SODOM: 'Lords Of Depravity - Part II' DVD Details Revealed

Veteran German thrashers SODOM will release their long-awaited new DVD, "Lords Of Depravity - Part II", on June 28 in Europe and July 13 in the U.S. via SPV/Steamhammer.

The double digipak DVD with o-card will contain the following:

* DVD 1: the complete history 1995-2009 (approximately 230 minutes)
* DVD 2: Live features, video clips, deleted scenes (approximately 180 minutes)

Commented bassist/vocalist Thomas "Angelripper" Such: "Five years after releasing our first SODOM DVD, you're now holding the second part in your hands...

"To begin with, I want to thank you for your patience.

"In the meantime it happened a lot, which we want to give you an account of with this film.

"The story of 'Lords Of Depravity - Part I' ended in the year 1995, which included many ups and downs for me. It was a year I had to make a lot of decisions in, which were of essential importance for my career and further musical future.

"The last contractual album with SPV, 'Masquerade In Blood', blazed the trail for rebound.

"When drummer Atomic Steif and guitarist Strahli left the band after the accomplishment of this album, I thought about forming a completely new band or turn[ing] my back on the music business forever. I lacked the willingness to discuss each of my decisions with the band members. I had to look ahead. The numerous replacements of band members in the past unnerved me and tested my mettle.

"The idea to start a solo project emerged through many intense conversations with friends and my musical surroundings. Producer Ulli Pösselt also encouraged me to this enterprise. A record label, which evinced the willingness in supporting the project, was found straight. The Tom Angelripper — future ONKEL TOM — project came into being and released four albums through the label GUN Records.

"I realized quickly, that living without SODOM was inacceptable for me. The record label wasn't enthusiastic about perpetuating SODOM, the more so as the albums of the solo project worked out well in view of the circumstances at that time, even within the non-metal scene. I was advised to put SODOM on hold or to draw the curtain for good.

"To achieve a common purpose I convinced the head of the record label to recall SODOM to life with a completely new lineup. I became acquainted with drummer Bobby by fluke, later with guitarist Bernemann, who both roistered together in the bands CROWS and RANDALICA. The phase of us getting to know each other certainly is described at length in this film.

"After a couple of rehearsals we decided to go on together and record a new album. This seemed like a new birth to me, and we got down to work, 'cause finally there were a lot of live shows to be played again.

"Initially, all this was virgin soil to Bobby and Bernemann. Our first tour, which we were doing together with many top-class bands turned out to be a long-desired dream coming true for both of them.

"I finally made the attempt to establish a permanent lineup, which succeeded despite the hard time.

"The second half of the '90s has really been tough and confusing to the whole metal scene and music business. I don't want to speculate about the reasons here, but it was a time, when many bands resigned and split up. Many of them had to realign musically, which was a complete flop in many of these cases. The extant fans didn't want any change and turned away.

"To me it was a certain decision to go on like before and keep the comparatively steady fan community. It was worth it, since we outlived the lean period together with the help from our fans.

"We've always been a band, who crosses the scene with blinders. We never cared about what others were doing and we never let the record labels force us to change something to sell more records or become more commercial. Thrash metal was our way of doing something we were keen on and expressing openly what came into our heads without mincing our words. This is one thing which never changed to this day.

"A band has to be authentic and should not sell itself.

"In the following years, we travelled all around the world and soon there was hardly any country whose beer specialities we didn't give a try.

"I love thinking back of all these concerts... Whether it be in South America, Asia, Australia or Europe — everywhere we've been well received and celebrated properly.

"This film is going to let you look behind the scenes. At many shows a cameraman was [following] us, who tried to also catch the atmosphere backstage and during the tour.

"It's almost unbelievable how much material has been filmed, assembled and probably for the first time been released in this manner.

"I'm very glad that SODOM is still getting booked for being the cult band as such and is still regarded as the band most friendly towards their fans. Nowadays this doesn't seem to be understood by many others.

"Working on satisfying the fans is as much important as the music itself.

"We've always tried to get in contact with our fans after the show, signing autographs, having a beer together while chatting. We've never been that kind of 'rock stars' who leave their fans instantly after the show when being reputed to have done their work.

"My co-musicians always bolstered me and quickly understood what SODOM is all about. It's not about us — the focus is always on the fans. If they're happy, we're happy, too.

"Then, the early SODOM history caught up with us again. The record label wanted to re-release the debut 'In The Sign Of Evil' and asked me if there were any unreleased songs. At the third of our class reunions, I sat together with Chris Witchhunter and Grave Violator to talk about this. Grave Violator could remember that we've had material for one full-fledged album, but the record label wanted to produce a five-track EP only. This has been quite usual in the '80s. He still owned a recording of seven songs, which had been done in our old rehearsal room and which we had totally forgotten about. According to this, these songs had to be practiced anew in our old lineup. These partly very tragic years up to the release of 'Final Sign Of Evil' are reprocessed in this film by many interviews.

"Back then neither of us suspected Chris' disease to be progressed so far to be a lethal threat to him.

"Being on tour in South America with SODOM in 2009 I got a phone call which exceeded our worst apprehensions. This is a topic dealt with marginally in this film, because we closed it with our 25th anniversary.

"Now have fun watching 'Lords Of Depravity - Part II'!

"I hope you will encourage me in my idea of doing a third part.

"I thank you for your allegiant support, which hopefully will conduct us to our 30th anniversary."

SODOM will enter the studio this summer to begin recording its new album for a late 2010 release. Angelripper recently stated about the group's new material, "There has never been a SODOM album which is so wide-ranged, as powerful and as typically SODOM as this one.

SODOM issued the "Lords of Depravity - Part I" DVD in the U.S. on February 21, 2006 via SPV. The first of two double-DVD sets contained the SODOM history from 1982 to 1995 plus live footage from concerts in Sofia and at the With Full Force, Wacken Open Air and Rock Hard festivals.

"Agent Orange", the classic 1989 album from SODOM, was re-released on February 1 (Germany: January 29) via SPV/Steamhammer. The CD comes in a high-class digipack and will include a bonus disc. The extensive booklet contains rare photos and liner notes by bassist/vocalist Thomas "Angelripper" Such. The LP comes as a double gatefold album with printed inner sleeves and three bonus live tracks.

The band's latest album, "The Final Sign of Evil", was released as a double vinyl package on February 1, 2008 via SPV Records. The LP features re-recordings of the material from the German thrashers' classic first EP, "In the Sign of Evil", plus no less than seven bonus tracks, all of which were originally written during the "In the Sign of Evil" era or earlier but were never officially released. As a special bonus, the album featured return appearances by drummer Chris Dudek (a.k.a. Witchhunter) and guitarist Josef "Peppi" Dominic (a.k.a. Grave Violator),both of whom were featured on the original 1984 EP.