I’m so god damn tired, exhausted and empty. I just ended to see ‘Lords of Depravity Part I’ and I am totally overloaded. The density of this DVD is so very high that you have to pay attention all the time to be able to place all the information that is presented towards you. Unbelievable.

The DVD starts with the story I just mentioned, the payment of 300 euros for a bass guitar, with the foundation of the band with Chris Witchhunter, Agressor, Bloddy Monster and Tom Angelripper of course. You get to hear explanations  on what kind of music they wanted to play, how they got inspired (by Venom) how hard it was to record a demo back in those days and musicians from other bands, like SixFeetUnder, tell a story about how they first got in contact with the band. The first gig of the band is mentioned and how they got signed. After that, the history of the band continues, talking about every single record, the line-up changes that took place during the years, the late night stories about the touring, the unbelievable amount of beer they drunk and so on and so on. Everything you wanted to know about Sodom is present in this documentary. Pictures from early days are shown, tons of interviews and live material.

The most special thing is the fact that every person who has been a band member in the past, has come to stand in front of the camera to tell about his experiences with Sodom, how decisions in the band were made and how the experiences during the recordings sessions and touring were. Eventually it always ends with the split-up with the band and Tom searches for a new musician.  The funny thing is that every former member seems to talk with such gratefulness about his experiences; they’re pleased that they have been a part of the band, which makes the DVD very pleasant to watch. It’s an incredible documentary and it sure explained a lot to me, as a person who did not have the experiences of the heavy metal 80’s and most of the 90’s. The DVD ends with the album ‘Masquerade in Blood’ leaving the other years from 1995 to part II of ‘Lords of Depravity’. This is a wise decision, because more than 180 minutes were enough for now. At the end, I felt like Sodom might be the biggest metal band ever.

 

 

And as if it wasn’t enough yet, we also get live material from gigs in Sofia, Wacken Open Air Festival, With Full Force Festival and mixclips. It’s nice to see a few of the songs that are being explained on the documentary live in this part, such as ‘The Saw is the Law’, ‘Aber bitte mit Sahne’ and ‘Ausgebombt’. 

The intro of this part is just amazing; there are so many people that still seem to enjoy this kind of music. You see people enter the venue, being really exited and loading up for the upcoming two hours. Slow motion pictures in black and white are making a climax of this part. 

Also, the sound of the live material is very nice, the guitar is clear to hear which make the solos nice to listen to. A critical point can be made that due to the fact that Tom Angelripper is getting a bit older, his voice is a bit less varied, and the reach is smaller. Yet, this is the only thing that gets critical points in this review. As for the rest of the live material, it’s decent work and worth watching for everybody who’s into heavy music. Just take a little time for it.

 

The last part of the DVD contains a clip collection of ‘Ausgebombt’, ‘Silence is Consent’, and ‘Die Stumme Ursel’. Especially the last one is very nice to watch, because of the jazzy look. Tom plays a contrabass and the contrast with video clips nowadays is enjoyable.

 

Well, a final mark than. Who should buy ‘Lords of Depravity Part I’? I’d say everyone, as if it was just for the fact that it is good teaching material for anyone involved in music. Besides that, the effort that has been put into this DVD is so great, the sense for details is so good and all the information is reasonable that I can only consider this as a masterpiece. There is nothing on it that is dumb, boring or useless, like questions about favorite colors. For such a great piece of work, I’d love to break my principles. 

 

180 minutes documentary of the bands history from 1982 to 1995