M-16

Sodom | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 30, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Steamhammer Us
• ASIN: B00005OW7K
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,268 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Among The Weirdcong

2. I am The War

3. Napalm In The Morning

4. Minejumper

5. Genocide

6. Little Boy

7. M-16

8. Lead Injection

9. Cannon Fodder

10. Marines

11. Surfin' Bird

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

In 2001, Sodom still are one of the most important and most authentic European thrash metal bands. Their origins date back to the year 1980. Be it the early demo tapes, their In The Sign Of Evil-EP (Steamhammer), their 1996 debut album Obsessed By Cruelty: Sodom intimidated the world at large from the very beginning. Two years and one album later, the band toured Europe with the likes of Whiplash, recording the live cut Mortal Way Of Life a the legendary Tor 3 in Düsseldorf in the process. Thanks to Agent Orange and the cult single ‘Ausgebombt’, the group from Gelsenkirchen succeeded in being the first thrash metal act world-wide to enter the German album charts. Sodom toured all over the world, travelled Europe repeatedly and played a number of successful gigs in Japan and South America. Albums like Better Off Dead (1990) or Tapping The Vein (1992) manifested the success of the band, who –despite a number of personnel changes – managed to maintain their characteristic sound, mainly thanks to bassist and vocalist Tom Angelripper. Throughout the Nineties, Sodom lost none of their authenticity on albums like Masquerade In Blood or ’Til Death Do Us Unite, remaining firmly grounded and never losing touch with their roots. With their 1999 release Code Red, a title that refers to the US Marines’ infamous punishment code, the trio consisting of Angelripper/Bernemann/Schottkowski proved as politically committed as ever. This long tradition continues with Sodom’s trip to the Far East, their gigs in Bangkok and Saigon, and of course with the controversial subject matter of their impending album M 16.

Product Description

Pictures of atrocities, abominations of Western civilisation, war, brutalisation and devastation: Sodom, one of the very first German thrash metal bands, appear to have everything but calmed down in the twentieth year of their career, and (thankfully) they don’t really seem to be much the wiser: Sodom are still loud, tough, troublesome and totally committed. On August 11, 2001, Tom Angelripper (vocals, bass), Bernemann (guitars), and Bobby Schottkowski (drums) are scheduled to perform a gig at the Rock Pub in Bangkok, presenting a number of tracks off their new album M-16 to fans and journalists from all over the world. The lyrical theme of the record deals with the horrors of the Vietnam war. One day later, on August 12, there will be a spectacular world premiere as part of a free show in Saigon, Sodom being the first metal act from the West to play Vietnam.

In May of this year, the band visited both Asian countries, travelling Thailand and South Vietnam to get a first-hand impression of the country which still bears the scars of a devastating war. The three musicians did not only meet napalm bomb victims but also visited the famous war criminal museum in Saigon, which exhibits pictures of victims, decapitations and people disfigured by fragmentation bombs, plus a complete arsenal of missiles in all shapes and sizes (the biggest one weighing 6.8 tons!) and jars containing the bodies of deformed babies, victims of the toxin Agent Orange. The defoliant was used by the American army in the merciless clashes during the war and causes severe deformations for at least four generations. At the same time the band took part in an extensive tour of the 200 km Cu Chi tunnel system, which the population used for underground operations.

The new album M-16 is due out at the end of October on Steamhammer/SPV and deals with the barbarity and effects of the brutal Vietnam war, which raged between the southern and the northern part of the country during the Sixties, with around 500,000 US troops fighting Eastern Block military. Sodom continue a long tradition of politically committed and socially conscious albums that Angelripper & Co. started with Agent Orange and Code Red.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Modern Thrash! 4 star album plus 1 star respect!, July 1, 2005

By 

TKitO (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: M-16 (Audio CD)

Sodom is my favorite Thrash Metal band from Germany,
while the golden era of Thrash Metal is gone,
Many 80' Thrash bands change their style or disbanded,
But Sodom keep Thrashing till NOW!!!
That desevre my Respect!!!!!
Those Metallica Fans feel shame what Metallica doing now,
Sodom never stop thrashing just made their fans feel proud!!!

I got their first few album [which is classic, no doubt!!!]
I haven't heard anything after Agent Orange,
I think the reason for me to get this album is,
Lots of good review over the world and This year Kreator and Destruction all release killer thrash metal album,
It's sounds like Thrash Metal is back again!

The guitar sounds little bit harsh,
Tom Angelripper voice sounds as great as he did in Agent Orange and Persecution Mania,
and sounds more agressive and spittin' machine gun lyrics!!!

hard to pick a Best song,
All songs sounds killer,
but the most impressive song is the title song M-16!
A great mid-tempo song!
I think I can say it's give me a feel that,
it's sounds like in the vein of Remember The Falling!!!

The album got 4 Star,
plus one star is my respect to Sodom never stop thrashing!

A Killer Modern Thrash Metal album!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nothing new but good solid trash, April 30, 2002

By 

Washburn "solitude71" (ISTANBUL Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: M-16 (Audio CD)

If u like Agent Orange and Better off Dead, you can buy this one and like it too. They have become a little repetitive but I'll still give it 4 stars just for keeping the 80's trash spirit alive.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pulverizing Thrash for the 21st century, February 7, 2005

By 

General Zombie (the West) - See all my reviews

This review is from: M-16 (Audio CD)

While 'M-16' isn't completely pure, old-school thrash, it's about as close as you're likely to come nowadays. Fortunately, when it deviates from the thrash norm it largely does so effectively, making the album a bit more distinctive with out weakening it. This is not sophisticated stuff, just an unrelenting bludgeoning. But it works. Very, very well.

The guitar tone on this album is quite unusual for this sort of material. It's very, very thick and fuzzy, not too far from what you might here on a doom or sludge album. Surprisingly, this actually works pretty well. If you aren't listening very carefully it'll probably turn into a blur, but it's still sufficiently distinct to be made out very easily if you are actually listening to it. It's also got a sorta punkish speed metal feel at times, a la Motorhead, and it sometimes moves into slower, doomy atmospherics. Still, it's a thrash album at it's heart, with choppy, pounding riffs the vast majority of the time.(It's midpaced quite a bit of the time, but it never really turns into groove-thrash. Frankly, there's little evidence that Sodom has listened to anything made after 1990) The lead guitar isn't given much emphasis, and none of the solos have made all that big of an impression on me, but it doesn't really detract either. It's just kinda there. The drumming is simplistic, even for this sort of material, largely with basic fills and simple 1-2 beats. But, that's all you really need for this sorta material, so it works out fine. (Some fancier fills would be nice and all, but they aren't absolutely needed.) Tom Angelripper (who has the best metal pseudonym ever) sings in a fairly harsh rasp which isn't all that far from what you'd hear on a Kreator album. He's not much for melody, but the chorus are usually quite memorable, in their way.

There isn't all that much variety here, but most of the tracks are catchy enough that they don't blur together all that much, and it is consistently fun, headbangable material from beginning to end. This is far catchier than your average thrash album, which more than makes up for the relative lack of variety. `Among the Weirdcong' is the opener and the best track. It's thunderously heavy, with a great, groovy but still propulsive main riff and an instantly memorable, roaring chorus. A modern thrash classic, definitely. `Napalm in the Morning' is a bit more subdued. Still very heavy, but groovier with a sorta Motorheady feel to it. Another fun, catchy song. `Minejumper' picks things up a bit again, faster with more unrelenting, trem-picked riffs, and more simple but catchy vocal lines. The title track is a bit more dynamic, with some slower parts actually melody in the guitar lines at times, and a great, hypnotic chorus. (`Marines' has the same basic feel, though it's not quite as effective) It closes with the cover `Surfin' Bird' which is really quite amusing. Normally, I try and discuss more specific songs than this, but almost everything here is good in the same way. But, as I said before, it's catchy enough that this doesn't really detract.

Also, the cover art for this album is awesome. Awesome as hell. Very good, under appreciated stuff here.