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Influential - "Obsessed by Cruelty" Review (44%)

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Obsessed by Cruelty
Obsessed by Cruelty by Sodom.

Sodom are widely regarded as the top of Germany's "Big Three" of thrash metal. Kreator being, as expected of such nu metal loving posers, the very bottom of the barrel, and Destruction somewhere in the middle, despite sometimes rivaling the best of Sodom.

The debut effort from this German blackened thrash metal - or blackened speed metal to be precise - pioneers Sodom, "Obsessed by Cruelty", is actually more of an influential record than a good one, as while there's certainly a lot of quality to be found within, it's more of what's going on in it that has inspired what came after, i.e. black and death metal.

It's certainly no nu metal turd, but neither can it hold a candle to Sodom next album and magnum opus, "Persecution Mania".

At first, "Obsessed by Cruelty" seems like a traditional thrash/speed album, but almost immediately signs pop up indicating otherwise. While the riffing takes plenty of cues from the nascent first wave black metal scene - and Bathory in particular - in terms of simplicity and explosive imagery, the fact of the matter is that this album manages to contain a bestial quality within the music missing from even the most extreme black and death metal acts.

Rather than the cacophonous sonic assault that typified the production found on most speed metal records, the music has a dissonant, almost hellish quality to it that really seems like an "intentional accident" to make it sound as otherworldly as possible, and this is aided in no small part by the flurry of activity coming from the guitars.

They are very involved and, producing a rather chaotic vibe that dominates the mix, they manage to have a lasting impact as part and parcel to black metal in terms of how a record is turn despite itself into the most violent of black metal's music.

This is not a true black metal release, obviously, not by any stretch, but the way it's composed is of great importance for the emerging black metal scene that's bound to spawn in a few years time.

Influential

Sodom
Sodom.

All that aside, the music on "Obssessed by Cruelty" is quite good if not exactly stand-out worthy.

The guitars here do get a lot of attention, as there's a lot going on with them. The riff is brought down from its pedestal, at the centermost point of the music. And that's a good thing and a necessary, and I do mean necessary, development for black metal and death metal music.

At times, they feel heavily influenced by bands like Bathory, Slayer and Reiklos in the form of what seems at first like simplistic riffing, but is in fact very complex and often contains a chaotic, unrefined atmosphere which just adds to the overall violence of the album.

There are indeed bursts of some technicality struggling to breathe in several of the songs, but they can get drowned out in the frantic fury of the riffing as they sometimes subtly emerge through the songs. Those bouts of technicality move the album away from the realms of the speed metal scene and very much into the death metal realm quite handily.

The drumming is outstanding for the time. Featuring double-bass fills when it's required but more often just blaring away with a cacophony not usually associated with the genre, the drumming comes off as a thunderous and propulsive powerdrill in most of the violent songs on this violent album, where there's a rather brutal element to the music of "Obsessed by Cruelty". Complete with a blaring bass sound that never contends itself with following the rhythm of the music, and often acts as its own instrument for the sole sake of fury, violence and hate. Because yes, this is a hateful album, one that you can hate or love, but it will hate you more than you hate it, and even if you love it... it will still hate YOU.

While "Obsessed by Cruelty" is quite an enjoyable album, and certainly worthy as a debut of a band with such a legacy as Sodom's, the fact that this one falls more in line as a historical landmark record than anything else is of some concern.

That said, as an important record in the evolution of black metal and death metal in terms of how to make the violence and hate become the music, and not just elements of the music as was the case in older heavy metal, this album is a master piece. And while there's, it's true, better Sodom material out there, as well as better extreme metal altogether, this one has still got enough of a punch, of a brain damaging violent punch to the face, to be worthwhile enough to the casual fan of violent music.

Yes, beyond all else, "Obsessed by Cruelty" is in one word... influential.

Obsessed by Cruelty score: 44/100.

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