SODOM Mainman Is 'Very, Very Satisfied' With Band's New Album

Jens Lundell of Swedish web magazine CriticalMass.se recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Thomas "Angelripper" Such of German thrash metal veterans SODOM. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

CriticalMass.se: You're going to release a new album called "In War And Pieces". I've listened to it and I think it sounds more dynamic and complex compared to your previous releases. What do you say about that?

Angelripper: Yeah, that's true. I think there is a big difference to "In War And Pieces" and the other albums. You know, I never compare it to other albums. It's a new album with brand new songs, but this time the production was better. It was very important for us to get a better production than on the latest SODOM release. I want to have louder guitars and I want to have a better drum sound. We are so glad to get a producer like Waldemar Schorychta, who can help us to get a sound like this. That was the most important thing. To get a producer who knows exactly what we want. We did a pre-production a couple of weeks before we started in the studio so he could help us with the songs and I'm very, very satisfied.

CriticalMass.se: SODOM has gone through numerous line-up changes. Today's lineup has been around for some time and appears to be very solid. What makes this lineup so much more successful compared to the other ones?

Angelripper: When I kicked someone out of the band in the '80s or the '90s, I always had a good reason to do it. Frank Blackfire left the band because he wanted to join KREATOR and Witchhunter was kicked out because he was an alcoholic. The new lineup is very strong and we have been together about 15 years now. I think we have gotten more serious, we are good friends, we can talk about everything and we are in the same age. I always want to keep a lineup as long as possible, because when somebody leaves the band I have to restart, you know. I have to start from the beginning, new recording sessions... I always try to keep it, you know. I think we create our own style, we have found our music and we like to do heavy metal music. We are fans making music, you know. That's the secret. We always try to keep together.

CriticalMass.se: When you started up SODOM you were very inspired by VENOM and MOTÖRHEAD. What bands have inspired you in recent years?

Angelripper: That was a very big inspiration. I remember when I got the "Welcome to Hell" album in 1981. I was so impressed. It was a brand new kind of music for us. But nowadays I don't want to have any influences in the music. When we have some new songs in the rehearsal room, we are not inspired by any other bands. I know that the old SODOM albums are a big inspiration to the metal scene, to the black metal scene and that makes me proud. Ourselves, we don't listen to any other bands when we start to write new songs. We don't want to have any inspiration. We want to do the music we like to do and thrash metal means to be free and doing what you want, that is very important. I think that the first VENOM record is the beginning of a completely new era of metal music.

CriticalMass.se: Some people think that it was the first thrash metal album or the first...

Angelripper: Thrash metal was not a word at the time. They came out with some really good music. Much more brutal than MOTÖRHEAD, which was my favorite in the beginning, but when VENOM came out with this album it changed my life completely. Aggressor, Witchhunter and me were all big VENOM fans and wanted to do the same music but heavier. It was really a milestone for the whole scene.

CriticalMass.se: It's like the source of all extreme metal. It's like where it all began.

Angelripper: Everybody listened to BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW, DEEP PURPLE, MOTÖRHEAD, AC/DC, whatever. But this band really had something special. When you ask me about my favorite albums, my all time favorites, it's also the "Welcome to Hell" album. It never ends you know. I'm an old-school metal fan. When I listen to music at home I just listen to my old favorite bands like RAVEN, TANK or VENOM. It's coming from the '80s when heavy metal was growing up. That was my youth. That was my life!

Read the entire interview from CriticalMass.se.