WOM Interviews – Sodom

Junho 10, 2020 Fernando Ferreira

Tom Angelripper is more than just a thrash metal musician from Germany, he is the embodiment of thrash metal itself, the purest, most aggressive and brutal metal! In a new line-up format, Sodom launched in November 2019 “Out Of The Frontline”, an Ep that feels like a new step in the band’s career. By Miguel Correia / Photos by Monsterpics

Hi Tom, how are you doing? Welcome to World Of Metal, it is an honor for us to do this interview with a name that is a worldwide reference of the scene. I start by asking you how was the band’s entire journey to the present?

The band is still alive and that approved all my decisions in the past. That makes me really proud. We never imagine something like that and all the success when you started our career in 1982. But it`s also the result of hard working men. We have a strong fanbase all over the decades that supported us so loyal and undeterred.

Let’s talk about Ep, ‘Out Of The Frontline Trench’, where you release three new tracks, how do you feel the end result of this work?

We just wanna demonstrate that we are still active and very busy in our songwriting process. This EP, and also the Partisan is something special for the Sodom’s collector scene. I am very satisfied with the result. This EP will also describe the direction for the upcoming songwriting. There are a lot of bands out there who talk about “back to the roots”, but we did it. The EP reflects exactly the sound we all love so much. Especially the production is very rough and inexorable.

Is this the work that will make the band the heaviest in the scene, or is it the first step in that direction?

Maybe. Think the production is different to the earlier releases. We recorded all the instruments with microphones, no trigger signals on the drums, no digital amplifiers like Kemper etc. Also, the Bass guitar is louder than its usual, but also a Sodom trademark. I think there is a special magic between speakers and microphones, hard to explain, but this will be the way we want to record the next album. Klaus Spangenberg, who is also our live engineer is a perfect Sodom producer for us and also a big Fan, especially he likes the older material. He had a lot of inputs and ideas into the new recording and mixing.

“Out of the Frontline Trench”…so Sodom is now ready for the “battle”?

Yes, we always are. Two songs (DOYK…OOTFT) are all about WW1. Last year I got some photos and letters of my grandfather, handed down by my aunt. So, all the recollections, my grandfather told me about his fighting and living in trenches in WW1 came back. So I start looking documentaries and reading books about that. But, please don’t misunderstand me, war was always a big theme for all the Sodom lyrics the last three decades and always will be. But these lyrics also reflect the present time. The world will change to the worst. Here will be no more security for all of us. Everything seems running out of control. Democratic politicians lose more and more power. Radical groups will prevail. I am not scared about myself but I am scared about the next generations and my kiddies. How will the world look like in 30 or 40 years? This piece is treacherous; it’s just an armistice, the calm before the big storm! Genesis 19 is a bible story about the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah (book Genesis). It`s very interesting to read, and also a huge inspiration for me. You have to know, I don’t believe in god and I think that a natural calamity destroyed these places. But the original bible story is something spectacular for a Sodom song…but Genesis will prevail the whole world, if we don`t stop to live like there is no tomorrow.

Did the change to quartet bring more security to your sound? How was the adaptation in the composition?

I came up with the idea to recreate a second axeman when Bernemann was still in the band. But he seems not very interested and i thought, that he never accepts a second guitarist by his side. Later, we started rehearsing sessions with Frank for the first time after he left the band. And now songs like Nuclear winter, Sodomy & Lust, and Christ passion sounded so amazing and authentic. I was so astonished that the guitar sound is exactly the same like on persecution mania or Agent Orange album. Now, we are able to reproduce the songs in an original way during the live sets. Yorck as well is a big Sodom fan, so he came up with a lot of ideas for new songs and upcoming setlists. With two guitarists we are able to perform songs which are not working with just one. Even my bass can`t replace a second guitar. The live sound is getting more brutal and dynamic.

But now Stefan ‘Husky’ Hüskens, the drummer has also left for professional reasons, as it is for you to handle all this, having stability is important.

Yes, but his decision is vindicated and we accepted it. We are still good friends and will ever be! But we already recruited a new drummer. He will be announced this weekend.

Thrash or Black Metal, where do you include the Sodom?

Witching Metal.

How is the tour going? Portugal?

No plans for Portugal yet, but we want to return as soon as possible.

Thanks

THANK YOU, and hope to see you soon… we love you.

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