One Night in Bangkok

With Destruction having staged their comeback live recording one year earlier (the Japan-only Alive Devastation), it was only a matter of time before the other major players of German thrash would follow suit, as the style was coming back to full, bloody bloom in the early 21st century. Now, having already acquired the two previous Sodom live offerings, I was not exactly revved up for One Night in Bangkok. Frankly, Mortal Way of Live covers just about all my needs for live Angelripper and crew, but there are a number of things working in favor of this: two discs of material clocking in at over 90 minutes length, the first live album with Bernemann on guitar, and some bonus material like the video clip for "Among the Weirdcong". Not to mention the exotic location in which it was recorded.

The set list is extensive, but it covers a huge range of the band's career. The latest album M-16 was given quite a showing here: "Among the Weirdcong", "Napalm in the Morning", "I Am the War", and "M-16" itself are all present, while Code Red also given some representation in "Code Red", "Tombstone" and "The Vice of Killing" (strange that most of the better songs from that album were not deemed worthy of a Sodom set). The band's 90s punk years are not ignored, with "Fuck the Police" ('Til Death Do Us Unite), "Masquerade in Blood" (Masquerade in Blood), "Sodomized", "Eat Me!" and "Die Stumme Ursel" (Get What You Deserve). Most importantly, they host a veritable array of classics here from the 80s: "Remember the Fallen", "Outbreak of Evil", "Agent Orange", "Sodomy & Lust", "Ausgebombt", "Witching Metal", and "Blasphemer". Rounding out the selection are "Stalinhagel" (a medley of "Bombenhagel" and "Stalinorgel"), "Der Wachturm" from Tapping the Vein, a cover of "Ace of Spades" and one new track "The Enemy Inside" which wouldn't be officially released in its studio incarnation until the 2006 s/t.

The live mix is quite solid here, about as functional as a three piece is going to get in this setting, with the rhythms cutting out for leads, but Tom compensating with the copious, distorted bass lines, but my biggest complaint would just have to be with the set list. There are a number of classics left out here, most notably "Nuclear Winter", and the band seems to have a poor choice of what to incorporate from almost any individual album. Why is "Der Wachturm" here when there were such better selections from that album? Or some of the less exciting tracks from the punk/thrash years? The set just doesn't add up, and I'd probably shear about half of it off to get to the more exciting bits. And since the track list suffers, thus does the excitement of listening through it.

I know for sure that if I was a Sodom fan in Thailand, crawling out to experience one of my favorite German bands, most likely for the first time, I'd want to damn well thrash for a few hours! Aside from a few of the givens, there's just a lot of filler padding the choices. On the whole, One Night in Bangkok is no more valuable than Marooned Live, a solid if less than enthusiastic offering which in no way is worth listening to over about 90% of the band's studio offerings. As far as their live albums go, Mortal Way of Live still reigns supreme, though even this pales to similar efforts from other bands like Destruction or Iron Maiden. I wouldn't bother with this unless you are dead set on purchasing everything in this band's catalog.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This double release effort from Sodom, features a real intention from the band to play (as it is described in the booklet as why they choose Bangkok); which is certanly a plus since it's a very good performance from Onkel Tom and the boys.

All my favourite songs are there; all the classics are included, as well as a Motörhead cover for the song "Ace of Spades", which Angelripper admits in CD2 (which also includes a very well filmed bonus video for your PC of Among The Weirdcong), that's his favourite band.

There's a lot of interaction between the band and the audience. Which is pretty impressive for such a country. Many songs include sing alongs and choruses made by the audience, and Tom makes a lot of talking between the songs. Something which not everyone enjoy, but I do.

Lastly, the sound is incredible. It mixes the raw of Sodom playing to mangle and blast away the audience instead of technical perfection; with very well laid experienced musicianship and the audience being as loud as ever in any record I've heard.

I only take one point from this album because I don't like the intro (maybe im too picky), you can see it in the video. It's like some weird Bangkok guy presenting the band in his language, which is cool but I don't really understand it, hah !

Well, if you like Thrash or are into Sodom, you should really get this one! If you've never listened to Sodom, then I can assure you this will get you hooked right away !

Enjoy.

Live albums by thrash or death bands usually rule. This here is no exception, there are a bunch of great things about it and nothing at all wrong with it. The intensiy, the audience, and speach between songs all make this the live album worth owning.

To start off, this live album plays all Sodom's great songs, they didn't leave any classics out except maybe Nuclear Winter and Persecution Mania. All the songs on the live album are played very well though. None are polished over so that they sound like studio songs being played to a recorded audience. The songs sound raw, intense, and that the band is playing to kickass, not reproduce the studio sounds exactly, thats what makes this so good. The vocals are intense and harsh, and the guitars shred with authority.
This album really captures the live feel of Bangkok that night.

The extra little things make this album great, like the audience going crazy and being very loud. The talking between tracks is done in a death metal/harsh voice, its pretty interesting and entertaining to hear that. The album also comes with a bonus video thats pretty good, intense, well played, good camera angles, overall well.

This is the live album to get for 2003, its one of the better ones I have seen. I take off 5 points for leaving out a few classic Sodom Songs. If your a Thrash fan or death metal fan you will like this.