Sodom are 17 albums deep into a career that helped put Germany on the heavy metal map. Their breed of dark wartorn thrash metal is unmistakable and The Arsonist continues to turn the heat up with vocalist Tom Angelripper telling horrific true stories with some of the fastest guitar work and drumming to come out of Europe.

After a short intro, the album gets straight into the fray with Battle of Harvest Moon, a frantic track that frequently changes tempos and gives this frantic sense of unease before slowing down and making use of almost primal drumming of Toni Merkel who is given many opportunities to shine and takes full advantage. Lead single Trigger Discipline also makes use of the abrupt slow down and creates one of the more menacing moments in the album with its sinister breakdown.

This certainly isn’t the fastest album Sodom have ever put out but to keep up this tempo after 17 albums is very impressive. Tracks like Gun without Groom and AWTF channel Motorhead with their hectic energy as well as arguably contain some of the best vocal performances from Angelripper as his signature hoarse snarl manages to have a great deal of clarity and eloquence for the genre.

While there are still utter barnstormers like Tephephobia and Trigger Discipline, a lot of the album has slip slow syrupy dripping sense of doom. It’s like the music is slowly melting and leaving a viscous puddle of toxic waste on tracks like Twilight Void and the gloomy Obliteration of Aeons. At its slowest, this album feels like a set of tank treads grinding over hostile terrain and leaving chaos and destruction in its wake, these slower tracks will leave utter devastation once they’re added to a live setlist.

The wild hip firing solos of Agent Orange guitarist Frank Blackfire Gosdzik are back in full effect as he unleashes unhinged barrage of tremolo picked notes and wild whammy abuse on tracks like Sane Insanity and Witchhunter, a respectable tribute to their fallen band mate and drummer Chris Witchhunter Dudek. The record closes out with my personal favourite from the album, Return to God in Pieces, which feels like a marriage between Slayer and Black Sabbath with its groovy bluesy riff played at a million miles per hour in classic Slayer fashion.

You can make the argument that The Arsonist isn’t reinventing the wheel but it still feels like a pivotal point in Sodom’s discography. The lineup changes over the past few years have helped the band change into a totally revitalised war machine with this and Genesis XIX showcasing some of the band’s best material since In War and Pieces.

The Arsonist is available June 27th via Steamhammer.