PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Saturday 17th of November was the second date of the Dublin Thrashathon hosted by DME (Dublin Metal Events) and held in the Button Factory. Thrash Kings Sodom took over Dublin for one evening and showed us all how thrash should be done!
Gospel of the Horns were a great support act for Sodom and they were well received by the crowd. They had quite a blackened approach to thrash with the vocalist sounding like a mixture of Abbath and Jeff Walker, Heartwork/Necroticism Era. Of course being a major Carcass fan this band really appealed to me. We can also probably afford to have Varg Vikernes (Burzum) stay in prison for a few more years with this band around.The Aussie band was consistent in their performance even though there is nothing all that dramatically different about them; they still produce the goods – we can’t all re-invent the wheel. At the end of the day, these guys are thrashers but the intertwining of genres in their music makes them more accessible and generates a wider interest in them and their influences. If anything they could help to make black metal more accessible. They had some creative drum fills and some great slayer-like guitar solos (all in key I might add). They had a great effect on the crowd preparing them for the mayhem (last black metal reference I swear) to come.
Now, I’ve always wondered what the perfect job is for me. The Sodom gig in the Button Factory showed me that there is definitely a market for mosh pit umpiring. I can see myself now on those high chairs, getting abuse shouted at me when I attempt to stop the crowd making a human torpedo, which, funnily enough was the case during Sodom’s set. There could also be a space for someone to count denim vests and patches. The chants for Sodom started from first go, as a three piece they have a great on stage presence, they simply ooze thrash. Sodom have been around since the early eighties and they have a distinctly different approach to thrash than other well known thrashers of the eighties like Metallica or Anthrax. Sodom are more suited to being grouped and associated with thrashers like Sadus, Kreator and even Destruction in their take on thrash. Clearly their Teutonic thrash illustrates exactly why they have been credited with influencing musicians in other genres of metal like black metal and death metal. Sodom demonstrated how they capture the true erratic, aggressive, in your face nature of thrash metal while still being accessible by not being overly attacking.
Even with a new drummer they spat out everything perfectly. For tracks like Sodomy and Lust from the great Persecution Mania, they kicked of eruptions in the crowd, leaving them in awe and wanting more. They gave the crowd loads and he crowd gave it right back to them, fuelling a great circle of appreciation. I think that if we want a metal take over we need to send Sodom to convert the masses. They also played a ‘bird is the word cover’ and everyone got a kick out of that one. It is easy to anticipate everything that Sodom throws at you but I think the reason behind this is that these guys have been around for awhile and they really demonstrated from this gig that they are the ones that helped to set a thrash standard. Really hope to see these guys will be around for years and years to come.
