Listening to Sodom makes one wonder why the hell they don’t just listen to Sodom all goddamn day long. Like many of their peers, the German thrash legends have updated their approach over the years; unlike other bands they’ve remained entirely dedicated to making totally ripping thrash about the unthinkable horrors of war. Now, Sodom have dropped a new video for their track “Friendly Fire,” and it’s just as sweaty and gnarly as you want it to be.
As you’ll see below, the video for “Friendly Fire,” a track from Sodom’s upcoming new album Genesis XIX, is entirely performance footage. But while most bands record this kind of video in some vast warehouse or a professional recording studio setting, Sodom do it in their own rehearsal space, complete with a ‘Sodom’ tour backdrop behind new drummer Toni Merkel. Frontman and black metal progenitor Tom Angelripper is in fine form, losing himself in a curtain of matted hair and a series of bitching riffs. The viewer immediately wishes they were in that room, drinking a tall German pilsner and screaming their fucking face off.
Check out Sodom’s “Friendly Fire” below:
Sodom’s Genesis XIX comes out Friday, November 27th via eOne, and is available for preorder. The album sees the band with a line-up that, according to Angelripper, matches his musical work ethic.
“I want guys from the Ruhr, who share my background, with whom I can work and rehearse consistently,” said Tom. “This is definitely one of the toughest and most diverse studio recordings that Sodom have ever released. Our riff suppliers, Yorck [Segatz] and Frank [Blackfire], are totally different types of musicians. Yorck is a died-in-the-wool metalhead who grew up with thrash music. Frank, on the other hand, also integrates blues and rock elements into his style, including the occasional Frank Marino or Rory Gallagher quotation, and writes songs that could have featured in the same or a similar way on Agent Orange. These are the diverse influences that make Genesis XIX what it is. In Toni we’ve gained an awesome drummer. I’d even go so far as to say he’s the best drummer that nobody had on the radar before now.”
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Words by Chris Krovatin
