Sodom - Agent Orange - guest review
Sodom - Agent Orange - guest review
Tracklist
Disc I01. Agent Orange
02. Tired And Red
03. Incest
04. Remember The Fallen
05. Magic Dragon
06. Exhibition Bout
07. Ausgebombt
08. Baptism Of Fire
09. Don't Walk Away [Tank cover]
Disc II [bonus]
01. Incest [live] [Taken from the "Ausgebombt" Single]
02. Agent Orange [live] [Taken from "Marooned"]
03. Tired And Red [live] [Taken from "Marooned"]
04. Remember The Fallen [live] [Taken from "One Night In Bankok"]
05. Ausgebombt [Taken from "One Night In Bankok"]
06. Ausgebombt [German version] [Taken from the "Ausgebombt Single"]
Guest review by
Hermann Langke July 15, 2010
Agent Orange was released in 1989 and it was instantly recognised as a classic and why not? This album has all the quintessential features of a classic Thrash recipe with guturral vocals, vicious blastbeats and really strong and political lyrics. Through their lyrics you get to know that Sodom really had a story to tell and it was very dark and gloomy. The album title shared it's name with the dreaded weed killer called Agent Orange which earned a great deal of notoriety thanks to the indiscriminate use of American firepower during the Vietnam War, while listening to "Agent Orange" you can actually visualise the scene of combat with destroyed farmlands and innocent victims having their skin peeled off and reduced to deformation for the rest of their lives. "Incest" spoke of carnal depravity in society, "Remember The Fallen" is like a history lesson as it spoke of the battle of Leipzig and it spoke of the glorious but needless sacrifices made by the soldiers in the Napoleonic Wars, "Exhibition Bout" takes an obvious dig at Bull-Fighting in Spain. There is also a cover version of "Don't Walk Away" originally performed by Tank and the cover version is actually better than the original version! In fact all tracks are a must-listen for any Metal fan and not just Thrash fans as each of the songs had its own crooked story to tell.
Chris Witchhunter is awesome behind the drum-kit and his drumming has to be heard to be believed! I, personally, was blown away by his drumming on "Incest" , "Tired And Red" and "Baptism of Fire". He is like an MG-42 Machine Gun with his merciless blastbeats. Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik is a superb axe-slinger and he is brilliant with his twisted soloing in "Magic Dragon" . Tom Angelripper sings with a peculiar vocal style that is hard to emulate.
Sodom are one of the pioneers of German Thrash Metal along with Kreator and Destruction and Sodom has had a huge impact on Thrash Metal music and have inspired modern bands like Warbringer. It is hard to believe that Sodom was once considered by the press as a "a second-rate Venom clone with semi-inventive lyrics ". But classic releases like Persecution Mania and Agent Orange would change all of it and Sodom would the join the A-League of German Thrash Metal.
All said and done, Agent Orange is a Thrash Gem and not just for its rabid music but also for its intense political and social themes that it embraced. I once read in a book on Metal guitarists that German Thrash Metal was paler compared to its American counterparts and how naive I was to believe it! But no more. By my own personal experience I can say that German Thrash is as merciless and brutal, if not more, as its American counterparts.
In Loving Memory of Chris Witchhunter [R.I.P.]
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Hermann Langke | July 15, 2010
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.
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Posts: 473 Written by Redel on 04.04.2017 at 22:55 I was born that year!
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Posts: 6212 Written by Hermann Langke on 12.04.2017 at 16:11 Is your username a reference to the so-called Hitler's secret Indian army?
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This is a fucking Thrash Metal classic. In your face, all the way. 
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Posts: 473 Written by BlankFile on 09.04.2026 at 00:45 It surely is. 
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Posts: 473 Written by Daniell on 10.05.2017 at 09:42 The Free Indian Legion
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Posts: 1821
TIL Hitler had a secret Indian army.
---- Need a break from headbanging? Restore your street cred by visiting my hip-hop list! Tha Swagnum Opus: A Selection Of Hip-Hop For The Curious Metalhead
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Hahahahaha! Best response I ve read in quite some time on MS. 
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