Review by Sonny for Sodom - Agent Orange (1989)

By the time of the release of their 1989 classic, Sodom had left their early Venom-worshipping satanic black / speed metal style behind and had turned to full-on thrash metal with an (anti-)war theme. Coming off the back of '87's awesome Persecution Mania, the classic Sodom line-up of Tom Angelripper, Frank Blackfire and Chris Witchhunter managed to maintain the momentum with yet another of Europe's all-time great thrash albums.

This is a perfectly executed record and every single participant is spot on in their performance. Angelripper's bass drives the songs along mercilessly and while his vocals, in common with most thrash singers, aren't going to give Rob Halford or Bruce Dickenson sleepless nights, they are perfectly suited to the tone of the album, with their gruff rasping style. The drums are clean, on-point and the fills are fantastic. Blackfire's thrilling riffs are precise and his solos incendiary, a really underrated guitarist in the metal world in my opinion. This is absolutely a band on top of their game. The songwriting is excellent, with tempo changes that add some variation to the tracks without detracting from the album's overall aggression. The Vietnam War theme has always resonated with me too, being a bit of a military history buff to boot, especially with the album being released hot on the tail of movies like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Hamburger Hill.