Tom Angelripper, frontman and founder of German thrash veterans SODOM, has issued the following announcement:

"I already gave many of the smaller underground bands the chance to present themselves in front of a bigger audience, and I also want to do that during the In War And Pieces tour. We're heading for 15 cities which means that we're looking for 15 different local supports.

Bands wanting to apply for a support slot should write a message to tom@sodomized.info or martin@deathsquad.de. It's important that the bands musical style fits ours, a power metal band as an opener won't make a lot of sense. You don't have to send CDs, demos or MP3 files; a short information about the band and a link to your MySpace site is enough. Please make sure to specify ONE city where you want to kick off the show.

We accept your applications until January 27th, and on January 30th we'll announce the winners on the Sodom and Deathsquad site. Good luck!

Dates for the trek include:

February

4 - Biebob - Vosselaar, Belgium
5 - Dynamo - Eindhoven, Netherlands
6 - Underworld - London, England
7 - Garage - Saarbrucken, Germany
9 - Z7 - Pratteln, Switzerland
10 - Live Club - Milan, Italy
11 - Stuk - Maribor, Slovakia
12 - Szene - Vienna, Austria
13 - Diesel - Budapest, Hungary
15 - Colos Saal - Aschaffenburg, Germany
16 - Markthalle - Hamburg, Germany
17 - Zeche - Bochum, Germany
18 - Centrum - Erfurt, Germany
19 - X - Herford, Germany
20 - Rockfabrik - Ludwigsburg, Germany

In a recent interview with BW&BK; scribe Carl Begai, Angelripper offered some insight into his forthcoming ONKEL TOM album:

“We’re in the studio right now working on a new Onkel Tom record. We’ve got 18 news songs, the drums are recorded and we’re working on the guitars now. I also have a deal with Drakkar, which is where Onkel Tom started back in the ‘90s. You’ll be surprised; you won’t be able to compare it to the early days of Onkel Tom. I have a second guitarist in the band, a new drummer, a new bass player, and it’s brilliant music. It’s punk, it’s metal, it’s death metal, it’s schlager, everything. Andy Brings (ex-Sodom guitarist) is the producer. I asked him to be a part of it because he’s a great singer and guitarist; he’s a real musician so he knows what he’s doing. It’s a co-production, really, but I definitely wanted Andy’s ears for this. It’ll be a bigger explosion than the new Sodom album (laughs).”

Following is an excerpt from the interview with Angelripper about Sodom's new record, In War And Pieces:

“It sounds a little bit old school, some people have said it sounds like the Agent Orange album (from 1989). I don’t really hear that, but okay, people hear different things. What’s the difference between old school and a modern sound, anyway? I think Agent Orange sounds as if it has a modern edge. It’s got a big production, the songs are very dynamic. The important thing for me on the new album was the sound of the drums. I listen to some albums and the drums sound like a computer or triggers, and I wanted a big and natural drum sound. For the guitars I wanted to have them closer to the ear, if you know what I mean, and I wanted more aggressive vocals. I always want to make Sodom sound like a band is supposed to sound it was very important to me to have Waldemar working with us for this album.”

At first glance Sorychta seems like an odd choice as producer for the album given that he made his name as a producer working with bands like Lacuna Coil, Moonspell and The Gathering. There’s a tendency to forget he’s a guitarist as well, heading up Grip Inc. through the ‘90s and now Enemy Of The Sun, both acts offering up much heavier fare.

“He knows exactly what we want,” says Angelripper, content with his choice. “I’ve known him for years and I really like the production work he did with Grip Inc.; they always had a good sound. Waldemar told us that it doesn’t matter what kind of metal he’s working with – thrash, death metal, gothic – the important thing is that it sounds good at the end. He was also very interested in the actual songs on the album, so we did pre-production three months before we recorded anything. He had the chance to really listen to the music, work on some arrangements, and then we went into the studio. It wasn’t even a real studio; it was a rehearsal room because I didn’t want to be paying 1,000 euros a day so that we had to work quickly to get out before we went broke (laughs). I had the money to pay Waldemar, and we had as much time as we needed to record.”

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