
The band was initiated by Tom as a desperate attempt to get out of having to work in coal mines in his home town of Gelsenkirchen. Sodom's original line-up consisted of Tom Angelripper, Bloody Monster, Arius "Blasphemer", and Aggressor. Sodom remains one of the best-selling thrash metal acts of all time, having sold over one million records. They achieved their first commercial success with their third studio album Agent Orange (1989), which was the first thrash metal album to enter the German album charts, where it reached number 36.

To date, Sodom has released fourteen studio albums, three live albums, two compilation albums and six EPs. While three bands (except Tankard) created a sound that would influence death metal and black metal, Sodom's early music style would greatly influence many late-1980s and early-1990s black metal bands more than others. Along with the bands Kreator, Destruction and Tankard, Sodom is considered one of the "The Big Teutonic Four" of Teutonic thrash metal. Sodom is a German thrash metal band from Gelsenkirchen, formed in 1981.
