SODOM (Germany) - OBSESSED BY CRUELTY (1986) (Steamhammer) (Second Recording)

#Sodom #ObsessedByCruelty #GermanMetal Sodom was formed by Thomas Such in the western German industrial town of Gelsenkirchen in 1981. They were mostly influenced by bands like Motörhead, Tank, Raven, and Venom. They soon found a drummer called Rainer Focke who was quickly replaced by Christian Dudek, with whom they released two demos, 1982/83's "Witching Metal" & 1984's "Victims of Death", before signing a deal with SPV GmbH. After a 1984 gig in Frankfurt (with Destruction & Tankard), Manfred Schütz of SPV GmbH approached the band & spoke the legendary sentence "You guys are so bad, you will sell a lot of records!" This led to the recording of their debut E.P. "In the Sign of Evil". Missing was Frank Terstegen, who'd left the band. He was replaced by Josef Dominik (recommended to the band by Kreator's Mille Petrozza), who also wouldn't stay very long. In Josef Dominik's place, Michael Wulf joined, just to leave the band shortly after the recordings of what would be their first full-length album, 1986's "Obsessed by Cruelty", to join Kreator (where he would last only one show) With their new guitarist Frank Gosdzik, the most legendary Sodom line-up recorded two albums (plus a live album, "Mortal Way of Live", the first of various Sodom releases which had a censored cover in Germany), "Persecution Mania" (which was the first Sodom album produced by the band's long-time producer Harris Johns and also was the first cover to feature the band's mascot "Knarrenheinz") and "Agent Orange" (including the single "Ausgebombt"). This album made Sodom the first German thrash band to enter the charts, reaching #36 on the German Media Control charts. Gosdzik left in 1989 (like Michael Wulf before, he joined Kreator) and was replaced by ex-Assassin guitarist Michael Hoffmann. In 1992, Tom fired Christian Dudek after increasing bouts with substance abuse. Guido Richter, who would stay in the band until 1996 (and, like many former Sodom members, was still embittered that Tom fired him), became the new drummer. From 1997 to 2010, Sodom had a consistent line-up of Thomas Such, Konrad Schottkowski, and Bernd Kost. In 2007, Tom re-assembled the "In the Sign of Evil" membership (Christian Dudek and Josef Dominik) to re-record the original EP and other songs from the same era and release it as the full-length album it was originally intended to be under the name "The Final Sign of Evil". The band is currently composed of Thomas Such, guitarists Frank Gosdzik (who was a member of Sodom from 1987 to 1989 and rejoined in 2018) and Yorck Segatz, and drummer Toni Merkel. Along with Kreator, Destruction and Tankard, Sodom has been referred to as one of the "Big Four" of Teutonic thrash metal. While three of those bands (except Tankard) created a sound that would influence the death metal and black metal genres, Sodom's early music style would greatly influence many late 1980s and early 1990s black metal bands more than others. "Obsessed by Cruelty" is their debut full-length studio album released in 1986. Two different versions of the album exist, the European and the American, which were released by Steamhammer and Metal Blade Records. "Obsessed by Cruelty" was actually recorded twice, and both versions of the album were released in different territories due to an error by the record company. The first session was recorded in Berlin, supposedly by Horst Müller, with Michael Wulf as the guitarist. The record company deemed the recording quality to be too poor for the album to be released, so all the tracks, as well as a new one called "After the Deluge", were recorded again at Studio Hilpoltstein, near Nuremberg, by Bobby Bachinger, with a new guitarist called Uwe Christoffers. Tracklist: Intro 00:55 Deathlike Silence 05:18 Brandish The Sceptre 03:00 Proselytism Real 03:26 Equinox 03:38 After The Deluge 04:53 Obsessed By Cruelty 05:06 Fall Of Majesty Town 04:06 Nuctemeron 03:03 Pretenders To The Throne 02:39 Witchhammer 01:46 Volcanic Slut 02:58 All music composed by Christian Dudek, Michael Wulf, Thomas Such, Uwe Christophers. Cheers & Stay Brutal!!!

Added 5 Jun 2026