Endstille - Endstilles Reich
Regain Records
Black Metal
10 songs (48'45")
Release year: 2007
Regain Records
Reviewed by Alex

Endstille, a German black metal band and an unknown entity to me thus far, arrived in the same envelope with Gorgoroth re-releases on Regain Records. Having landed in my music pile, it has been rubbing up against Marduk re-releases on this same rising Swedish label, which happened to sit in the envelope next to it. Influences of the aforementioned Scandinavian stalwarts rubbing off on Endstille, now or earlier, by design or by coincidence, but Endstilles Reich is a full-on black metal war machine, Bolt Thrower on steroids, delivering blow after blow, with these bomb of the songs hitting the same crater time and time again.

If you want variety in your metal, extreme or otherwise, you might have to look elsewhere. Endstille has about as much of it as in colors on the camouflage uniform. Khaki, light or dark green, the colors bleed into each other. So do the songs on Endstilles Reich. The band unleashes the relentless barrage of riffs, latching on to some of them repeatedly, as these, often melodic, chunks are used to carry them through album’s compositions. The closer Endstille (Realitat) is about the only one with some structured double bass groove, the rest of the songs concerned with texture a lot more than with organization. The Germans deliver melodic tremolo distorted so profusely, the album’s sound is one big sonic wall.

Interestingly enough that something which could have ended up being rather faceless is surprisingly full of mesmerizing effects, even though the intent to grind you down is obvious, eardrums peeled out when these almost 50 min are over. There is a definite hint of sadness in the melody of I Am God, even though the song constantly careens out of speed control until reaching a beatdown end. The title track and Vorwarts (Sturmangriff II) come through with an undeniable sense of pride. Scars and Erase, however, were my two favorite tracks, the washed out guitars and off-beat cymbals of the former are practically euphoric reminding of the more brutal Alcest. Erase is also transcendent, the track’s distinct prominent melody both captivating and bewitching in its gaze.

In an interesting production twist, despite the guitars being such a main throttle of Endstilles Reich, Mayhemic Destructor’s drums have a very natural sound to them. Despite the oft-used blasting, drums on this record are practically ornamental, instead of being the jet propelled main engine for the songs. On the opposite, the soul tearing vocals by Iblis are spilling into the stratosphere with the shrieks, the voice processing comes to mind, also making parallels with Hat’s performance on Pentagram.

A brutal Sherman tank of a record at the first glance, Endstilles Reich reveals its nuances at repeated listens, if you can master enough courage to face down this barrel of a gun.

Killing Songs :
Endstilles Reich, Vorwarts, Scars, Erase
Alex quoted 75 / 100
Other albums by Endstille that we have reviewed:
Endstille - Infektion 1813 reviewed by Tony and quoted 78 / 100
Endstille - Verfuhrer reviewed by Alex and quoted 78 / 100
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