It's hard to believe that Germany's Sodom has been with us for over four decades, but here we are. While the band has had more than its share of lineup changes (nearly 19 different people have been in this band at one time or another), the commitment to thrash and speed metal has always been paramount.
Swiftness and heft are apparent throughout the band's rather extensive discography, however, there are some songs that have particularly stood out and the band has recently decided to do a type of return to its roots. Sodom's frontman (and only member there from the very beginning), Tom Angelripper, thought that the time was now appropriate to reflect on and revisit some of those very early songs in the Sodom catalog. These go back all the way to the demo days. Says Angelripper:
"These days, we'd probably compose those songs differently and arrange them in a more contemporary style. But we see this EP as a little journey back in time to recapture the atmosphere of the early eighties. For us, it's about remembering those wild years. Back then, people hated bands like Motörhead or Venom. But we didn't give a shit about their opinion, we wanted to shock and outrage."
1982 is an EP that features re-recordings of some of those very first songs the band ever put to tape. These include "Witching Metal," the very first cut the band composed. In regards to that classic track Tom explains, "Basically, we chose the wrong key, but we then weren't about musical correctness, we were all about attitude. We were against the establishment, were in trouble with our teachers and training supervisors because, in their opinion, we wore the wrong clothes and listened to the wrong kind of music."
The foursome also re-recorded "Victims of Death," "Let's Fight in the Darkness of Hell," and "Equinox." In general the re-recordings of the songs are true to the original but they feature the current members of Sodom.
The title track of the EP, "1982 (remix)" is one of the band's very best songs in recent years. Some might even call it anthemic. In many ways it does have some sonics that you might have expected in the actual year 1982. This is because the band used musical instruments and amps that were only around back then. Nothing modern. For example, the band states that no drum triggers were used and that they placed straight through classic Marshall amps. It's also worth noting that band still records in their old rehearsal room in a factory building in Western Germany in what some call "an industrial wasteland." Thankfully though the EP is actually recorded and mixed crisply using modern equipment.
