Vehemency Hailing from Israel, Tsorer’s debut album Return to Sodom is quite an opposite of anything holy: this is primitive, true old school black metal in the vein of e.g. Hellhammer and old Bathory! Rather minimalistic compositions with very simple song titles (”Again”, ”Gifts”, ”Old”...) and no text whatsoever in the CD covers except the tracklist. This is the way Tsorer attacks, and it attacks with great power indeed.

When listening to the album, I can’t help thinking about Hate Them era Darkthrone - I think the similarity is definitely there in the mid-tempo, demented, menacing riffs, beats and raspy vocals. The songs span from two to seven minutes but the style remains pretty much the same all the way through: really strong songs with focus on the riffs. Indeed, Return to Sodom reminds me again how crushing simple power chord riffs can be! Production-wise, the album is beautifully harsh and underground - how could I not love the guitars on ”Messiah” that almost sound like the amp is about to break down and all hell is loose? Think of a fairly cleaner version of Peste Noire’s 2009 effort and you have a general idea of Return to Sodom’s filthy soundscape.

One really distinct feature on the album is the amount of effects and voices in the background layers: sometimes I wonder what the hell is happening in this house when the sounds are actually coming out of this disc. Occasionally, they seem to be totally out of place - the piano melodies on ”Old”, for example - but it all adds to the absurd, and rather unique - and most importantly, utterly evil and diabolic - atmosphere on the album. So, to condensate: Do not get confused by the ’simple old school black metal’ tag, because there’s a lot more happening in the detailed textures than just the riffs and beats. The sudden reverb effect in the end of ”Sodom” is the only moment when I think it’s not done really tastefully.

Return to Sodom came out of nowhere with its kick-ass riffs and morbid atmosphere, and convinced me. With a debut album of this quality, a lot can be expected from this two-piece act in the future - as long as the listener is not harassed by all the simplicity in riffs and enjoys his/her black metal filthy and evil.