Review by Vladimir on April 24, 2023.

It’s time to revisit an old relic from the past, which is a band I covered probably for the first time ever when I started doing reviews last year. The band I am talking about is Sodomy, a black/thrash/punk metal band from Brazil, which was originally a one-man band by Kadu Necro Defunto, but as of this year, two members Celtic (bass) and Krakör (vocals) joined the lineup, while Kadu moved on from vocal and all instrumental duties to guitars and drums. I harshly criticized Sodomy when the demo Bleed Like A God was released on December 9th, 2022, mostly due to the fact that the low pitch-shifted vocals on that demo were not well done and that the songs weren’t all that good either. As of April 14th, 2023, their self-titled debut album Sodomy was released on digital streaming platforms, with a total of 9 tracks. Although I was hesitant to revisit this band, I decided to give it a second chance to see if it has improved since the last time.

The first track 'Under The Symbols Of Satan' begins with an eerie sound of demonic screaming and an open E string struck on the bass guitar, somewhat resembling the song “Witching Hour” by Venom. After that, it starts black-thrashing on the drums and guitars, with a harsh shrieking vocal nicely adding its satanic chants to this mayhemic destruction. The drums also throw in some sick blast beats for a brief second somewhere around the last half, which was a nice touch and pure embodiment of Brazilian extreme metal. The second track 'From The Dust' provides some speed metal and punk elements to this black-thrashing madness, while the vocals add some shouting next to the demonic shrieks. The third track 'Necronomicon - Ex Mortis' starts off in a bit doomy manner, but then suddenly the blast beats start tearing everything apart, while the guitars add some raw melodic guitar lines here and there. I really like the inclusion of 'Massacra' cover by Hellhammer as the eighth track, right before the album is concluded with an outro track 'Speedpanzer' that has some demonic narration and howling winds. In comparison to the band’s demo, this is much more dynamic and refined in terms of songwriting and overall execution. Although it’s mostly black-thrashing from start to finish, there are also some instances of speed metal, punk and I’d say war metal as well, giving this a stronger punch and testosterone with the addition of tremolo riffs and blast beats. The album as a whole is pretty much first wave of black metal oriented, inspired by the likes of Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Sarcofago etc., giving a nice throwback and a love letter to those bands. The album’s sound production is pretty raw like it was recorded as a demo via a cassette recorder, which isn’t actually a bad thing, but rather a well-thought out and well-handled decision that makes this an authentic experience. The sound production at times reminded me a bit of Mayhem’s "Deathcrush", but I am not sure if this is just me or an actual thing I caught up on during my listening.

This album was exactly how I expected Sodomy to sound like when I came across the demo Bleed Like A God, which really boggles my mind as to why it wasn’t like this for the first time since it’s definitely an improvement and a huge step up for the band. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like we’re talking about the same band, since the difference between that demo and this album is like day and night. Sodomy really outdid themselves and this album was indeed a huge surprise for me. Although far from perfect, the album does provide a nice glare to where the band will be heading from now on. It’s safe to say that this album is indeed a nice throwback and a love letter to the first wave of black metal, especially to all those cult bands which I mentioned earlier. I am not sure if the band read my review from back in the day, but if so, I must appreciate the fact that the band seems open for criticism and that they decided to change things for the better this time. The addition of two members really brought the band to a better place, and I am certain that they’ll bring some more necromayhemic and bestial black/speed metal for the world to hear. A huge respect and support for Sodomy!

Rating: 7 out of 10