Sometimes, good albums slip through the cracks for reasons beyond my comprehension. Despite getting Sodom’s fourteenth album ‘Epitome Of Torture’ around its release date, as I was quite fond of the four albums that preceded it, all I remembered about it all those years later was Tom Angelripper’s mispronunciation of “epitome”. A recent spin of the record was enough proof that it’s actually really good. Probably not the perfect album for those who prefer Sodom at their most primitive, but those who like a refreshing spin on the intensity of thrash metal should like ‘Epitome Of Torture’.

‘Epitome Of Torture’ was the first album Sodom recorded with drummer Markus ‘Makka’ Freiwald. Personally, I was quite fond of his predecessor Bobby Schottkowski, who also recorded the masterpiece ‘The Dying Race’ with Crows, also featuring guitarist Bernd ‘Bernemann’ Kost. Since Freiwald also plays with the hideously underrated progressive thrashers Despair, however, he was perfect for the more refined direction Sodom would take on ‘Epitome Of Torture’. Not unlike ‘In War And Pieces’ before it, ‘Epitome Of Torture’ is as brutal as one would expect Sodom to be, but the arrangements are smarter and the songs take some surprising twists.

Those fearing that Sodom had watered down their sound should not worry. The blunt force of the war machine seen on the album cover can still be heard in songs like the mounstrously heavy title track and the absolutely lethal ‘Stigmatized’. It just is not the only thing Sodom is after on the album. For instance, the hardcore-infused groove monster ‘Cannibal’ sounds unlike anything the Germans ever attemtped before. ‘Invocating The Demons’ and ‘Into The Skies Of War’ subtly flirt with some melody, which gives them a somewhat haunting quality. Closing track ‘Tracing The Victim’ and ‘Katjuscha’ are more “openly” melodic.

Sometimes the changes are more subtle. ‘Shoot Today – Kill Tomorrow’ is fast and brutal enough to sound like classic Sodom, but the riff work is quite intricate and the rhythms in the intro relatively unpredictable. ‘S.O.D.O.M.’ comes closest to the band’s frequent punky exploits, but is still quite thrashy, which is fortunate, as I don’t think punk is the band’s forte. Or anyone’s really. Highlighting the album, however, is the marvellous opening track ‘My Final Bullet’. After its clean intro, the song thrashes along at full speed, but there is something catchy and melancholic to the chorus. Absolutely one of the best opening tracks in a discography that also contains ‘Among The Weirdcong’, ‘Code Red’, ‘Nuclear Winter’ and ‘Agent Orange’. Impressive.

Of course, the album has parts that can be seen as flaws. The production and arrangements are probably too polished and well thought-out for those who prefer Sodom’s earliest work and I personally think Angelripper’s vocals move too much towards actual grunts at times, sacrificing a ton of character, but ‘Epitome Of Torture’ is definitely more evidence of why Sodom is easily the most relevant of the big three of teutonic thrash metal. Even the bonus tracks – the downtuned ‘Waterboarding’ and the dense, knotty ‘Splitting The Atom’ – are very much worth hearing.

Recommended tracks: ‘My Final Bullet’, ‘Invocating The Demons’, ‘Stigmatized’