Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Sodom - M-16 (2001)

Where to start with Sodom, eh? The grandfathers of Teutonic thrash metal as I view them today were still a little under twenty years into their existence at the point of them recording M-16. With a stable line-up in place for the past four years, the band were starting to look like they were hitting a solid run of form with ‘Til Death Do Us Unite and Code Red being improvements on the lacklustre Masquerade in Blood. The stage was well set then for them to continue this run with M-16.

With typically eye-catching artwork adorning the cover, the tracks soon follow this blistering war theme with the relentless pummeling of I Am the War in particular presenting a salvo of Angelripper spat bullets early on in proceedings. These faster paced thrashers such as Genocide are where the album really shines with these, the title track and Lead Injection being the better written of the tracks on offer.

At the same time though there are some goofy and clumsy moments as well. The incredibly corny Napalm in the Morning, the borderline irritating Little Boy and that fucking terrible Surfin' Bird cover are all examples of where a full near fifty-minutes of runtime was not necessarily needed. Even in the better tracks on the album, I would still say that for all the pace and frenzy there is not always the equal amount of punch to really elevate M16 to any real highlight in the band’s discography. This is most certainly not an album that will wrestle Agent Orange from the top spot in my all-time favourite Sodom records.

Whilst hinting at some of the better parts of the Sodom kitbag, this record comes off as being al little more than average in all honesty and it is not one that I have plans to be revisiting anytime soon. There are better records further along in the back-catalogue that you would get more from.