Sodom

Considered one of German thrash metal's "Big Four" along with Kreator, Tankard, and Destruction, Sodom is one of the genre's longest running and most influential bands. Emerging in the early 1980s, the group took cues from Mercyful Fate, Accept, and Venom, among others -- and from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal -- to create a tougher, leaner form of metal. Landmark albums like Persecution Mania (1988) and Agent Orange (1989) followed, with later offerings such as Tapping the Vein (1992), Sodom (2006), Epitome of Torture (2013), Genesis XIX (2020), and The Arsonist (2025) ...