Sodom is one of the few surviving bands from the early thrash metal scene that is still raging with (fairly) purist fire. "Epitome of Torture," the band's most recent effort, is a record that shows a band in the midst of something that isn't quite clear. These tracks are thrash, don't get me wrong, but there's something missing. While listening to the first song ("My Final Bullet") I thought it might be the production, which doesn't seem to let any particular instrument jump out of the mix, but that wasn't it. After "S.O.D.O.M" I figured it was the band's weaker song strucutre, but standout tracks like "Stigmatized" and "Cannibal" kicked my ass enough to keep my attention. Once I was done with the entire record I was convinced it was good, it just wasn't great. For the most part, many of the tracks (particularly those in the first half of the record) don't go for the jugular. Not that Sodom is showing signs of going soft, they just didn't write the kind of killer material that I was expecting, but perhaps my expectations were too high.
7/ 10