Ever since I discovered groups like Anthrax and Slayer, I have
\nbeen rather partial to speed metal. I love the reckless energy and
\nthe hummingbird-after-three-espressos beats of the songs. Maybe it
\nwas a guy – check that, teenage guy – thing, but such music
\nprovided me with a release.<\/p>\n
Germany’s Sodom remind me a lot of bands like Slayer in their
\nmusical approach, as heard on their 1999 release
\nCode Red<\/i>. However, if there is one word I would ask Tom
\nAngelripper and crew to utilize, it’s one I never thought I’d use
\nwith a metal act: restraint.<\/p>\n
The band – bassist\/vocalist Angelripper, guitarist Bernemann and
\ndrummer Bobby – are an incredibly tight outfit, and both the lyrics
\nand the songwriting are of very high caliber. (They should be; this
\nband has been slugging it out now for some time.) Angelripper’s
\nvocals come through very clearly in this mix, something I’m not
\nparticularly used to in a lot of today’s metal.<\/p>\n
When it comes to intensity,
\nCode Red<\/i> absolutely oozes it. For a three-piece band
\n(assisted on “The Wolf And The Lamb” by guitarist Harris Jones),
\nSodom creates a sound that makes it feel like you’re listening to a
\nlarger ensemble. And if the brutal chords on tracks like
\n“Tombstone,” “Spiritual Demise” or “The Vice Of Killing” don’t do a
\nTexas two-step on your spine, the powerful lyrics will crush
\nwhatever is left. Brutal? Sure, but I’ve heard worse. That might
\nnot be enough to calm the nerves of Tipper Gore, but it will have
\nto do.<\/p>\n
So why am I talking about restraint when it comes to Sodom? It’s
\na minor point, but one worth noting: the band plows through the
\nsongs on
\nCode Red<\/i> so quickly, it almost feels like you’re not being
\nallowed to come up for air, even for one second. I understand the
\ndesire to keep the energy and aggression levels high with this
\nmusic, but even the briefest of pauses between the tracks – namely,
\nsomething noticeable – would be appreciated.<\/p>\n
Still, this is not an issue that would sink
\nCode Red<\/i>, and the album stands strong as one of Sodom’s best
\nworks ever. No need to sound the alarm here;
\nCode Red<\/i> is very much worthy of your time and money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6301],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36565","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sodom","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36565"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36565"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}