In a new interview with RapidMetalFire, bassist/vocalist Thomas “Angelripper” Such of German thrash metal veterans SODOM discussed his decision to cut down on the band’s touring activities for the foreseeable future. He said: “I think you know the story of (SLAYER‘s) Tom Araya. Maybe you heard something about it. I think he’s got the same problems, like issues with his neck when performing live. He couldn’t more headbang. I can headbang. It’s not so massive… But that is not the reason why. The reason why is I want to spend more time with other things. I want to spend more time with my family. I need more time going for my hunting district. I want to spend time doing nothing.

“If you are a professional musician — I’m also the manager of the band — you are busy every day,” Such explained. “There is no time to breathe. There is no time to relax. I like to spend the time on stage. I like to spend the time making music, but I hate wast(ing) time on airports or hotels.

“If you’re getting 62 like me, you say, ‘Okay, I need money to make my living from music.’ I know — money is a very important thing. But there is something you cannot buy with money: the freedom,” Thomas added. “And that’s what I told to my boys, to my group. I told them, I think two years ago, ‘In this year, I wanna slow down the things a little bit,’ because I can’t do nothing, because I’m still working on re-releases. The only difference is I have my home office. That’s the only thing. But I can tell you, I have no plan what to do. I have no plan how long I’m gonna rest. I have no plan when I restart the band, so I don’t wanna live without any plans in the next times. I can’t tell people I want to come back in ’27 or ’28, maybe ’26 — I don’t tell the people. When I think I wanna come back, I go.”

Asked if SODOM is still “receiving booking requests” from promoters around the world, Thomas said: “I receive a lot of booking requests… I get some offers from this and that festival. I get some offers for making a tour with HEAVEN SHALL BURN. They were interested in maybe a SODOM tour. I get a thousand of requests for the ‘Big Four’ (of German thrash metal: KREATOR, DESTRUCTION, SODOM and TANKARD) worldwide. That is not a problem… People are still interested. It’s not something bad because we have no success. I can book tours every day over the year, if I want. That is another thing. SODOM is still — we are still very much a success, I think. People are really interested in coming to see us… So that is not the problem. I know that people wanna see SODOM.”

Elaborating on his reasons for taking a break from the road, Thomas said: “I love my fans, but I also love myself. I also love my family. I also love my old friends. Now it’s time to stop and just concentrate on doing other things. That’s very easy. I’m still healthy. I’m able to do it. I’m still creative. Maybe the day will come I don’t know what to do, I’m not more creative, I cannot write lyrics, I cannot play bass. Then it’s gone. It’s just a break. But I don’t know how long it takes.”