Agent Orange

This is where thrash metal reached the mainstream chart in Germany. It was recorded over March and April 1989 at Musiclab Studios in West Berlin, with Harris Johns producing, engineering and mixing, and SPV/Steamhammer released it on 1 June that year. The band was Tom Angelripper, Frank Blackfire and Chris Witchhunter. The title track — named for the defoliant — along with "Remember the Fallen" and "Tired and Red" take the Vietnam war as their subject. The structural grip of the previous album rides the speed here, with short battering songs like "Ausgebombt" and "Baptism of Fire" set against longer ones. It went to number 36 on the German album chart and sold around 100,000 copies in Germany alone, which was unheard of for a thrash record at the time. It is also the last Sodom album with Blackfire, who left for Kreator. The running order here is the original's as printed.