GENESIS XIX BY TOM ANGELRIPPER
I can still remember when my mom walked into my room and said it was like Sodom and Gomorrah because it was dirty and not very tidy. I didn’t forget that until the band was founded. I later saw many films, including the ‘120 Days of Sodom’. The film impressed me very much. When we were looking for a band name, I immediately had the idea to name the band Sodom. At the time, most of the ideas were not yet taken by other musicians.
We do metal in its purest form. Many call it thrash-metal, but I disagree. It’s “witching metal”. We don’t need musical inspiration when we write new songs. We are also not interested in how other bands do it or what would be necessary to become more commercially successful. We know exactly what our fans expect because we only write the songs for the fans. There is no dictation from outside; we are free in everything we do.
It always describes our world’s current situation, especially when considering how much the world has changed since the latest album. Sectarian killing, cold war, nuclear armament, the abolition of democracy in many countries, starvation, and all the destructive, inspired my lyrical mindset and perfectly fit our music. That is sad but true. But you will never find any political message or orientation in the lyrics. I always just describe these things in a very special lyrical way. I try to handle the daily news lyrically. Real-life is the biggest inspiration, and that will also be a big part of the next album. We are living in a world that is getting out of control. That makes me sick. Whom can we trust? All the words of freedom and independence decayed unheard, so I am terrified about our future, how will the world look in 20 or 30 years, when our kiddies and grandchild’s growing up? I cannot change all the things, because I am not politically active. But have the chance to scream my rage out on stage, that’s like a therapy for me and keeps me to survive. Also, the corona crises discovered social wrongs and exposed the political mistakes of the last decades. Hope the world changes for the better.
I’m not interested in the dark arts, although I’ve heard of it. We have developed our art form, and only that is important to us. Art should serve people and not stir up fear. These many esoteric art forms have never excited me.
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