Kingcrimsonprog
Agent Orange by Sodom is one of those must-have thrash metal albums that you’ll always find in countdowns and lists of top 100 metal albums and top 20 thrash albums etc alongside the likes of Beneath The Remains, Extreme Aggression and Forbidden Evil.
Released in 1989, the German thrash band’s third full length album was a breakthrough moment that raised their profile, shifted a lot of units and earned the band a lasting respect. Earlier Sodom albums and EPs had been very noisy, harsh and extreme and became very influential for black and death metal artists much like the earliest Sepultura and Kreator records.
Agent Orange found the band unleashing their full potential as songwriters and as musicians, song lengths extended, acoustic sections got introduced, guitar solos came more frequently and more impressively, structures got more complex and the album as a whole just has a grand and important feel like all the very best thrash albums do. All of this happened in conjunction with a notably better production job resulting in a stunning album all around.
Another thing in its favour is that Agent Orange isn’t all just mindless thumping, and intense speeds with no respite. The band make the faster sections good by use of contrast; Sodom play a mixture of tempos here, using chugging sections and even occasional grooves and sudden tempo shifts to brake up the monotony, making for a very strong listen that doesn’t get old on repeat listens.
Standout tracks include the amazing title track ‘Agent Orange,’ as well as the slower ‘Remember The Fallen,’ and the furious ‘Tired And Red.’
Sometimes you will read that Agent Orange is a bad album, but that is almost always from the perspective of people who prefer really extreme music, raw production and the like. If you aren’t just an elitist and are a fan of well composed and interesting thrash metal trust that Argent Orange deserves its reputation on all those top metal album countdowns and lives up to the hype.
In summary; If you are a fan of thrash metal I would strongly recommend this album, doubly so if you like late eighties work of Kreator, Destruction or Sepultura. If you are a fan of Sodom already you absolutely must check it out.