'The Art Of Killing Poetry' by the german legends of SODOM

SODOM - "THE ART OF KILLING POETRY"
("SPV GmbH" / "Steamhammer" / "Metal Hammer Magazine"; CD):

Next blog posting, next record review, next Thrash Metal assault, next dose of Thrash Metal from Germany, and the next legendary band that I now know for about twenty years or something like this, and yes, I am talking about the legendary SODOM from Gelsenkirchen, Germany and also (like KREATOR) here they are back with a free garnish, but not of the "ROCK HARD MAGAZINE" but of the german edition of the "METAL HAMMER MAGAZINE", and again I decided to leave the complete package where it was and just grabbed the CD and left the supermarket, yeahr, you know, fighting the rules of capitalism wherever you can fight them, haha;-). (It's always good and nice if ya can hide nothing but simply 'criminal activities' behind some 'high moral aspirations', or isn't it?!? Just ask our political leaders!!!) So, okay, SODOM had released at the end of 2010 their newest record (and I will soon risk one or two ears) titled in "WAR & PIECES", and here we do get three new tracks of SODOM, as well as (pretty much) all of their so called 'German Classics' and also some live recorded songs at the giant german Metal Open Air settled in Wacken. Metal became more and more pretty unimportant to me over the last one or one-and-a-half decade, and especially SODOM had been a band that I lost totally out of my focus. They had not only been one of the harder Metal bands that I came to knew first, but they had also been one of the first Metal bands ever I used to listen to. But beside their three classicks "TAPPING THE VEIN", "BETTER OFF DEAD" and "AGENT ORANGE" and their very good late 1990's record "CODE RED" and maybe their pretty cool and very much Punk and Hardcore inspired record "GET WHAT YOU DESERVE" (with the great "SILENT IS CONSENT") and also maybe (very maybe) their very old one "PERSECUTION MANIA" (with th legendary "BOMBENHGEL") they have released so many other stuff more that, from my point of view, really nobody ever needed anyhow. And so, yes, that's why I totally lost them out of my view and focus back in 1999 or 2000 or something like this. But okay, after this one was for free, harhar;-), I thought that it would maybe be time again to give them another try. And what shall I say, damn what a suprise!!! SODOM moved pretty much far away from their more or less very 'punky' through and through Old School (German) Thrash Metal sound and style and do now-a-days sound pretty much 'New School'. It seemed like they've developed quite an impressive 'bit' to a more and more New School sound and style of Thrash Metal like it was born and bred over there in the States by bands like MACHINE HEAD and the PISSING RAZORS, just to name this two bands. (Still combined with some or even a lot of Old School Thrash Metal, trust me.) Very grapping and impressive songwriting, strong varying rhythm work and structures, cool changes of pace and exciting modifications of the mood of the songs, and a very harsh and brutal guitar playing that's really giving the songs its crown. Okay, I'm still not the biggest fan of Tom Angelripper's style of singing and of 'speaking out english', but okay, that's not doing hurt to final result here that much at all. The three new songs "IN WAR AND PIECES", "THE ART OF KILLING POETRY", and "FEIGNED DEATH THROES" are really amazing stuff that you really need to check out, even Die-Hard SODOM and Die-Hard Old School Thrash Metal maniacs will maybe somehow a little bit be dissapointed. The three songs are really awesome stuff, and of the rest of the songs you do really need (still today) "STALINORGEL", "WACHTTURM", and "BOMBENHAGEL". "DIE STUMME URSEL", "VERRECKE", and "MANTELMANN", okay, we do forget about this ones very quick, and the german version of "AUSGEBOMBT" is not half as good as the english original one. But okay, you should grab one of this CD's anyhow, and maybe make sure that you try out their current 2010 full length release titled "IN WAR AND PIECES". The production sound is very good, and the artwork looks just awesome. Also the lyrics are some good stuff. Good stuff after all that's really promising a lot when it comes to their new record and so I think I'm gonna give it a fair try pretty soon from now on. Check it out!!! (8 of 10 points)

(http://www.myspace.com/sodom)