10 reasons why Persecution Mania is Sodom’s triumph.

True story…

One:

It sounds killer. That burly bass tone, those more Thrash-Metal-than-thou roto-tom rolls, that zipper-esque guitar tone and Angelripper’s inimitable voice. It’s a heavy record, with a bleak aura. Not a typical representation of mid to late 80s Thrash Metal, despite being an effective expression of it.

Two:

They elected to evolve. I worship at the altar of the Bestial-Black-Death-War-Fago-Metal altar as much as the next guy, but where were they going to go after Obsessed By Cruelty? If you think of contemporary bands that make album after album in effectively the same current, (Revenge, Proclamation, Morbosidad, Blasphemophagher etc) this wasn’t the case for bands of the 80s. They were designing the blueprint, not electing to operate in a particularly defined range of sound, even if of their own architecture — Revenge the most explicit example.

Think of how Celtic Frost’s sound was radicalised from the primal Morbid Tales to the ambitious and avantgarde Into the Pandemonium in just three years. The goal: to challenge oneself creatively, without burning down the temple in which your acolytes worship.

Three:

Frank Blackfire Godznik’s style was absolutely best suited to the Thrash Metal…