Sodom – Tom Angelripper’s 7 deadly sins
And God spoke to the people of Sodom and told them he was going to vanish them from the face of the earth because of their sins. Now one of the few survivers, Tom Angelripper, tells us what these seven deadly sins really are all about…
Envy
Is it a deadly sin? I don´t think so. At the moment I don´t envy anybody but many envy me. If you achieved a little bit in the music business some people tell you “Oh boy, I have to go to work every day and you can sleep late and fly to the USA”. This is envy. They buy a bigger car and put it in front of their door so that I feel envy. A Mercedes right beside an Opel Astra. But that doesn´t work out because I am not interested.
Vanity
You can have that, up to a certain limit. I don´t have it at all. Vain people hide behind a facade. I don´t need that and don´t know it. I also go to town in shorts.
Sloth
Yes, I am lazy sometimes. But you have to be considerate, because coming from a tour, being totally exhausted and needing some days to recover is not really sloth. Lazy people will never make it. In every day life, in business or doing art you cannot afford being lazy.
Lust
Yes, that happens sometimes, doesn´t it? This is natural, you cannot really stop it but you better have it under control.
Gluttony
There is this great movie “The Grande Bouffe”, and if you know it you know how something like this might end. Gluttony might be a real disease. But it´s really bad that there are so many overweight people in the USA nowadays whereas people elsewhere don´t have anything to eat.
Wrath
You cannot always take in everything, you also must let it out. This is healthy anger. If you are angry you have to make your point sometimes. But I never felt hatred for anybody. Sometimes I am also a little naive, but I never felt wrath and wished somebody evil.
Greed
Greed is the worst that a human being could have, and this is the reason why our world might come to an end. Some people simply cannot get enough and all wars are based on that. If we all really try the middle way, that everybody gets his share and have a good life, the whole world would be happy, but the ambition for power will finally destroy us.
Extravagance, decadence and stuff like that belong here, too. Like people who earn zillions every month, actors or athletes… that pisses me off. If I see people on the other side, struggling to survive with less than minimum income I get angry. Greed is also very often a topic for my songs.
