M-16: 20th Anniversary (Uk) [LP], Sodom, Vinyl

M-16 (20th Anniversary Edition) Almost twenty years ago to the day, celebrated thrash metal act Sodom released one of the most significant albums of it's career: 'M-16', an offering that continues to be a challenge both musically and in terms of it's content still touches upon a very sensitive issue in the history of mankind. The theme of the iconic concept album is the Vietnam War, which was officially fought between North and South Vietnam in the 1960s, with the intervention of 500,000 US soldiers fighting and supporting anti-communist North Vietnam against Eastern Bloc detachments. Songs such as 'Among The Weirdcong', 'Napalm In The Morning', 'Minejumper' and 'Cannon Fodder' see musicians Tom Angelripper (vocals, bass), Bernemann (guitar), and Bobby Schottkowski (drums), who recorded the album at the time, hauntingly evoke through harsh metal sounds and unmistakable words images of war, brutalization and devastation, grievances and the excesses of Western civilization.