Customer Reviews

Persecution Mania & The Sign of Evil / Obsessed By Cruelty

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While others have disappeared, changed beyond recognition, or just started, Sodom was one of the pioneers and remains true to their roots to this day. One of the "big 3" of German thrash with Kreator and Destruction, Sodom pumps big sound as a 3-piece. Motorhead and Venom influences are quite prevalent on these, their first three albums. The albums were originally released in the following order (and unfortunately they appear in order of production quality in this package--best to worst):

IN THE SIGN OF EVIL (1984) - debut EP. Extremely evil sounding with lots of heavy breathing and grunting. Somewhat juvenile, but a very powerful, fast album that sets the tone for thousands of future death metal bands, most notably Sepultura. The production quality is excellent. Witchhunter's drumming is insane--galloping double-bass with amazing solos at nearly every time change.

OBSESSED BY CRUELTY (1986) - first full length album. This is what should be the band's best album, had it not been for the production. In fact, it could have been one of the best thrash albums of all time. Once again, Witchhunter's drumming is excellent--he traded-in some of the solos for tighter, faster sound. Unfortunately, the drums are the only instrument that even sound half decent. The guitar work is excellent with lots of good hooks, but with the overall tinny sound, the guitar is often lost to a hiss heard over the entire album. The vocals sound distant and were poorly mixed. I can't wait for the day that Sodom returns to the studio to rerecord this masterpiece and do it the justice it deserves.

PERSECUTION MANIA (1987) - this one put Sodom on the map. By most fans, this is their number one album, with the followup "Agent Orange" being a close and very similar sounding second. Produced by the thrashmaster Harris Johns (also known for his work with Helloween, Coroner, Kreator and Voivod). Witchhunter once again tames his drumming for a slightly slower, more consistent tempo and new guitarist Frank Blackfire lends the band a Motorhead-esque full sound that they continue to churn out today. Definitely one of the top ten albums every thrash fan should own. The "Expurse of Sodomy" EP bonus tracks (Sodomy and Lust, Conqueror and My Atonement) typically packaged with "Persecution.." are present and are the pinnacle of this collection, combining the brutally evil early sound with Persecution production quality.

German's trash metal gods ( next to Kreator of course ) entered the German Charts with this Album. Sodom weren't that cult band anymore, more and more people were realising their potential! Persecution Mania is their best ( and heaviest ) Album, they emerged from the garage-status they had with their Debut (In the Sigin of Evil / Obessesed by Cruelty ), to a technical more professional but not less brutal style. "Nuclear Winter", "Christ Passion", "Bombenhagel" and the Highspeed Mayhem of "The Conquerer" are my listening sugestions. I think Sodom reached their peak with Persecution Mania, not Agent Orange ( which entered the Charts as first-trash metal album ever). Their first Two-Records ( also on this CD ) are well worth purchasing too, don't expect a high professional affair, but it's like the german version of Venom and stands the test of time ( I bought this album in 1994 and I'm listening to it right now )

This is a 2-cd set with 2 albums on the first cd and one one the other. The first cd with In the Sign of Evil is the Harder of the two with songs like blasphemer and witching metal sounding like prototype death metal. The songs on these cd's are some of the fastest thrash around, think beneath the remains sepultura style maybe even faster, the only thing that kind of sucks is Tom angelrippers voice back then was kind of weird. His voice is way better now. Trust me, his voice isn't as bad as like Steve Souza's or anything and it won't keep you from enjoying the hell out of these two cd's. 5 stars for some of the fastest hardest thrash around.

They got the thrash down,they got great drumming,and the monstrous voice is a fantastic diabolic touch.A long and dark walk through the world of Sodom.Overlooking this album would be your first mistake as a thrasher.Bobenhagel and Christ Passion-the key tracks.

Excellent set of some of the finest thrah metal ever made at a great price.

When i got this I noticed that the song titles and the lyrics don't seem to match on some of the songs. 'Obsessed by cruelty' seems to have the words volcanic slut in it a whole bunch. 'Pretenders to the throne' is clearly 'Nuctemeron' and 'Witchhammer' is, well, you get the idea. Anyway, onto the album itself, it is a pretty vicious album with some nice brutal riffage. It also has some pretty silly lyrics ("read satanic bible with f---ing groan" you do what now?) But that just adds to the fun.

So, after listening to the album a bit I was able to work out a quick 'translation guide' Deathlike Silence=Intro
Obsessed by cruelty=Volcanic slut
Equinox=Proselytism Real
Proslytism Real=Brandish The Sceptre
Brandish The Sceptre= Deathlike silence
Fall of majesty town=Obsessed by cruelty
Nuctemeron=Fall of majesty town
Pretenders to the throne=Nuctemeron
Witchhammer=Pretenders to the throne
Volcanic slut=Witchhammer
Hope that helps anyone with similar issues.

Definitivamente SODOM irrumpió la escena metalera a nivel mundial con un gran ep llamado The Sign of Evil que fue justamente lo primero que escuché de los alemanes. Personalmente es el disco que más me gusta. Mas que una apreciación objetiva, es una apreciación llena de emoción pues era adolescente cuando escuché por primera vez.
Persecution mania, gran disco un cambio a la crudeza demostrado inicialmente pero con mucha fuerza y grandes riff, gran preambulo para una joya que llegaría despues ya saben a que disco me refiero.
SODOM se presenta mañana 16 aca en Lima... OUTBREAK OF EVIL

When it comes to the birth of the Black and Death Metal genres, Sodom were right at the forefront. I found giving this box set just four stars difficult, as the band's debut, "In the Sign of Evil", is easily a five star album by itself, a first edition textbook on old school black metal, and brilliant in its wanton can't-play-but-got-something-flailingly-dark-to-say destruct-o-rama. A must have.

"Obsessed by Cruelty" gets a bit bogged down by its extended time frame, but whenever the band are playing high tempos they are absolutely compelling. It's one of those albums that are put on when you want a guaranteed head-banging listen, there's so much to whip your neck around to, irresistible stuff.

Things went down a small notch after, at least for me. Those first two releases were forerunners of what would become Black and Death metal, and probably the inventors of the subgenre of Black Thrash that still exists today in bands like Victimizer. "Persecution Mania" itself has a few excellent cuts, but with that album Sodom became more and more enamored of the Slayer sound. It's as if, between the release of Obsessed By Cruelty and Persecution Mania, the band just fell in love with Reign and Blood and decided to change their strategy. Still, "Persecution Mania" is a really good album, as is the "Expurse of Sodomy" EP (included here, with the immortal track "Sodomy and Lust").

I hate to sound so negative about Persecution Mania, as it was obviously a breakthrough for the band, and an influence on many who discovered Sodom with that album. But it was different for people who were there when the first two releases were first being tape traded, both creeped out and thrilled, and to this day hold them closest to our black little hearts.

Whilst these are great to own on CD it's unfortunate that SPV/Steamhammer has done it so cheaply and with scant care for the originals. On Obsessed By Evil the track listing is completely wrong.Intros which are not separate songs are counted as songs (for example Outbreak Of Evil, a 4 and a half minute song comes up as only the 14 second intro).Furthermore, the last track, Volcanic Slut isn't even on the CD!!! The only reason I worked this out is cos I have the LP. The sooner someone reissues this properly the better.