Sodom - Epitome Of Torture

Almost finishing it and I must say... it's pretty boring.

A very big step-up from "In War and Pieces", though this is Sodom; don't expect anything new. Pretty fucking solid, love the tracks being a Sodom fan. This will be amazing for the fans, good for any thrasher, but mediocre for someone expecting a lot of innovation.

God damn, this is average.

Not bad,very average though, I only loved one track on the whole album

Solid album,no innovation,it's just SODOM!!!

I enjoyed it but I was still expecting a bit more, not as melodic as the last album and a bit more simpler

Excellent album. No mistake here, and no pointless sound. This is exactly what i want from thrash metal.

The bonus track "Waterboarding" is absolutely immense, and why it wasn't on the album proper is completely beyond me. It's probably the best song! Overall, I think it's more consistent than "In War And Pieces", but it doesn't have as many genuinely great songs as that album had. In places, the more punkish, hardcorish nature of much of Sodom's 90's material is present, and the solo in "My Final Bullet" is probably the most overtly melodic guitar solo in the band's whole catalogue. I think I prefer this album as a whole over "Phantom Antichrist", and they definitely have been the most consistent of the German thrash elite since the turn of the century.

Pretty average, with brief flashes of brilliance. 'S.O.D.O.M.', the title track and 'Stigmatized' stand out from the rest, but that's not really saying much.

Written by Angelic Storm on 29.04.2013 at 08:25

I think I prefer this album as a whole over "Phantom Antichrist", and they definitely have been the most consistent of the German thrash elite since the turn of the century.

omg, that was harsh

Phantom Antichrist is way better than this one, by any means. Sorry to say this, but this one is just a little above compared to what Destruction released recently. Average album, few memorable tracks, pretty disappointing, guess that only Kreator still manages to keep the teutonic thrash metal bands together.

I seriously doubt that Sodom was the most consistent. While M-16 was a great opus, Kreator has Violent Revolution and Enemy of God, even Phantom Antichrist is way better than the majority of the Sodom post-Taping the Vein releases and even Destruction tops with The Antichrist. If there is a thrash metal band that we can still call consistent now, that is Kreator, without a doubt. The rest are unpredictable bands, a solid effort is always followed by a weaker one, and the cycle continues.

Written by TheMAGAmvm on 02.05.2013 at 00:36

Phantom Antichrist is way better than this one, by any means. Sorry to say this, but this one is just a little above compared to what Destruction released recently. Average album, few memorable tracks, pretty disappointing, guess that only Kreator still manages to keep the teutonic thrash metal bands together.

I seriously doubt that Sodom was the most consistent. While M-16 was a great opus, Kreator has Violent Revolution and Enemy of God, even Phantom Antichrist is way better than the majority of the Sodom post-Taping the Vein releases and even Destruction tops with The Antichrist. If there is a thrash metal band that we can still call consistent now, that is Kreator, without a doubt. The rest are unpredictable bands, a solid effort is always followed by a weaker one, and the cycle continues.

Nope. I found "Phantom Antichrist" to be overall, a pretty disappointing album (although it does contain some great tracks). It was quite a bit better than "Hordes Of Chaos", but then, that was very patchy and quite weak. The beginning of the 00's was a great time for the "big 3" of German thrash. "M-16" (Sodom), "The Antichrist" (Destruction), and "Violent Revolution" (Kreator), are all wonderful thrash albums. It's difficult to choose between those 3, as they are all great. The next 3 albums by all 3 bands, similarly again, were all fine full-lengths. "Metal Discharge" is very underrated I feel, and another brilliant album from Destruction. Perhaps not quite as good as "The Antichrist", but still a stellar example of German thrash. "Enemy Of God" is a modern thrash classic, and without doubt, is the best Kreator album since "Coma Of Souls". Sodom's self titled contains some awesome songs, and a bit like "Metal Discharge", is quite underrated.

But from here on out, that's when Destruction and Kreator both started to stumble, whilst Sodom maintained their rich vein of form. The last 3 Destruction albums have been fairly average stuff, whilst "Hordes Of Chaos" for Kreator, is without doubt, weaker than it's 2 amazing predecessors. "In War And Pieces" on the other hand was a fantastic body of work, slightly out of the box for Sodom, but not sacrificing their classic aggression at all. "Phantom Antichrist" easily beats the last 3 Destruction albums, and their own "Hordes Of Chaos", but still can't match either their own first 2 releases of the 00's, or indeed, any of Sodom's releases from "Code Red" (1999) onwards.

Over the course of their whole careers, I'd say Kreator slightly edge out Sodom, due to their first few albums (from "Endless Pain" - "Coma Of Souls") being timeless stuff. Sodom didn't start impressing till' "Persecution Mania", and Destruction's material during Schmier's first tenure with the band is very patchy overall. But for me, Sodom have been amazingly consistent since their comeback to thrash with "Code Red", whilst Kreator have stumbled a bit with their last two releases, especially "Hordes Of Chaos". And Destruction are simply being as inconsistent as they always were!

:Feels bad for Destruction:

Written by [user id=101272] on 02.05.2013 at 01:45

:Feels bad for Destruction:

Don't get me wrong, when Destruction are on top of their game, they make some of the best thrash in the business. It's just that overall, they've lacked the consistency of both Sodom and Kreator during the course of their careers.

Great album and the 2 bonus tracks makes it even better!

Its not Sodoms best album but i think its very solid.
And i think its better then the previus album

Written by [user id=101272] on 02.05.2013 at 01:45

:Feels bad for Destruction:

Same here

Written by Angelic Storm on 02.05.2013 at 01:05


Nope. I found "Phantom Antichrist"...

I wonder why people still forget about "All Hell Breaks Loose" It was a good album, sure The Antichrist beats the shit out of it, but still first.

I wouldn't say that Sodom it's the best since all the comebacks, all the albums sounds the same (with one or two memorable songs and the rest of it full of fillers) or even worse than the other.

And for me, D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N beats "In war and pieces" and "Epitome of Torture " together

Suck balls :/

If You like oldschool thrash metal with no melodies and without surprises then dont listen this record. For me, its very good album. It has its raw moments, its fast but occasionally very dark and melodic. "Invocating The Demons", "Into The Skies Of War", "Waterboarding" are superb songs! These 2 bonus tracks are both good and should be on the "main" album! Sorry for my bad english

Great album, while "Phantom Antichrist" was quite weak. To melodic, and soft.

Why this is always the same stupid story to compare Kreator, Sodom and Destruction? Those are (always was) independent bands, with completely different music. There is nothing similar except country of origin and and let's say "same metal genre". Of course we can always discuss which album is better, but it should be done without such stupid relations to other bands music. Please see - even right now in SODOM's new album thread we are discussing Phantom Antichrist album Wanna say something about Kreator's music - go to Kreator related threads!

Epitome Of Torture is good album. I've found most of tracks making me head-banging spontaneously what means music reaches the destination Good , hard riffs in Sodom style, little bit monotonous vocal (also typical Sodom). At least 8 for me, but I'm still listening.

"Into The Skies Of War" is great successor for "Remember The Fallen", "M16", "Napalm In The Morning" etc.

Nothing special , sounds like previous albums but pretty much monotonous

Written by bulldozerash on 04.07.2013 at 23:08

Nothing special , sounds like previous albums but pretty much monotonous

Then why did you listen to it?

Written by Septicfish on 07.07.2013 at 21:28

Written by bulldozerash on 04.07.2013 at 23:08

Nothing special , sounds like previous albums but pretty much monotonous

Then why did you listen to it?

so how can I find an album boring or awesome without listening to it first?
take it easy, that was just my opinion dude

It might be bettern than this.

It's not that bad plus i prefer new Destruction to new Kreator and New Sodom

S.O.D.O.M. is sooooo good!

IMHO they never reached the level set at the end of the 80s and the start of the 90s but they managed to make no bad release and with Code Red all records were at 8.

No exception here: Very solid Thrash release.