Starting their fortieth anniversary celebrations a few months early, German thrashers Sodom prepare to enter their fifth decade with the release of Bombenhagel (Steamhammer / SPV), a three track EP featuring two brand new songs and an updated version of an old classic.

Taken from 1987’s Persecution Mania (Steamhammer/SPV), the current line-up ensure the title track sounds as sharp and vicious as ever, Producer Harris Johns even returning alongside guitarists Frank Blackfire and Yorck Segatz with a frantic guitar solo just as he did on the original record. By including lengthier solos and a not-entirely-seamless segue into the Russian and the US national anthems, the song now lasts a full minute longer than before but still feels like it’s over too fast. 

Featuring riff after aggressive riff and some seriously quickfire drumming from the pneumatic Toni Merkel, newie ‘Coup De Grace’ takes the final blow usually administered to a mortally wounded animal and  uses it as a metaphor to warn how, due to war and climate change (among other things), humanity is currently delivering that same terminal blow to itself. The moody and brutally alliterative ‘Pestiferous Posse’ ends the release with frontman and lyricist Tom Angelripper drawing parallels between the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881 and the battle between Democrats and Republicans which eventually resulted in the storming of the Capitol in January this year.

A bruising little short player originally planned to coincide with this year’s summer festival season, Bombenhagel is a snappy little interim release to enjoy before the band return to full active duty for next year’s – hopefully pandemic-free – anniversary party.

Buy the EP here: http://smarturl.it/SodomBombenhagel

8 / 10

GARY ALCOCK