Retro Raunch Revisit

Before wokeness, before virtue signaling and before cancel culture, there was S.O.D. Long-blamed for being mean, offensive & politically incorrect, this crossover thrash comprising members of ANTHRAX, M.O.D., and NUCLEAR ASSAULT was formed during a lull in recording that saw this album bashed out in a mere 3 days. With its hybrid of hyperspeed & blast beats, groovy riffs (the rumbling doom of the instrumental opener is one of the most menacing & badass introductions ever) and fierce attitide, S.O.D.'s deliberately provocative & irreverent novelty humor (specifically in songs about women, foreigners and politics) stirred controversy about disparagement but the true purpose was in being far more ridiculously goofballish to see how much of a boundary could be pushed, instead of any real bigotry or incitement of discrimination & hatred to be acted upon. While branded as immature with accusations of prejudice garnering them a notoriety, the denouncements were wrong. Sexism & racism was NEVER an intended key message nor meant to ever be taken seriously. All the sensitive criticizers who did so were themselves the very ones being made fun of and laughed at for being wimpy complainers. The joke was on them and for this the band achieved their goal in pissing people off. S.O.D. was certainly silly but always good-natured and an effective escape from duty by the 4piece in their regular outfits. At worst, they were misunderstood and unfairly labeled ignorant but this is nevertheless an amusing classic that couldn't be made today. Happy 40th Anniversary.