SODOM Completes Work On New DVD

Veteran German thrashers SODOM have completed work on their long-awaited new DVD, "Lords Of Depravity - Part II", tentatively due this summer. The team responsible for the disc's production — Ronald Matthes (director/producer – documentary/concert),Alex Kraudelt (co-director – documentary) and Jan – Paul Wass (co-director – concert) has issued the following update on the project:

"Finally we sit here together and admire the dark circles around each others' eyes. We just have finished the most elaborate project we have ever worked on — and we are damn proud of it.

"To assort, cut and finally make the available movie from the 2,500 hours of material, we consumed 300 packages of cigarettes, 1,200 beers, buckets of coffee, numerous sausages, hamburgers and other terrible, but invigorating fast food. The days Tom [bassist/vocalist Thomas 'Angelripper' Such] visited us, we surely had to increase the beer and tobacco consumption dramatically for reasons of concentration.

"The story of the '3 Musketeers' — Bobby [Schottkowski, drums], Bernemann [guitar] and, of course, Tom — grabbed us in such an engrossing way that we almost had to suppress our private lives for about six months.

"A big thanks, and an even bigger sorry, goes to all our friends, girlfriends and families who have already pronounced us insane and thought we have an off-the-record relationship with the band.

"Well, we can calm you down — beside our soft spot for project-based sodomy — we remained faithful to our beloved ones. We also want to thank all the members of our crew who where the ones that made us able to cope with that monster of a project. Indeed, the biggest gratitude goes to the band we mentioned above for the possibilty they gave us to create that unique film by telling us their agitating story.

"A film is always as good as its story and protagonists — we are just the glue.

"About 60 participants from the worldwide music biz we [didn't] even [have] to force to give us a fast statement, who rather came to us inentionally to announce their sympathy and love for the band, make the film an obeisance to one of the most significant bands of the whole thrash and metal community.

"We hope that the film will keep you in the same suspense we felt during the production. Close the doors, grab one of the beers from the crate in front of you and experience all ups and downs with the band they've experienced during the last 13 years.

"After 25 years, the band is still not done; [on the contrary], they are even in the best shape ever. That's also the reason we are going to finish these lines now.

"You don't think this was the final part, don't you?

"We will now raise our glasses to 25 years of SODOM and then start immediately with the prearrangement for the next part."

SODOM will enter the studio this summer to begin recording its new album for a late 2010 release. Angelripper recently stated about the group's new material, "There has never been a SODOM album which is so wide-ranged, as powerful and as typically SODOM as this one.

SODOM issued the "Lords of Depravity - Part I" DVD in the U.S. on February 21, 2006 via SPV. The first of two double-DVD sets contained the SODOM history from 1982 to 1995 plus live footage from concerts in Sofia and at the With Full Force, Wacken Open Air and Rock Hard festivals.

SODOM has been confirmed for this year's Maryland Deathfest, set to take place May 28-30, 2010 at Sonar in Baltimore.

"Agent Orange", the classic 1989 album from SODOM, was re-released on February 1 (Germany: January 29) via SPV/Steamhammer. The CD comes in a high-class digipack and will include a bonus disc. The extensive booklet contains rare photos and liner notes by bassist/vocalist Thomas "Angelripper" Such. The LP comes as a double gatefold album with printed inner sleeves and three bonus live tracks.

Video footage of SODOM performing the song "Remember The Fallen" at last year's Bloodstock Open Air festival on August 14, 2009 at Catton Hall in Derbyshire, England can be viewed below (courtesy of Dave Ingham a.k.a. YouTube user "triptykon").

The band's latest album, "The Final Sign of Evil", was released as a double vinyl package on February 1, 2008 via SPV Records. The LP features re-recordings of the material from the German thrashers' classic first EP, "In the Sign of Evil", plus no less than seven bonus tracks, all of which were originally written during the "In the Sign of Evil" era or earlier but were never officially released. As a special bonus, the album featured return appearances by drummer Chris Dudek (a.k.a. Witchhunter) and guitarist Josef "Peppi" Dominic (a.k.a. Grave Violator),both of whom were featured on the original 1984 EP.