Sodom

thrash metal

Sodom is a German thrash metal band from Gelsenkirchen (NRW), Germany. They formed in 1981. Along with the bands Kreator, Destruction and Tankard, Sodom is considered one of the The Big Four of Teutonic Thrash Metal. Traditionally a three-piece, the band expanded to a four-piece with the addition of second guitarist Yorck Segatz in 2018. The band was formed by Tom Angelripper and Aggressor in 1981 in the Western German industrial town of Gelsenkirchen. Initially, they were mostly influenced by bands like Motörhead, Tank, Raven, and Venom. Sodom's own music style would greatly influence many late-1980s and early-1990s thrash and black metal bands, among others. They soon found a drummer called Bloody Monster who was, however, quickly replaced by Chris Witchhunter, with whom they released two demos, Witching Metal and Victims of Death in 1982 and 1984, before signing a deal with SPV GmbH. After a gig in Frankfurt in 1984 (with Destruction and Tankard) Manfred Schütz of SPV GmbH came to the band and spoke the legendary sentence You guys are so bad, you will sell a lot of records!. This led to the recording of their debut EP In the Sign of Evil. Missing was Aggressor, who had meanwhile left the band. He was replaced by Grave Violator (recommended to the band by Kreator's Mille Petrozza), who also wouldn't stay very long. In his place, Michael Wulf joined, just to leave the band shortly after the recordings of their first full-length album Obsessed by Cruelty in 1986 to j...