Tom Angelripper

Thomas Such (born 19 February 1963), known professionally as Tom Angelripper, is a German musician. He is the lead vocalist, bassist, main songwriter and only original remaining member of the thrash metal band Sodom and also a member of the bass guitar-focused side project Bassinvaders. Thomas Such was born in Gelsenkirchen on 19 February 1963, from where he learned to play bass steadily whilst working in coal mines. He then went on, as Tom Angelripper, to be one of the founding members of the German thrash metal band Sodom. He originally started off as just the bassist, but ended up becoming the vocalist and has done both on every studio release.

In Sodom, Angelripper plays bass and sings. Angelripper formed Sodom with guitarist Frank "Aggressor" Testegen and drummer Rainer "Bloody Monster" Focke in 1982, in a desperate bid to get out of work in the coal mines that the three had worked in.

Angelripper also founded a band called Onkel Tom Angelripper which plays metal versions of schlagers, drinking songs and Christmas carols. In addition, he worked with a side project of Sodom's touring guitarist Alex Kraft, called Desperados, which played spaghetti Western-themed heavy metal. The band later evolved independently under the name of Dezperadoz, but Angelripper still occasionally contributes.

He also plays in several other side projects, such as the German bands Bassinvaders and Die Knappen and has just guested on the brand new Warfare single the first for 27 years Cemetery Dirt (Plastic Head Music Download)