For the most part, Sodom was at first not taken seriously, with various press sources describing them as "a second-rate Venom clone with semi-inventive lyrics". One member would change that. Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik came in to fill the guitar spot Wulf had left behind. Frank convinced Tom that thrash metal was moving beyond horror/occult/satanic themes of bands like Venom to embrace political, societal, and war themes. Tom was already interested in various wars yet remained a peacenik. New inspiration culminated into Frank's full-length debut with the band, Persecution Mania. The new lyrical approach and increased musicianship on the part of Frank gave the band great acclaim (as well as a gas-masked mascot Knarrenheinz, who appeared for the first time on Persecution Mania's cover). They soon embarked on a tour of Europe with the Swiss thrash metal band Coroner. After touring for the better part of 1987 and 1988, the band returned to the studio to make another album. The final product, Agent Orange, sold 100,000 copies in Germany alone. This made Sodom famous, giving them worldwide critical acclaim, and secured their place alongside Kreator and Destruction as one of the great Teutonic thrash metal bands. To this date, Agent Orange has sold more than any other German thrash-metal album in the world.
Problems were brewing inside of the band, however. Tom and Chris descended further into alcoholism. Furthermore, Frank had grown tired of composing music that his band-mates would often perform poorly live. Mille Petrozza of Kreator offered Frank a position with his band, after they lost their second guitarist, and Frank accepted. Angelripper went out looking for a replacement and found Michael Hoffman, formerly of German thrashers Assassin.
The Final Sign of Evil is the twelfth album by German thrash metal band Sodom, released in 2007. It was the first album to include the original Sodom line-up since 1985. The album includes re-recorded versions of tracks from In the Sign of Evil as well as seven songs originally written for In the Sign of Evil, but not recorded due to the label's inability to pay for studio time. As a result, In the Sign of Evil was released as an EP rather than a full-length LP. Original lineup: Tom Angelripper on vocals, bass guitar; Grave Violator (Josef "Peppi" Dominic) on guitar; Chris Witchhunter (Christian Dudeck) on drums.