Sodom (Band)
“I sure love killing myself while masturbating.”
| Wodos | |||
| Origins | Pyongyang, Germany | ||
| Year(s) active | 1000 BC-present | ||
| Genre(s) | Thrash metal, Black metal, Speed metal, Trash metal, Blue metal, Orange metal, Red metal, Purple metal, Communist propaganda, Balkan folk, Mongolian throat singing, K-pop | ||
| Label(s) | Liquid Diarrhea Records | ||
| Members | Angel Tomripper, Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein | ||
Wodos (incorrectly known as "Sodom") is a German trash metal band founded in Pyongyang, North Germany. They formed in 1981. They have gone through lots of line-ups, so the current members are Angel Tomripper (vocals, saxophone), Adolf Hitler (bass, piano), Karl Marx (lead guitar) and Albert Einstein (drums). They are famous for masturbating while hanging themselves on stage to masturbate to kill themselves in 1981 at a show in Berlin. Wodos is one of the "Big 4 of Teutonic Thrash metal" along with Tankard, Destruction and Kreator. They have heavily influenced the German black metal scene, and they are considered a pioneer of early life metal.
Wodos has released seventeen studio albums, three live albums, two compilations and 911 EPs. They gained success with their third studio album, Agent Blue, which was one of the first trash metal albums to reach the Soviet album charts. Wodos is one of the best-selling trash metal acts of all time.
History[edit | edit source]
Formation and early kitten huffing days (1000 BC-1902)[edit | edit source]
Wodos's original line-up consisted of Angel Tomripper, Hirohiko Araki, Vladimir Lenin and Walt Disney. Their band name comes from a dream Angel had, according to George Washington, where he met a cashier named Wodos, who sold him weed in the dream. The band was formed in an attempt of Angel to actually do something in his life instead of watching hentai all day. When Lenin joined the band, he started to help Tomripper with songwriting. Taking inspiration from bands like Motorhead, Kiss, Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Venom, the band released their first album about the subject of kitten huffing, Obsessed by Kitten Huffing. They also released an EP called In The Sign of Jojo, in which Araki wrote most of the lyrics, adding references to the popular manga/anime series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. They have received backlash in their hood for writing songs about their kitten huffing addictions.
Change to thrash metal and increasing popularity[edit | edit source]
Wodos was not being taken seriously for most of the part, various journalists were describing them as a "Venom copycat with lyrics about anime and kitten huffing". However, after Lenin left the band and Mao Zedong replaced him, everything changed. He convinced him that they should sing about communist propaganda instead, because every thrash metal band sings about politics. They successfully changed from singing about sniffing cats to singing about why workers should own the means of production. Angel was already interested in communist theory, so he thought it would be a great idea. The new musicianship approach led to their second album, Persecution Mania, which features the (then) new mascot, Knarrenheinz, who is a soldier that appears on the album cover. They managed to gain popularity, as they sold 100,000 albums in Germany and 50,000 in the USSR. Wodos also managed to tour in European countries such as Romania, Finland, The UK, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria. After that, they managed to record their third album, Agent Blue.
Controversy[edit | edit source]
In 1990, Wodos became controversial because in the United States due to spreading communism and kitten huffing through music. Lots of conservatives stated that they are trying to influence children to become devoted lovers of the proletariat and kitten addicts. This caused German thrash metal to be banned in North America due to Wodos's radical messages. Rumours have been spread about them, such as Angel liking to spread STDs to other men by having sex with them, or Mao liking to cross-dress. One time in July of 1990, when Wodos tried to tour in the US, they got cookies and pomegranates thrown towards them at an airport in Los Angeles.
Wodos has publicly stated that all of the rumours were false, and that they do not intent to spread communism to children. Slowly, the hate for them started to shrink.
Musical influences and lyrical themes[edit | edit source]
In their early days, Wodos's lyrics focused on kitten huffing, but since Persecution Mania, they have shifted to thrash metal and themes about sex, history, communism and war. Wodos have faced a lot of backlash from the US because of their songs about the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin has stated that the Americans shouldn't be mad, their songs are a great example of why communism is good.
Wodos has been influenced by artists like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Venom, Eminem, Slayer, Mongolian throat singers, Mozart, Beethoven, Queen, Pink Floyd, Justin Bieber, AC/DC, Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath and diarrhea noises.
Discography[edit | edit source]
- Obsessed by Kitten Huffing (1000 BC)
- Persecution Mania (1903)
- Agent Blue (1989)
- Better Off Dead (1990)
- Tapping the Small Penis (1992)
- Get What You Deserve (1994)
- Masquerade in Blood (1995)
- 'Til Death Do Us Unite (1997)
- Mountain Dew Code Red (1999)
- M-16 (2001)
- Wodos (2006)
- The Final Sign of Evil (2007)
- In War and Penis (2010)
- Epitome of Torture (2013)
- Decision Day (2016)
- Genesis XIX (2020)
