10 Awesome Thrash Metal Bands With One Terrible Album
6. Sodom (Obsessed by Cruelty)
Not everyone can start off with a bang.
The Teutonic metal favourites first arrived on the headbanging scene with this tawdry, questionably produced lyrical gorefest in 1986. With charming titles like 'Volcanic Slut' and 'Proselytism Real', the LP often angles a little too hard at providing shock value for listeners.
On top of the hamfisted lyrics, there's the poor sound quality to contend with that, even if this LP was on par with their best work, horribly undermines the efforts at hand. Even with its questionable quality, 'Obsessed by Cruelty' does possess a level of historical significance few other efforts on this list do.
Despite its thrash leanings and the band's general emphasis on that genre in the years after, this was a seminal moment for black metal. The most devilish of all metal scenes was in its infancy at the time, still finding its church-burning persona. For many groups putting it together then and in the years after, 'Obsessed by Cruelty' showcased precisely the sort of vibe they were going for.
Despite the historical influence, however, the album itself is still a poor effort from a crew that eventually commanded a good deal of respect on a considerably larger stage.