From the outset of this review, I’ll have to say that Sodom are one of my all time faves. I’ve always admired how they stuck to their thrash metal guns, but released albums that had different flavours. They spread into black and death metal territory from time to time but you know what, they were always SODOM.
Outbreak of Evil is Sodom’s first venture into the world of recorded music from way back in 1984. I thought about reviewing their demo tape(s) but they are virtually unlistenable. The sound was shitty (and I like shitty underground bands) and there’s not really many positive things I can say about those tapes except that they would make great collectables.
Outbreak was the next step up in terms of the band getting their thing going. The songs, whilst still sounding shitty were a definite step up from the demo’s and much more digestable. The guitar player only had one speed, and that was FAST. Bless him, the drummer tried his best but was out of time and his kit sounded like shit. You can definitely hear the influences from Motorhead and Venom here. It was just faster and pushed to a new extreme. A new extreme with a really low budget. There were some glaring errors in the guitar playing but we can look past that. However shit you think this EP was, I think it has a certain charm and more importantly, it served a purpose to give birth to one of the greatest thrash bands of all time. I tend to view this release as a statement of intent rather than something to judge the band by.
There was a whole bunch of bands at this time putting out similarly shitfully recorded albums Sarcofago, Hellhammer, Destruction and Sepultura to name a few. But that was the scene there was no notion of “Black Metal” as opposed to “Death Metal” at the time, it was just extreme. If you wanted extreme, this was your go to. These albums weren’t in the same league as say Metallica, Slayer or whatever but if you already had those releases these were the next bunch of bands you’d have to go buy.
Anyway way I’ll say straight up this is not the greatest thing I’ve ever heard by any stretch, but it’s an important stepping stone in Heavy Metal History showcasing the couple of years from when thrash emerged and slowly evolved into death metal. I’ve been a little harsh on this EP, there are some pretty catchy moments on this and some very memorable songs that stick in your head. In a lot of ways if you can write and record a song that people remember, you’re one step ahead of the game. The songs “Outbreak of Evil” and “Blasphemer” certainly fit the bill for getting stuck in your head.
Not sure how well the EP sold but it did strike a chord with the underground metalheads of the European scene and paved the way for their next album to get an American release. So in that aspect it served its purpose.
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