom recorded Tapping the Vein in 1992. The album was Sodom's perhaps most brutal to date, bordering to death metal.

But then original drummer Chris Witchhunter Dudek was fired from the band and Tom Angelripper recruited Atomic Steif, known for his time in Living Death and Holy Moses. Tom Angelripper was satisfied with getting Atomic Steif into his band and he called him Germany's answer to Dave Lombardo (Slayer).

THE LOW POINT (1993-1998)

In the mid nineties Sodom dumped the death metal influences and instead few more influences from punk and hardcore music. In 1993 Sodom released the EP Aber Bitte Mit Sahne. In 1993 former Sodom guitarist Michael 'Destructor' Wulf died in a motorcycle accident. In 1994 the band released Get What You Deserve and the album didn't do that well with fans and critics. The same can be said about 1995's Masquerade in Blood, which featured new guitarist Strahli, but his drug problems made it impossible for him to stay in the band. In the mid nineties Thrash metal had long passed it's peak and not that many people cared about Sodom any longer and Tom Angelripper started a solo-project. Masquerade in Blood was Sodom's last album on the Steamhammer label.

In 1996 Atomic Steif also decided to leave the band and Tom Angelripper stood there without band members or a record deal. But Tom didn't give up, instead he recruited guitarist Bernemann and drummer Konrad 'Bobby' Schottkowski. In 1997 the new lineup recorded and released 'Til Death Do Us Unite, the album was released on GUN Records and it was thrashier than their last couple of records but thrash metal was still so unpopular that the album passed by rather unnoticed, except perhaps the song Fuck the Police.

BACK ON TRACK (1999-2006)

In 1999 Code Red was released on Drakkar Records and the album was the bands return to the eighties thrash sound. The album helped popularize the genre again but still there was a long way to go and at the time Sodom were a pretty obscure act. But with the start of the new millennium Sodom wrote an album influenced by the movie Apocalypse Now. The title of the album was M-16 and it was a very successful album and it was the first time in ages that the band focused so much on the cruelty of wars. M-16 also marked the bands return to the Steamhammer label.

In 2003 the band released the live album One night in Bangkok and in 2006 Sodom released their self-titled album. Around the time they also recorded the Sodom documentary Lords of Depravity.

RIP WITCHHUNTER (2007-2017)

In 2007 the original lineup of Tom Angelripper, Grave Violator and Chris Witchhunter came together and recorded The Final Sign of Evil as a tribute to the bands debut EP. The re-recordings also featured a bunch of re-recorded early Sodom songs. It was nice to see the old Sodom reunited for one more recording because a year later Sodom's original drummer Chris Witchhunter died from liver failure. In 2009 a tribute concert to Chris Witchhunter was held in Oberhausen, Germany and the German thrash elite was there to pay tribute to the late Chris 'Witchhunter' Dudek. Sodom, Destruction, Tankard, Holy Moses, Assassin, Paradox, Darkness, Wortmord, The Protectors and Black Fire took part of the event.

In 2010 Sodom released their thirteenth studio album In War and Pieces. But tension had started to grow between main man Tom Angelripper and drummer Konrad 'Bobby' Schottkowski, so he was fired and replaced by drummer Markus Freiwald. In 2011 former Sodom member Dirk 'Strahli' Strahlmeier (whom played the guitars on Masquerade of Blood from 1995) died of a drug overdose. In 2013 Sodom released Epitome of Torture and on the album Tom Angelripper mispronounces the word "Epitome". In 2014 the EP Sacred Warpath was released and in 2016 Decision Day was released. Today Sodom is looked upon as one of Germany and Europes most important thrash bands and they keep delivering strong material, year after year, decade after decade.