Support Acts: Gospel Of The Horns, Ancient Ascendant.
London Underworld, Sunday the 18th of November 2012
Review by Yiannis (John) Stefanis
Photos by Fabiola Santini
Fighting a cold and attending a gig on a Sunday night are two pretty incompatible situations but losing a Sodom show, a band which I have actively been supporting as a loyal fan for the last twenty five years, was simply never an option before and it is certainly not one now. Having negotiated a forty mile trip to the London Underworld and experienced an unsuccessful attempt to interview the band’s frontman Tom Angelripper, I decided to find a nice and quiet spot to watch the show…little did I know that on the night of the 18th of November the renowned London Underworld was to host one of the most energetic and heavily packed shows of the year!
The first band to hit the stage was the Reading-based quartet Ancient Ascendant – a band whose name I have heard many times during music-related conversations but whose music I had never come across to in the past.
It was quite unfortunate that the venue was half empty during the band’s set as these four lads gave a pretty decent performance, even though I felt, at times, that they were not as tight as a band supporting the mighty Sodom should really be. Having said that, their catchy/rhythmical mid tempo riffs and friendly disposition helped them connect with many people and won them a warm round of applause once their short set was finally over.
I was not aware of the associations between Gospel Of The Horns and the mighty Destroyer 666 before but I realised that something was up when I spotted the latter band’s bass player Matt outside the Underworld. Next time I saw Matt again was inside the venue, tuning his guitar at the right of the stage and at that point I knew I was in for a treat! Even though the Brisbane quartet is as much enamoured with up-tempo Thrash/Black rhythmical riffs as their fellow countrymen, their main influences come from the works of Celtic Frost so what we were predominantly entertained by an array of rhythmical groovy riffs, the likes of which force your neck to spin in inconceivable ways (which you should never tell your doctor about!).
Mark Howitzer is hardly want you would call an inspirational frontman, using a very limited…vocabulary… when addressing the audience, but he rallied his troops with confidence and urgency, ensuring that compositions such as “Desolation Descending” and “Strength Through Fear” established a connection with the by now full-to-capacity crowd.
Much as both supporting acts did their utmost to win over the audience, tonight’s stars were neither from England nor Australia but from a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia called Gelsenkirchen. It was there that Sodom first formed thirty years ago and through hard work managed to become one of the most important and influential bands in the history of extreme metal music, evidence of which can be found in the works of many young bands around the globe.
It was evident from the moment the first few notes of “In War And Pieces” were performed that the band’s roadies would have their hands full today as it did not take long for the stage of the Underworld to be filled with large numbers of stage divers – something that both Tom and Bernd “Bernemann” Kost (guitar) seemed to welcome with open arms.
There were numerous occasions, especially when classics such as “Agent Orange”, “M16” or “The Shaw Is The Law” were performed, when Tom had to literally move out of ‘harm’s way’ as bodies were piling onto the stage and microphone stands went flying, but the tall German seemed more pleased than annoyed, even allowing members of the crowd to sing along to his classic tunes.
It is customary for bands to say things like “you are the best crowd we have played to on this tour” and, god knows, I have heard it many times before when growing up in musically impassioned Greece, however I have to admit that each and every time Tom said these words during the show (probably much to the disbelief of numerous South American fans present), I felt inclined to believe him! There were two songs that I was truly looking forward to hearing, namely “Nuclear Winter” and “Blasphemer” and even though I was very sad to realise that the former was not part of the night’s set list, I was treated to an excellent rendition of the latter. Other highlights of the main set were “Sodomy and Lust”, “Deathlike Silence” and “Fuck The Police”, which, together with an Anglo-German version of “Ausgebombt” were among the highlights of the show.
The funniest incident I have even seen took place moments after the band first left the stage as fans in the first few rows grabbed Tom’s microphone and began rhythmically singing the band’s name and it took three attempts for the venue’s sound engineer to retrieve the equipment just in time for the band’s encore. Arriving on stage shirtless, Tom thanked us once again and led the band’s final assault via killer renditions of “Remember The Fallen” and “Bombenhagel” which managed to drain the last energy from my body, leaving me, however, with a massive smile and a feeling of contentment!
I have always felt very proud of being a Sodomaniac as the German trio has proven to me many times that both my love and support have been truly justified, but tonight’s performance was among the absolute highlights of this “relationship”. It is very humbling to see a band that has been around for thirty whole years playing with more energy than bands half their age and being so friendly and accommodating to their fans in the process.
There wasn’t a single person that I saw after the show that didn’t look amazed by what had taken place in this sweaty London basement “venue” and that, as far as I am concerned, is the best way to celebrate one’s 30th anniversary in the music business! Great band – amazing show!
Sodom Set List:
Main Set:
- 1. “In War And Pieces”
- 2. “Sodomy And Lust”.
- 3. “M-16”
- 4. “Outbreak Of Evil”
- 5. “Surfin’ Bird / The Saw Is The Law”
- 6. “Proselytism Real”
- 7. “The Art Of Killing Poetry”
- 8. “Eat Me”
- 9. “City Of God”
- 10. “Iron Fist (Motorhead cover)”
- 11. “Burst Command Till War”
- 12. “Agent Orange”
- 13. “Fuck The Police”
- 14. “Ausgebombt”
Encore:
15. “Remember The Fallen”
16. “Bombenhagel”
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