Review Summary: In a world ruled by pseudo-metal, Sodomizer reign pure.
Usually sometime around now, any review while state how much “X” band go outside the confines of modern metal and will in some way cause some sort of global revolution that will ensnare every youth to wear their t-shirts and praise their work. Well, not really, because Sodomizer don't exactly give you anything new. In fact, they’re not unique at all; they just kick gratuitous amounts of a*s.
Sodomizer hail from Brazil, a country dripping in foul, untamed metal that seems to be making an impact in the community as of late. As with most Brazilian thrash acts, Sodomizer is dirtier (in the sense of their black metal roots) than a crack head sleeping in a Queens subway station bathroom, but this wouldn’t be apparent from the first opening minutes of the leading track, “Blessed by the Virus of Death”. Opening with monk-like chanting, you think you’d be listening to your stereotypical black metal band from the top-quality producer of said genre’s bands, America (yes that was a joke). It isn’t till about 2-minutes into the actual song that it drops its balls faster than a 12-year old at strip club. Speed, black, thrash, and death metal, all represented by a magnitude of ferocious palm-muted riff salvos and maniacal black metal vocals, sampled straight from Hell with Satan’s stamp of approval. Quite simply, it doesn’t get any metal-er (it’s now a word) than this.
In the world of Sodomizer, the cheesier the better, since almost every song uses some sort of B-horror movie sample, chant, or in the case of “Sexual Beast”, sounds of orgasms. “The Dead Shall Rise to Kill” should come with a sticker warning of the severe cases of nostalgia that will occur from listening to this album, since half the time you can’t believe that they actually resorted to that 80’s gimmick of a dubbed voice trying to sound like Satan, but they do. With any other band, it might be ridiculous to the point of being non-listenable, but with Sodomizer, it’s just plain f*cking fun. Hearing the retro-use of an ominous church bell on “Bring Your Dead” before Warlock’s blasphemous rasps pierce through the speakers jointed with 100 mph no-holds-barred riffing is like a suddenly being transported straight into metal’s past, where upside crosses were still horrific and spikes actually didn’t make you look like you belonged in an S&M gang.
One of the strongest aspects of “The Dead Shall Rise to Kill” is that there is no weak tracks, no dull moments, just pure black/speed/thrash metal bliss. Once “Blessed by the Virus of Death” starts, through the lyrics dealing with detailed anal sex on “Sexual Beast”, to the heavily-sampled and NWOBHM influenced closer “Katalepsy II”, Sodomizer manage to round out one of the most hardened albums of 2007, complete with killer, wanking solos, pulverizing riffs, and screeched vocals. The only downside to all of this is that they’re not going to redefine how you write metal. They stick very close to the tried-and-true riff structures, and this is something that many will scoff at. It’s hard to blame those people really, because after all, no one likes listening to the same thing over and over. However, oddly enough, that’s the whole point of Sodomizer really. They’re not here to blow your mind with technical-out-the-a*s songs, or implement some new musical element unbeknownst to the rest of the metal community; they’re here to remind us all that in a world that cares more about what kind of new house Lars Ulrich is going to buy next and whether or not his turtle neck sweater matches the color of his tampon, metal can still be pure.
