UMUR
"Better Off Dead" is the fourth full-length studio album by German thrash metal act Sodom. The album was released through Steamhammer Records in October 1990. It´s the successor to "Agent Orange" from 1989 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Frank Blackfire (who left t join Kreator) has been replaced by Michael Hoffmann.
Stylistically "Better Off Dead" is slightly different from the preceding releases. Both "Persecution Mania (1987)" and "Agent Orange (1989)" were pretty raw and aggressive thrash metal releases and relatively similar in sound and style (the debut is another story I won´t mention here), but while "Better Off Dead" certainly is both raw and thrashy, the album also features a lot of traditional heavy metal elements and influences (Motörhead is an obvious influence). That impression is of course only enhanced by the inclusion of two cover tracks by Tank and Thin Lizzy ("Cold Sweat" was not included on the original vinyl version of the album), but it´s not only the two covers, which place "Better Off Dead" in a territory somewhere between thrash and traditional heavy metal, tracks like "The Saw Is the Law", "Resurrection", and "Stalinorgel", also reek of traditional heavy metal/speed metal. The slightly less raw and more detailed sounding production also contributes to "Better Off Dead" being a less savage affair than the releases preceding it.
Sodom still produce some pretty heavy music though, and lead vocalist/bassist Tom Angelripper has a nicely rough voice and delivery. Sodom are generally a well playing band, although I´m not so sure I think Hoffmann is as great a guitarist as Blackfire was. Upon conclusion "Better Off Dead" is a good quality release by Sodom, but to my ears it´s a step down in quality from the two albums preceding it. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved though.