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With the Covid pandemic, bands have had to scramble to stay in the public eye. For Germany's Sodom, the inability to tour in 2020/21 led them to release the Bombenhagel EP (the EP has become a staple for this long-running band over the past few years). I found their 2016 album, Decision Day, a killer slab of Germanic thrash but the follow-up, Genesis XIX, dull and formulaic. Thankfully, some of the things that made Sodom a "household name" back in the '80s are back on this EP. The music has the grimy guitar sound and punk-fueled energy that separated German thrash from the cleaner, more technical Bay Area sound. Pile on Tom Angelripper's nearly death metal vocals and now we're talking mid-80s German thrash, baby. The title track (a re-recorded version of the original from 1987's Persecution Mania) has the over-the-top atmosphere and tongue-in-cheek political humor thrash bands have made their calling card for years courtesy of the guitars playing snippets of various national anthems in the middle while "Coup de Grace" is just gasoline fire sonic destruction. "Pestiferous Posse" is the "worst" song but still kicks quite a bit of ass as it closes out Bombenhagel. I hope Sodom continue to move away from the Genesis XIX sound and back to their roots. Bombenhagel is a nice reminder that Sodom is alive and well and ready to storm your town as soon they can.