The new release of Testimony Records made me pretty curious, as the small label from Hamburg has a good taste in signing new underground bands. And SODOMISERY is another good selection. The opener ‘Reapers Key’ is a good mixture of melodic Death Metal and some Black Metal and has a heavy touch of AMON AMARTH but less viking-styled. The melodies are pretty catchy, the solo part in the middle is very good and the main melody is very memorable. ‘Into The Cold’ goes into the same direction and has some influences of Black Metal bands like NECROPHOBIC or NAGLFAR but is also incorporating the groove of classic old school Death Metal. What I like is their solid songwriting and that SODOMISERY are not overdoing it like AMON AMARTH nowadays, who really meant a lot to me when their debut EP came out back in 1996. ‘Sacrifice’ is an uptempo track and spreads some more 90s feelings and has a very memorable lead melody and comes up with some cool breaks. Especially the drumming is really good, precise and tight, but also the lead guitar and the solos are pretty sharp and the groovy rhythm guitar makes the head of the writer bang a little bit while writing these lines. ‘The Messenger’ has some more Thrash Metal vibes enriched by some melodies in the vein of old DARK TRANQUILLITY and a stringed middle part with cool dozed double-bass. ‘In The Void’ is thrashy again and the beginning reminds me of veterans MERCILESS while ‘Until They Burn’ has some HYPOCRISY vibes before ‘Arise’ destroys all what is left. ‘The Abyss’ closes this well-produced first album. Sure the band sounds like a best of from Sweden, but who cares? The songwriting is good, the production is even better and makes “The Great Demise” a diverting, enjoyable trip back into the melodic 90s. I am curious to hear some more tunes of them in future. More info can be found at one of the following sources: www.facebook.com/sodomiseryofficial, www.facebook.com/testimonyrecords