ALBUM REVIEW: Sodom – Genesis XIX

Teutonic Thrash Metal legends SODOM are back with their 16th full length album. Out now via Steamhammer Records.

Driving right in with no time wasted, a slower crawl of drums and chugging riffs sets the tone with brutality and simplicity. Speeding violence erupts with melodic and ferocious riffs topping an onslaught of blastbeats which is met by some truly malicious vocals, this is definitely in the furious vein that Sodom pioneered and have not lost touch in creating. With a blistering rage still burning strong at the heart of the music, we see an all-enveloping display of ruthless Thrash Metal with that blackened edge still casting a macabre shadow over the extremity. The catchiness in the speed-fuelled riffing and upbeat drums ensures memorability as the high-octane eruptions rain upon us with nuclear fire. Sodom’s return is clearly in healthy and crushing form with a record that will take no prisoners.

Continuing in the unforgiving pathway to obliteration, the instrumental side of the band has just as much passionate energy as ever, something Sodom have been consistent with, while the vocals spew a devilish morbidity across the riffs and blasts with that precise hatred that is equally reliable and never dulls. Mutilating us with a savagery yet technical proficiency that is achieved from years of fine-tuning their craft, it is excellent to see a band as important as Sodom still playing with that primal sense of urgency to create headbanger friendly assaults so gloriously. Blistering solos only further the ravenous artillery with that same frenzied magnificence that the rhythm sections bellow out flawlessly. It is clear at nearly an hour in length, things are not due to become boring or repetitive.

Barbaric tracks are unleashed one after another with a soaring sense of triumph to be found in each, while the diversity between ideas may be thin, each song definitely has its own place and character, deserving inclusion on the record. A veritable chain of bangers with ripping musicianship throughout, this is one of the strongest Sodom albums in many years to my ear with its brutal yet melodious array of bestial warfare that charges forth with self-aware confidence. Pick any track and I assure you, you will find yourself blasting the full album and banging your head as the cranked up sounds of Sodom fill the air. These are the exact kind of songs that get fans psyched up for a live show, hopefully these return and we can see these new tracks delivered to a crowd of roaring chaos. Either way, “Genesis XIX” is a titanic slab of Thrash Metal that deserves a blast by all Metalheads.

Sodom’s return is a triumphant one, delivering a monolith of thrashing madness of the highest quality. A band with so many classic records might falter by their 16th studio album, but Sodom have not. The fury, passion, drive and angst is all as present as ever while their musicianship has only improved with time. We will never get another “In The Sign Of Evil”, but that record will always be held dear to our hearts while their new material is still devastatingly good all the same. Another victorious output from the Germanic Speed Metal machine. -8.5/10