Year: 2013
The genre of Thrash Metal was made popular in the late 1980's by bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Sodom, Destruction, Kreator etc. While the American thrash giants suffer from the lack of quality releases in recent times, their German counterparts are still going strong with their brand of Teutonic Thrash. Last year saw two top notch albums from Kreator and Destruction. Sodom, the other Teutonic thrash king are not far behind.
Sodom is a Thrash Metal band from Gelsenkirchen, Germany. They are known as one of the three kings of Teutonic thrash along with Kreator and Destruction. Sodom are known for their brand of no nonsense, high speed thrash metal and their sound served as an inspiration for many of today's death and black metal bands. They have released 13 full length albums in their 32 year long career. 'Epitome Of Torture' is their 14th full length, released on 26th April, 2013 through SPV.
Their last release, 'In War And Pieces' suffered from the fact that most of it's songs were not very memorable. The excessive presence of melody gave rise to a lot of complaints from the fans. In this album, the first few seconds of the opening track 'My Last Bullet', instills a slight doubt, as it is very melodic and similar to the tracks from the previous album. But what follows the first few bars, lays all such doubts to rest.
Sodom showcase how precise and accurate a Thrash Metal album has to be. The guitars and the drums gallop forward at breakneck speeds while Tom Angelripper's voice sets all hell loose. This album is packed with memorable and catchy riffs that sound heavy enough to grind and fracture the bones of the listener. The band successfully capture the elements that attracted fans toward Thrash Metal in the very beginning.
The melody is still retained despite the speed and heaviness of the tracks. There is also a flavor of groove alongside the thrash and melody. Headbanging and moshing becomes a must to this monster of an album. While people complained that the previous album had no memorable riffs, Sodom have effectively resolved that issue and they deliver riff after memorable riff. The number of thrash metal anthems, this album contains is aplenty.
Songs such as 'S.O.D.O.M', 'Epitome Of Torture', 'Cannibal' and 'Stigmatized' have choruses that would compel the listeners to sing along. The production work is top notch and all the elements are balanced out to the right amount. The heaviness of the music is captured well in the mixing work.
With Kreator and Destruction releasing fantastic albums last year, Sodom complete the circle with 'Epitome Of Torture'. This album easily lives up to the said releases by the other two bands and at times even surpasses them. This is an absolutely flawless record and the songs are addictively excellent. They band recapture the magic of the late 80's Thrash Metal.
Rating: 98%
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