Band:	Sodom
Album:	Code Red
Style:	Teutonic thrash metal
Release date:	1999
Guest review by:	TerrorZone

01. Intro
02. Code Red
03. What Hell Can Create
04. Tombstone
05. Liquidation
06. Spiritual Demise
07. Warlike Conspiracy
08. Cowardice
09. The Vice Of Killing
10. Visual Buggery
11. Book Burning
12. The Wolf And The Lamb
13. Addicted To Abstinence

Like many thrash metal bands of the 1990s, Sodom took the step of diverging from the type of thrash metal they played in the 1980s and introduced punk elements in their albums Get What You Deserve and Masquerade in Blood with mixed reactions from fans. Code Red marks the official return to Sodom's style of thrash metal that they developed in their first few albums. A stable lineup with Bernemann as axeman and Bobby on drums undoubtedly gave the band confidence to make an album that resembles the sound of machine guns firing on the battlefield which have not being heard since their death metal influenced Tapping the Vein.

The songs in summary are executed with precision and intensity, going on full blast mode in the vast majority of the songs until the listeners' neck loses the ability to move due to excessive headbanging. Guitar riffs dominate this album and are never relenting in terms of heaviness or speed, with the song "The Vice of Killing" proving that Bernemann is just able as their past and revered guitar player Frank Blackfire. Mr Angelripper's vocals are great as ever, with his German accented growls reasserting itself as one of the unique features of Sodom. Bobby's drumming is done with the same precision as the guitars and always maintaining a presence which is almost perfectly balanced - not too overwhelming or under represented.

The only flaw about this album is the lack of more distinguishable songs from the first couple of times of listening but that issue is only minor and does little to detract from the great pleasure of listening to this work.

Code Red is indeed one of the Sodom's heavier albums and is ideal for people wanting to get into Sodom but without hearing the poor production on their earlier classics such as Persecution Mania.

Best Songs: "The Vice of Killing" and "Book Burning"