Can't get enough Sodom lately, having seen them twice on last year's 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise, the year before, it was headlining Hell's Heroes festival and summer of 2024, they were back home, in Germany, at Summer Breeze. Well, this latest package is nearly as all-encompassing, offering five discs (two studio vinyls and a trio of live shows, all from '92).

In addition to the original pressing, there's a second collection of said tracks, remastered by (then) guitarist Andy Brings (plus three alternate/"redux" versions). For the diehards, especially North American fans, who have until recently, struggled to see the Teutonic thrashers on this continent, it's the live triple-play that holds the most intrigue. 

Naturally, an onstage juggernaut, like Sodom, can be difficult to capture, cleanly. Here', they've done a remarkable job. Tom Angelripper (bass/vocals) isn't particularly vocal between songs and the pair of homegrown dates offer little banter in his native tongue.

Vinyl #3, is from Cologne's Live Music Hall, on December 28. It features eleven tracks total (just over 46 minutes), five of which are culled from the studio platter issued four months earlier. It starts with classic Sodom (off the initial EP and Agent Orange), but for me, the inclusion of the titular choice off the preceding (underrated, and perhaps most traditional Germanic metal sounding) Better Off Dead is a rare highlight. It's just one of two offerings from the 1990 outing (alongside "Eye For An Eye"). As usual, the concluding "Bombenhagel" (the longest entity, at a hair over eight minutes) descends into one final, call & response nightcap with the fans.

Available only a CD, disc #4 chronicles their earlier trip to the Club Citta, in Kawasaki, Japan (December 11th), albeit not the complete show, showcasing just a dozen of the 19 tunes performed overseas (approx. 55 minutes). Doesn't make sense to merely rehash the same material over and over again, but the middle portion of the set seems to have completely vanished. One of the exclusions is a cover of Motörhead’s "Iron Fist" (presumably due to copyright/royalty issues), but surprisingly, a crowd sung rendition of Bryan Adam's "Kids Wanna Rock" (appearing during the encore) closes this disc. 

As it was also part of the same World Tour, the set juggles some of the material from the Cologne gig and inserts a few other nuggets. Once more, half the presentation is culled from Tapping The Vein, this time infusing "Deadline", "Skinned Alive" and "Body Parts", for the first time. Rarity this go around is "Shellfire Defense", also lifted from Better Off Dead (in lieu of the title number). Angelripper's vocals are cleaner and pushed forward in the Japanese mix and any talk to the crowd (which is minimal) is in universal rock n roll language (English).

Arriving in reverse chronological order, CD #2 took place in Düsseldorf (Tor 3 club, on Oct. 15th). Limited to just 10 songs (45 minutes) and only three off Tapping, in the comfort of their own country, Sodom unleash a couple of deep cuts, including an early airing of eventual fan favorite, "The Saw Is The Law", and a pair from Agent Orange: "Exhibition Bout" and "Remember The Fallen", none of which can be found on the other discs in this package.