Sodom's original line-up consisted of Tom Angelripper, Bloody Monster, Arius "Blasphemer", and Aggressor.
Though the band became a real working unit yet only when Chris Witchhunter (Christian Dudek, originally from Essen) had joined the band on drums (replacing Bloody Monster), having had already experience in writing music in some of his previous school-projects and thus coaching the remaining two members how to write proper songs (Arius had also been fired from the band).
Taking inspiration from bands such as Motörhead, Venom, Tank, Accept, Rainbow and AC/DC, the group continued as a three-piece in the Motörhead-fashion and released two demos which led to a record deal with Steamhammer.
Aggressor left the band shortly before releasing the In the Sign of Evil EP (generally regarded as an important early black metal release), and was replaced by Grave Violator, who himself did not last long, and left following the recording of In the Sign of Evil.
Michael "Destructor" Wulf was found as a replacement, after which the band went and recorded Obsessed by Cruelty, their full-length debut featuring music that was mostly in the vein of In The Sign of Evil.
Wulf did not last in the band long, and later went and joined Kreator (he would not last long there either, and he died in 1993 after a tragic motorcycle accident).
In War and Pieces, Sodom's latest album, was released in Europe on November 22, 2010, and released in North America on January 11, 2011. On November 30, 2010, it was announced that Bobby Schottkowski would be leaving the band, due to "personal and private problems" between Tom Angelripper and Schottkowski.
On December 8, 2010, Markus "Makka" Freiwald was announced to be Sodom's new drummer.
In late January 2012, Sodom began writing their fourteenth studio album, which they planned to record in May 2012 for a late summer release.
On December 17, 2012, the band announced the album will be released on April 29, 2013.
The album will be titled Epitome of Torture and feature 13 tracks. The album will be released in Germany on April 26th, and in the US on May 7.
On August 26th, 2016, the new album Decision Day see the light by SPV Records.
After this record they release the Ep's Partisan and Out of the frontline trench with the new line-up and the return of the axemen Frank Blackfire, in this year 2020 the new drummer Toni Merkel join in the band and they coming back in November with the new full lenght album Genesis XIX.
This year they release the new Ep, "1982" with re-recording old materials.