Sodom ‘Out on the Frontline Trench’
Album Review By Adam McCann
SPV/Steamheammer Records/Thrash Metal
Last year, Sodom offered a tantalising prospect to their fans as classic line-up guitarist Frank Blackfire returned to the band alongside new additions Husky and Yorck Segatz. On the back of this, Sodom have unleashed three EP’s ‘Partisan’, ‘Chosen by the Grace of God’ and now ‘Out on the Frontline Trench’.
This EP shows that Sodom are in the middle of a huge creative patch, with Tom Angelripper thoroughly empowered by the injection of the musicians around him. What the listener gets with ‘Out on the…’ are Sodom firing on all cylinders, driving forward with thrashing rhythms, particularly during the track ‘Down on Your Knees’. However, as blistering and as enjoyable as these songs are when playing, there is unfortunately very little to remember from these songs; they just don’t have that magic memorability of some of Sodom’s other work and it sadly comes to something when the rerecording of ‘Agent Orange’ and a live version of ‘Bombenhagel’ are more enjoyable than the new tracks. Furthermore, clocking in at just under 30 minutes is strongly pushing it for an EP with the feeling that although the live and rerecorded tracks are much better than the newly recorded tracks, they’re just not needed.
Unfortunately, with the time spent releasing EP’s over the 18 months, it can’t help being wondered whether Sodom would have been better off just releasing a full-length studio album. Other than being a hardcore Sodom fan, it is difficult to see as to why the listener would part with hard earned money for yet another EP that is average at best.
Rating : 64/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
