Sodom – The Arsonist
Release Date: 27th June 2025
Label: Steamhammer / SPV
Bandcamp
Genre: Thrash
FFO: Sodom, Slayer, early Sepultura, early Nervosa, Exxperior, Retador, Hazzerd, Kreator.
Review By: Malte Brigge
Look—really look—at that cover. Zbigniew M. Bielak painted this haunting art suiting Sodom’s favored themes, not celebrating the violence but highlighting the horror and trauma of war, the fallen comrade trying to convey it isn’t your fault while the fire of war consumes him still. Before I dared play Sodom’s seventeenth (!) full-length, The Arsonist, I just stared at that art for a long, long time. Part of me feared the music would not do this painting justice. Do Tom Angelripper and co. have in them another thrash masterclass to smash the masses with, or will they fall in the Battle of Diminishing Returns?
Tom gives the intro—a Mideast melisma looped against the sounds of war—one minute before shoving his guitarists and shouting, ‘Frank! York! GET THE RIFFS!’ and boy do they obey. Battle of Harvest Moon snarls forth with zero flourish and for the next 48 minutes there is no respite. Guitars ripped straight outta 1990 lay M240 riff fire for twelve anthems to rush headfirst into battle, and the drums—well. The band splurged on their production, tracking them with ‘a 24-track analogue tape machine’ and it pays off. They are crisp and destructive; Toni Merkel plays them with aplomb. The ride pattern on mid-album groove thumper Scavenger raises my arm hair, and you’d swear you were in the studio with him. The way he explores his kit as Gun Without Groom fades out makes you want more of what he can do.
Tom Angelripper’s voice feels more powerful than ever. He utilises his full range to move from high, Araya-esque shouts to death-adjacent growls, and even occasionally channels a bit of late-stage Dani Filth with some near-blackened rasps. I imagine he’s tired of being compared to others, but those comparisons are fair. In Trigger Discipline, he’s so close to Tom Araya in pitch and rhythm I keep expecting verses to resolve with ‘skeletons of soc-eyyyyyye-ity!’ Angelripper makes up for it by diversifying, switching modes between songs and within measures, enlivening tracks like Scavenger and Gun Without Groom (which may be this album’s hidden gem with its choppy riffs, Angelripper’s staccato delivery and varied intonations and maybe the coolest solo on the album).
The Arsonist is exciting…until it’s not. There are no bad songs here. Late standouts like Twilight Void, with its ‘South of Heaven’ vibe and bouncy groove making you want to raise the horns while gripping the security rail, are as good as anything Sodom has done, but could easily go unnoticed. Every song has such a similar structure that distinguishing features disappear. Something close to fatigue creeps in around Taphephobia, whose main riff sounds so similar to the preceding track that, if you’re not attentive, you might not notice the change. Sane Insanity and A.W.T.F. are easy to miss altogether. There are many good moments throughout the album—the two very different solos on Return to God in Parts, the little ostinatos on Scavenger, the designed-for-live stompy bit of Battle of Harvest Moon. But even as early as The Spirits That I Called, the quarter-note snares driving the album at such a relentlessly steady tempo stop kicking ass and lull you while songs pass unnoticed by.
At this point in their career, Sodom aren’t competing against anybody but their own storied history. The Arsonist, slobberknocker start to finish, does their legacy proud, but I wonder how many fans will give it more than a couple listens before going back to undisputed classics. In a few months or years they might say, ‘Oh, yeah, forgot about that one!’ and on the strength of the cover art give The Arsonist another spin, enjoy all 49 minutes, and then forget again. It’s a good album that accomplishes its mission: charge in, bust skull, get out. There is no fluff, but I wouldn’t mind a little variety. Angelripper’s vocals are in shockingly fine form, the drums sound unbelievable (‘No plastic!’ — Tom Angelripper), the playing is ferocious, and it sounds like they mean it. Yet song structures are overly predictable, little sticks out while it plays and not much sticks when it’s over. I’m glad Sodom’s hell-bent on snapping our necks and are still good at it. These songs will translate well live—I imagine Battle of Harvest Moon becoming a set staple for tours to come. No complaints about that, though I doubt I’ll listen to The Arsonist much once my time with it here is spent. There’s too much great Sodom to settle for simply good.
(3 / 5)
