Hello fans of Black Metal and welcome to another review! This time I’m going to take a look at a highly influential classic, one of the albums that sort of started it all.

In The Sign Of Evil by Sodom is one of those insane albums, which are now considered part of the First Wave of Black Metal. Originally planned to include more songs, only five powerful, definitively Venom-inspired songs were completed for the final album. It was released in early 1985 on the SPV sublabel Devil’s Game, which was actually specially created for this one album.

At the time of the release, the band consisted of Tom Angelripper on bass and vocals, Grave Violator on guitars and Chris Witchhunter on drums. There’s one thing you can immediately hear, the band isn’t that advanced yet. Timing is pretty off, playing is sloppy, the overall performance is just absolute madness, but that’s the special charm of this album.

After a short intro, the album opens with Outbreak Of Evil, followed by Sepulchral Voice, a fast track with some high speed drumming. This song and the following, Blasphemer, are probably the two songs on this album that can be considered a prototype for Black Metal. Witching Metal is a song that was already featured on the two demos preceeding this album. It has an almost punk-like attitude. A little interlude follows. The album closes with Burst Command ’til War, which has some down-pitched vocals.

The album has its moments of pure insanity and its production is pretty rough. Though I’m usually more into melodic stuff, In The Sign Of Evil is definitely a favourite of mine! And certainly an album that shaped what was later known as Black Metal.