Flashback to 1982. It is spring in Essen, Stauderstraße in the Altenessen district, a small musty rehearsal room in an industrial wasteland area. Three long-haired hopefuls have tuned their instruments and are hard at work, recording their first demo tape at top volume. The track they’re cutting is called “Witching Metal” and becomes bludgeoning thrash metal of the purest variety.
“Basically, we chose the wrong key, but we weren’t about musical correctness, we were all about attitude. We were against the establishment, we were in trouble with our teachers and training supervisors because, in their opinion, we wore the wrong clothes and listened to the wrong kind of music,” remembers Sodom front-man Tom Angelripper, looking back at his adolescence. “At the vocational college, I was the only one into metal. All the others listened to New Wave or Neue Deutsche Welle.”
That’s 41 years ago, but the influence of that formative era still affects the present, that was why Tom and Sodom wrote the track “1982“, recalling the band’s first steps both musically and lyrically. Now, “1982” as well as re-recordings of their early songs “Witching Metal“, “Victims Of The Death“, “Let’s Fight In The Darkness Of Hell” and “Equinox” have been immortalized on vinyl, and some on CD, for the first time.
“1982” will be released on November 10th, 2023 through Steamhammer in the following configurations:
- CD-EP DigiPak
- 12″ Vinyl, 140 g, cristallo vinyl, printed inner sleeve
- Download / Streaming which can be pre-order HERE
- 12″ Vinyl exclusive colored edition only at the Napalm shop, which can be pre-order HERE
- Exclusive 12″ Vinyl and CD/LP Bundle with a T-shirt only at the Steamhammer shop. Pre-order HERE
Sodom are:
- Tom Angelripper / Bass and vocals
- Yorck Segatz / Guitars
- Frank Blackfire / Guitars
- Toni Merkel / Drums
