Decibel Books has announced Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography, a long-awaited and fully approved account of German thrash mainstays Sodom, now available in English for the first time.
The hardcover release runs over 300 pages and sets out to document the band’s full history in detail. Built on interviews with nearly every past and current member, along with contributors from the broader German thrash scene, the book traces the band’s evolution from their early days through decades of lineup changes and releases.
It also includes more than 200 rare and previously unpublished photos, giving readers a closer look at Sodom across their entire career. An excerpt is already online, focusing on 1984 and the recording of In the Sign of Evil, one of the band’s earliest defining releases.
Fans interested in picking it up can pre-order now, with shipping expected between late May and early June.
With Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography, Dr. Holger Schmenk visits the deepest basement rehearsal rooms and scours the roughest pubs to unearth the unfiltered truth about Tom “Angelripper” Such and his ever-changing lineup of bandmates. From their wild early days of the “Witching Metal” demo to their international breakthrough with Agent Orange, and right up to the present day, Schmenk tells the unvarnished story of a thrash metal legend that has gone through more guitarists than other bands have gone through amplifiers.
Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography tells the story of a miner’s son from Gelsenkirchen-Buer who rose from being a blue-collar underground laborer to an internationally acclaimed metal star, without ever forgetting his roots or compromising his integrity.
Navigating four decades of metal history, Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography features interviews with nearly every past and present member of the band, along with a supporting cast of the German thrash metal scene. Packed with over 200 rare and previously unreleased photos, this hardcover history is over 300 pages, beautifully designed, and fully translated into English.
Formed in 1981, Sodom has seen numerous lineup shifts, with Tom “Angelripper” Such remaining the central figure throughout. The current lineup features Angelripper alongside guitarists Frank “Blackfire” Gosdzik—who previously played with the band from 1987 to 1989 before returning in 2018—and Yorck Segatz, as well as drummer Toni Merkel. Alongside Kreator, Destruction, and Tankard, Sodom holds its place as part of the “Big Four” of Teutonic thrash metal.
