Review Summary: This is definitely Sdom's best album and it is also a classic german thrash-metal album.
Background Information
Sometimes you wonder if German thrash-metal was or is better than any other thrash-metal in the world, as many thrash-metal bands all over the world were either disbanded after a short period of time or were affected by the mainstream. But some thrash bands still produce good quality thrash like
Overkill or
Destruction while other bands became "lamer" and the thrash elements are replaced by "radio rock" or something like that. But Germany had a trio of three bands who paved the way for German thrash-metal,
Destruction,
Kreator and
Sodom. These three bands were like pioneers for German thrash-metal during the 80's with their intensive and aggressive music, and they played with intensity and speed right from the start and all of them are
still concentrated and hard-hitting even Today. While those three bands didn't make flawless careers, especially
Kreator, with front man
Mille Petrozza tried to expand or broaden their sound but the band got more industrial rather than thrashier.
Kreator did though made a comeback when they revived their early technical thrash formula with the left overs from their experimental time.
Destruction was probably the best band of these three but front man
Schmier left the band for a short period of time to work with one of his side-projects, but
Destruction was charged with new massive thrash energy when
Schmier returned to the band. And now we focus on
Sodom (finally), this was probably the only band that never mixed their music with other musical genres or anything like that.
Sodom were often a step away from the death-metal scene, mostly because of the fact that the band was influenced by bands like
Motorhead,
Venom and
Hellhammer, but
Sodom still had enough of thrash in their material to stay within the thrash-metal genre. They did though an attempt to play death-metal in the album called
Tapping The Vein but their basic formula has often been fast, frenzied, chaotic and somewhat sinister or evil thrash-metal.
Album Information
Persecution Mania and
Agent Orange are two of
Sodom's greatest moments but some fans think that Persecution is far more better than Agent and vice versa, and this review will take you on a journey through some of the best German thrash-metal ever created. Welcome to
Persecution Mania! And here we go, this album was released in 1987 by
Sodom and is (roughly) considered to be their greatest achievement. The crew who made this album possible were
Tom Angelripper (vocals and bass),
Frank Blackfire (guitars) and
Witchhunter (drums). Here you have a good mix of songs, classic "sodomizing'' thrashing energy and even a Motorhead cover (
Iron Fist). This album does not deliver highly skilled or very difficult music, as most of the riffs in these songs will remind you of
Metallica'searly still of riffing and then mixed with some splashes from
Slayer's riffing style. The drum performance is above average drumming, as there are both fast classic thrash patterns and a bit slower and simpler patterns. The overall material has a good variety and the songs have good structures, with songs like
The Conjuration and
Persecution Mania being straight ahead thrash assaults which have quite intense paces. Then you have songs with more variety, that mix fast and slower tempos one song, like
Christ Passion,
Bombenhagel and
Nuclear Winter are a few songs with this kind of variety. Anyway, this album may not deliver extremely well performed thrash-metal but this is high class thrash, as there are lots of catchy riffs, simple but very heavy and demolishing rhythm sections, intense and varied drumming and you also have chaotic but yet very skilful soloing (
Slayer solos but in German style).
Tom's vocal work perhaps wasn't top-notch at this album but it still sounds very good. He literally speaks instead of singing at points. Personally I think these vocals gave the album a very cruel atmosphere alongside the half-fuzzy and messy guitar and bass sound.
My Conclusion
Slayer is the only band who could express the right vibes or feel when it comes to pure evil but
Sodom were or perhaps is the only thrash-metal band who could express pure cruelty, and especially in this album. There is a very thin or hyper thin line between thrash and death-metal in this album, and it truly is high-voltage thrash but is on the very edge of becoming a death-metal album, and it sounds awesome. I admit that this is not advanced music but it does grabs you by the balls and it won't let go. All the instruments are clearly heard; I enjoy almost every song and I also think that this is
Sodom's finest hour. Heck I even think that this is a thrash-metal classic and perhaps one of the greatest albums from the German thrash-trio, ever. Maybe not a full blown classic but it is very close. Thrash-metal fans must have this album in their collection, this album would suit thrashers best but old-school death-metal would probably also enjoy this album a bit.
Pros
+ A very cruel atmosphere is always present
+ Simple but a very catchy and heavy thrash-metal
+ Only these harsh/raspy vocals could make this album sound so good
+ Impressive and skilful solos
+ Good variety in the songs
Cons
- This might not be a good album for those who want to get into the band
- The simplistic music might disappoint the listener
Recommended Tracks
-- Nuclear Winter
-- Bombenhagel
-- Christ Passion
-- Electrocution
This is the best Sodom album yet and is almost close to become a thrash-metal classic, this album will be given a 4.7/5
