Sodom - M-16 review
| Band: | Sodom |
| Album: | M-16 |
| Style: | Teutonic thrash metal |
| Release date: | 2001 |
| Guest review by: | TerrorZone |
01. Among The Weirdcong
02. I Am The War
03. Napalm In The Morning
04. Minejumper
05. Genocide
06. Little Boy
07. M-16
08. Lead Injection
09. Cannon Fodder
10. Marines
11. Surfin' Bird [The Trashmen cover]
12. Witching Metal [Digipak bonus]
13. Devil's Attack [Digipak bonus]
Following the solid and complete return-to-thrash album Code Red, Sodom has attempted to improve with more distinguishable and memorable songs on M-16 and have done so with excellent results. This album is a concept about the Vietnam War which is no surprise for Sodom since the theme of war has been presented in their second full-length album Persecution Mania and every other album since.
The most important factor with this album's improvement over the previous is the variety of in-your-face thrash songs that are executed at lightning speed and slower songs which give the album a better sense of breadth and character. Slower tracks such as "Napalm in the Morning" and "M-16" are the most memorable and among the best due to enjoyable and outstanding guitar riffs. The glory of the faster tracks is not lost to the slower tracks with "I Am the War" and "Cannon Fodder" delivering mind crushing riffs and drumming. The cover of "Surfin' Bird" acts as a great conclusion to a superb album.
The performances from the band members are impressive with plenty of research conducted on the Vietnam War before writing the material. The band even traveled to Vietnam and the surrounding countries to see the effect of the war and this effort is well reflected in the lyrical content. Tom Angelripper's vocals are great as ever, however it is guitarist Bernemann who really shines on this album. Riffs are delivered with precision and are best described as enjoyable and head banging-friendly for the listener. His solos may not be the most technical but are delivered with flair and far superior to the ones on Til Death Do Us Unite and the previous album. Bobby's drumming which is a backbone for the music contains a certain groove which gives Angelripper and Bernemann a solid platform to build the songs upon.
This album does take a few listens to become as enjoyable as explained above. There are no obvious flaws other than the fact that Sodom offers nothing extremely new in the musical sense. Indeed, [bandSodom[/band] are renowned for having a solid and consistent discography in which albums do not deviate much from the thrash metal they played since 1987 with the exception of having better production and their mid 1990s attempt at rekindling their punk influences into their music.
M-16 is a modern classic that will stand proud along with Persecution Mania and Agent Orange - all of which demonstrate [band]Sodom[/band's efforts to create outstanding and enjoyable thrash metal songs which are a blast to listen to.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written by TerrorZone | 09.02.2012
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
7.8
7.8
|
Rating: 7.8 |
When you watch those classic Vietnam war movies like "Full Metal Jacket" and "Apocalypse Now", have you ever wondered what it would be like if the power of those films was put into a metal album? Well, it seems Tom Angelripper and company did, and here it is - M-16. Looking at Sodom's catalogue the theme for this album really comes as no surprise - a concept album about Vietnam, "Apocalypse Now" quotes and all. The most noticeable feature of this album is the amount of mid-tempo tracks. Its evident that the band made a genuine effort to separate themselves from the cookie-cutter non-stop shred fests that seem to dominate thrash albums. Songs such as "Marines" and "Napalm In The Morning" we see these powerful, driving riffs executed perfectly without being at a tasteless, blistering speed. To ignore some of the more upbeat songs is nearly impossible as well, scattered throughout the album are a handful of tracks that almost have a bouncing rhythm sound while still keeping to a typical thrash blueprint. To finish everything off we have a beefed up cover of The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird", a song that fits perfectly into the theme of the album while greatly complimenting the bands punk influence that echos into many of their albums. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 2
Visited by: 71 users
| LordFezzington Lost To Apathy Posts: 398  |
Pretty much agree with this review - probably my favourite Sodom album actually. You are spot on with "Napalm In The Morning" and "M-16" being the most memorable too. If I was rating it I would probably shave off 0.5 for a couple of dull moments in some of the faster songs, but good job nonetheless! And just to be a pedant - there are a couple of band tagging errors in the last 2 paragraphs that seem to have to have slipped through the proofreader... 
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| TerrorZone Posts: 36  |
Written by LordFezzington on 12.02.2012 at 16:06 I only added band tag once and forgot to add band tags each time Sodom was written so the proofreader added it but with gaps in the band tags. So there's nothing that can be done to change it.
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