Sodom (band)
| Sodom | |
|---|---|
Sodom performing live at Rock Hard Festival in 2016
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Gelsenkirchen, Germany |
| Genres |
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| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | Steamhammer |
| Associated acts |
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| Website | www |
| Members |
Tom Angelripper Bernd "Bernemann" Køst Markus "Makka" Freiwald |
| Past members | Frank Testegen Josef Dominic Michael Wulf (deceased) Uwe Christophers Frank Blackfire Uwe Baltrusch Michael Hoffman Andy Brings Dirk "Strahli" Strahlmeier (deceased) Christian "Witchhunter" Dudek (deceased) Atomic Steif Bobby Schottkowski |
Sodom is a German thrash metal band from Gelsenkirchen, formed in 1981. They have gone through many line-up changes, leaving bassist/vocalist Tom Angelripper as the only constant member. Along with Kreator, Destruction and Tankard, Sodom is considered one of the "Big 4" of Teutonic thrash metal. While three of those bands (except Tankard) created a sound that would influence death metal and black metal, Sodom's early music style would greatly influence many late 1980s and early 1990s black metal bands more than others.
To date, Sodom has released fifteen studio albums, three live albums, two compilation albums and six EPs. They achieved their first commercial success with their third studio album Agent Orange (1989), which was the first thrash metal album to enter the German album charts, where it reached number 36. Sodom remains one of the best-selling thrash metal acts of all time, having sold over six million records.
Sodom's original line-up consisted of Tom Angelripper, Bloody Monster, Arius "Blasphemer", and Aggressor. The band was initiated by Tom as a desperate attempt to get out of having to work in coal mines in his home town of Gelsenkirchen. Though the band became a real working unit yet only when Chris Witchhunter (Christian Dudek, originally from Essen) had joined the band on drums (replacing Bloody Monster), having had already experience in writing music in some of his previous school-projects and thus coaching the remaining two members how to write proper songs (Arius had also been fired from the band). Taking inspiration from bands such as Motörhead, Venom, Tank, Accept, Rainbow and AC/DC, the group continued as a three-piece in the Motörhead-fashion and released two demos which led to a record deal with Steamhammer. Aggressor left the band shortly before releasing the In the Sign of Evil EP (which is generally regarded as an important early black metal release), and was replaced by Grave Violator, who himself did not last long, and left following the recording of In the Sign of Evil. Michael "Destructor" Wulf was found as a replacement, after which the band went and recorded Obsessed by Cruelty, their full-length debut featuring music that was mostly in the vein of In The Sign of Evil. Wulf did not last in the band long, and later went and joined Kreator (where he also only had a short stint; he would later die after a tragic motorcycle accident in 1993).
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