Sodom, Exarsis, Bio-Cancer // AN Club, Athens, Greece // 26.04.2014

On that Saturday night 3 aficionados from Gelsenkirchen, Germany would come with the intent to tear down the house. The legendary Thrashers Sodom. With a new crushing album called “Epitome Of Torture” which came out last year, they are back to Greece for a show, being supported by the almighty Greek bands Exarsis (currently on the aftermath of the Conquering Europe tour with Fueled By Fire, Suicidal Angels and Lost Society) and Bio-Cancer (currently preparing their new album “Tormenting The Innocent“).

The club was almost packed for Bio-Cancer which is always a good sign for a support act. Kicking in with the title track from “Ear Piercing Thrash” they whipped the crowd into a moshing and stagediving frenzy. More stuff from “Ear Piercing Thrash” included “Get Cancered Now!”, “You Scream You Die!”, “Spread The Cancer”, “Killing Habit” and the writers favorite “Backstabbed Again”! Their new guitarist Stavros Marinos has become a strong part of their sound filling up the past gap created by the one guitar soloing and playing the rhythm parts. They also played the usual two new songs “Tormenting The Innocent” and “Obligated To Incest” showing an even more extreme direction than the Kreator/Morbid Saint mix of the first record (possibly Sadus). They were loudly applauded in the end and thanked everybody for their presence and contribution. Can’t wait for the new one guys!!

Coming up next we have Exarsis. After their first big tour like mentioned before, they clearly seemed a lot more experienced as players and individuals. Kicking in with “Surveillance Society” showing the crowd once more that Nick Tragakis was definitely the right guy for the job after Alex left. His vocals reminding of John Cyriis (Agent Steel) and maybe a bit of Sean Killian (Vio-Lence), were simply top notch. The rest of the band was just as amazing performing pretty much the entire “The Brutal State” record with the exception of a couple songs (“Addicting Life Waste”, “Dying Earth”, “Suicide Disorder”, “Under Destruction”, “Toxic Terror”, “Vote For Crisis”). The crowd got fired up, and stagedived like fuckin maniacs. We also got to give’em credit for selling the Chronosphere merch for “Embracing Oblivion” (CD’s and t-shirts) being long time friends of theirs. Respect!

Sodom were, as usual, devastating! Some bands like them, Slayer, Kreator, Exodus and the list goes on and on have a kick ass show like a routine, like something that usually happens and comes from within as passion for what they’ve been doing for 30+ years. This show was no surprise, Sodom with great mood, with Bernemanns’ hilarious faces to the crowd and Tom Angelrippers’ great mood for a Greek show. The crowd went absolutely nuts on each and every song. We heard stuff from most of their records that night: “Epitome Of Torture” (“My Final Bullet”, “Stigmatized”, “Into The Skies Of War”) “Sodom” (“City Of God”) “In The Sign Of Evil” (“Blasphemer” remembering Chris Witchhunter, “Outbreak Of Evil”, “Burst Command Till War”) “Obsessed By Cruelty” (“Proselytism Real”) “Persecution Mania” (“Christ Passion”, “Iron Fist” cover of Motorhead with Tom wishing the GOD OF ROCK N ROLL well, “Bombenhagel”) “Agent Orange” (“Agent Orange”, “Ausgebombt”, “Remember The Fallen”) “Better Off Dead” (“An Eye For An Eye”, “The Saw Is The Law”) “M-16” (“M-16”, “I Am The War”, “Napalm In The Morning” one of their best choruses ever).

All that in 2 hours straight that made An Club a huge battlefield for all Thrashers and ideal for moshing. After the final duo of “Remember The Fallen”/”Bombenhagel” they left the stage leaving us all with a huge smile on our faces. Honest to the core, total respect!! THRASH!

Report: John Savvidis
Photos: Andreas Denwar

SODOM SETLIST

My Final Bullet
An Eye for an Eye
Outbreak of Evil
M-16
Burst Command ’til War
Proselytism Real
I Am The War
Iron Fist
Christ Passion
Fuck the Police
Sodomy & Lust
Among the Weirdcong
Stigmatized
Agent Orange
Ausgebombt
Into The Skies of War
Blasphemer
CIty Of God
Surfin’ Bird/The Saw is the Law
Napalm in the Morning