I wish all box sets had this level of thought. So many simply involve ill-thought-out contents mapped to a lazy, one-size-fits-all design strategy. Not so Sodom, whose year 2000 classic M-16 has been granted a super deluxe edition that minimises ephemera in favour of a coherent design, content with genuine value and a pristine remaster. As such, it’s a highly desirable and collectible opportunity for Sodom fans to revisit a pinnacle of the band’s career.
The Package
Housed in a 12 x 12, solid-card “bullet box”, M-16 certainly stands out on the shelf. The external art is in keeping with the design, the front bearing stencilled text and the rear warning of the explosive content of a Sodom album. Lift off the lid and you encounter an internal shelf, housing the solid metal, bullet-shaped USB key (bearing all audio content in 320kps MP3) and a metal dog tag (the only useless extra on display). Beneath that, you’ll find a giant poster, an impressive soft-backed book containing a detailed (and fascinating) history of the album and four vinyl records. It’s a rare example of a package put together with real care, and it’s hard to imagine any fan feeling short-changed with this little lot.
The Audio
The audio comprises the main album, remastered, on double orange vinyl and housed in a gatefold sleeve. There are only two bonus tracks – a pair of live cuts that follow Surfin’ Bird – and no demos or other offcuts. The other two LPs are designated “official bootlegs.” This is a slight disservice as the audio, although rough and ready, is by no means poor (the material from Bang Your Head being the exception), with each of the LPS capturing various shows from the M-16 tour: Live at Wacken 2001, Tokyo 2002, Bang Your head 2003 and Bangkok 2002 – one side of vinyl per show. No attempt has been made to create a coherent show from the various sources, and the packaging is consistent with the idea that these are bootleg recordings, predominantly for curio value. Nevertheless, they do much to capture the band in full flight during a mammoth trek, and it’s impossible not to feel an adrenalin surge as the band pile into cuts like M-16 and I Am the War.
M-16
What is there to say about M-16 that has not already been said? From the militaristic tattoo that greets the listener on Among the Weirdcong to the frantic finale of Surfin’ Bird, this is thrash at its most unforgiving and conceptually informed. Certainly, for the familiar, the remaster will be something of a revelation – tighter and darker than the original incarnation, it highlights the dark beauty of the production, the buzzsaw guitars and churning bass packing a considerable punch that has not dated one iota. Get past the mid-tempo churn of Among the Weirdcong, only slightly let down by a fade out rather than a definitive ending, and live favourite I am The War imposes itself upon you, with unrepentant vigour. A virulent, piss ‘n’ vinegar assault with deathly vocals reminiscent of Testament in parts, I Am the War is a justly feted thrash classic. A brief snippet of Apocalypse Now leads into the calmer, almost Fade to Black-esque beauty of Napalm in The Morning. Like Coppola’s Apocalypse now itself, such moments of beauty are but fleeting, and the track soon devolves into a mid-tempo groove with menacing undertones reminiscent of both Slayer and Kreator.
Side two does not waste a moment, the band ambushing the listener with the ferocious Minejumper. The mood is hardly leavened with Genocide, a searing indictment of the horrors of war, given a suitably apocalyptic soundtrack. A personal favourite, the dark groove the band hit here is nigh-on perfect, the subject matter providing further weight to the band’s tungsten riffs. The band up the tempo at side two’s conclusion, with Little Boy arguably one of the album’s most unhinged thrash maelstroms. It lacks, perhaps, the sheer oppressive weight of its forebear, but it’s dispatched with admirable precision.
The title track opens side three, and it’s a dark tour de force from which the parent album takes its name. In contrast, Lead Injection sees Tom Angelripper spitting out lyrics like bullets over a cataclysmic soundtrack that seems to only increase in tempo as it races towards its conclusion. At six-minutes, it’s a breathless ride and one that leaves you in awe of Bobby Schottkowski’s skills behind the kit. A three-piece shouldn’t be this ferocious, but somehow Sodom (and producer Harris Johns) hit upon the formula for eternal heaviness here. Side three ends with the wiry riffing of Cannon Fodder, another track that makes you wonder just what Bobby was taking – he sounds like a human octopus, and surely provides the track with much of its rampant energy.
The final side has just two album tracks, the passionate Marines and a gloriously chaotic cover of Surfin’ Bird. Mistakenly viewed as jingoistic by some, Marines is an effective insight into the mindset of some of the most committed soldiers to take the battlefield, blinkered to anything beyond the pressures of the conflict at hand. It leaves a gonzo cover of the Trashmen’s Surfin’ Bird to close the album with some period context. Memorable for its inclusion in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, the track dovetails neatly with the themes of Marines and sees the album out on a super-charged high. As a bonus, the side is rounded out with two impressive, if inessential live tracks – Remember the Fallen and Blasphemer, both taken from Wacken 2001. In all honesty, I would prefer to have had the album in isolation, but they’re decent extras, nonetheless.
Bootleg LP 1
Side one offers four further tracks from the 2001 Wacken show. Sadly, this means only about half of the fourteen tracks played that day are represented here, but they are well-recorded and worth a listen. The Bootleg LP kicks off with a particularly unhinged take on Agent Orange, dispatched with dizzying speed by a band clearly feeding off the frenzied reaction of the crowd. The other tracks on offer are Code Red, Der Wachturm and M-16, with M-16 as impressive in the live arena as it is on the album which bears its name.
Side two heads off to Tokyo in 2002, offering just three tracks and a somewhat thinner mix. The highlight is Among the Weirdcong, the only track from M-16 on this side, but it is very more collector grade material and fully worthy of the bootleg tag applied to it. Nevertheless, even with the tinny production, there’s a rough and ready charm to these recordings that draws you in – perhaps because it evokes nostalgic memories of market stalls selling cassettes with grainy, photocopied covers – and it’s easy to imagine fans of the band digging this grimy selection of extras.
Bootleg LP 2
Another side of vinyl and another jump across the years, Bootleg LP 2 opens up at bang Your Head, 2003. The sound is pretty ropey here, a top-heavy mix of cymbals and buzz saw guitars that sounds like it was recorded on a tape recorder at the side of the stage. The three tracks here include The Saw Is the Law, a mercilessly heavy take on the track (evident even through the sonic murk), Outbreak of Evil and Bombenhagel. The enjoyment you’ll get from this LP very much depends on just how much of a fan you are, but turned up suitably loud, it still captures the sheer power of the band, even if the bottom end is largely AWOL.
The final side sees the band tearing up the stage in Bangkok in 2002, and with a significantly better recording. A blistering show, by all accounts, here we’re treated to a devastating Masquerade in Blood and Sodomized. The band are on fire, as evident from the opening strains of I Am the War, and the three tracks bring the bootleg collection to a suitably brutal conclusion.
Conclusion
M-16 is not only a milestone in Sodom’s impressive catalogue, but also in the genre of thrash. This worthy box set brings together a solid remaster, a decent book packed with fascinating insights into the album’s recording and a selection of extra tracks which, although somewhat variable in terms of quality, will undoubtedly appeal to fans of the band eager to gather material form an important period in the band’s history. There are a few niggles – while it would be churlish to expect yet more sides of vinyl, with an 8gb memory stick in the set, it’s a little annoying that the band didn’t think to include either .wav versions of the audio or the full Wacken Show (or even footage of the show, given that it’s readily available online). These are, however, minor niggles and the collection as a whole is a well-thought-out, generously apportioned set that pays suitable tribute to a brilliant album. In short, this is a borderline essential purchase (certainly for Sodom fans) with solid content and plenty of replay value. 9/10
