Sodom

Delayed nearly five years until the completion of the excellent Lords of Depravity double-DVD that came out earlier this year, this self-titled album by German thrash legends Sodom is definitely good, but it’s not amazing. Celebrating ten years with a consistent line-up, Sodom are workmanlike in delivery and will definitely please long-time fans. The band hit their stride with their previous two studio albums, Code Red and M-16, much in the same way the past few Motörhead albums have been some of the best of their career. Having said that, this new one just misses that standard. The songs are decent, but seem to be missing something. Vocalist Tom Angelripper is in fine shape, still sounding as pissed off as ever, but a few questionable songs like the more AOR-tinged "Buried In the Justice Ground” makes it seem like perhaps some better editing could have helped. They should have left a few songs off and tightened up the package a little. Don’t get me wrong, I like this album okay — I just don’t think I will take too much time to revisit it in the future.