Sodom: Partisan (2018, SPV/Steamhammer)

The Teutonic band Sodom will release their new EP Partisan on November 23rd through the SPV/Steamhammer label, premiering the new line-up that was announced almost a year ago and includes Frank Blackfire again among the ranks of the Germans who returns to the band 19 years after the recording of the seminal Agent Orange.

Partisan is the successor to the decent “Decision Day” from 2016 in which we could already notice that the band was starting to run out and needed some fresh air to renew its sound. That’s exactly what Partisan proposes, a twist to the sound of the Germans who draw on nostalgia by returning to their roots and coming harder than ever. A striking cover in simple black and white, effective and direct. We have two new songs and we can clearly differentiate each of them.

Partisan is the first of them, a hybrid of the classic Sodom with a clear orientation towards the modern sound of the German trio that they adopted when the Code Red was released. The guitar is direct and round, Husky‘s work on drums is impeccable and Segatz defends himself very well on the six strings alongside Blackfire. The German war machine is perfectly oiled and ready for destruction. We could say that Conflagration is the opposite pole, a clear reference to the eighties Sodom who distribute tow as only they know how and think of nothing else. Hardness, crudeness and a lot of anger are found in this second preview.

In general terms I can say that Angelripper‘s voice has a strength that has increased over the years and has a higher register as the years go by, this gives the songs a melody that we previously did not find in his albums and which provides variety to the compositions. Blackfire continues to play the guitar as if it were an extension of his hand and does an excellent job in which Segatz fits perfectly and both weave a range of riffs with great versatility and rhythm.

I mentioned Husky before and Schottkowski had done an excellent job on the last few Sodom albums. But let’s be frank, Witchhunter was a steamroller to the drums and a band like Sodom needs a killing machine to the heads, for that reason we can say that for the moment, Husky more than delivers. We will have to wait for the next studio album.

We can also find a live version of Tired And Red recorded on May 18 of this year at the Rock Hard Festival where we checked the perfect performance of the band live and the strength they have gained with this lineup change.

Tracklist:

01 – Partisan
02 – Conflagration
03 – Tired And Red (Live – Rock Hard Festival 2018)