Cruor: Of course I have to say, that this concert was very special.

The audience was great and it was a lot of fun.

Maybe you already heard that we had to play at Wacken with a different singer, because Iblis isn't a member of Endstille anymore. So Mannevond of Koldbrann helped us out in the last minute, otherwise we had to cancel that concert.

But as I already said, the concert was amazing.

And yes it's true that we played an unreleased track with a guest singer from the North German thrash metal band "KILT". He also sang that song when we recorded it and hopefully we can release that song soon. Maybe on a limited vinyl or something like that.

OC: Since moving to Regain Records, have you been told by fans how much easier it is to find your albums? Are the older albums that were re-released, selling better than on Twilight?

Cruor: Yes, I heard that it's much easier to buy our CDs. I think it was easy to get our CDs here in Germany or Austria for example, before. But it was hard for people from other countries to get them. Now I think that problem is solved since we moved to Regain Records. And because of that it was possible for the people to order our re-released CDs too. So I think Regain Records sold some of them.

OC: Verfuhrer is noticeably darker, more atmospheric and probably more aggressive than Endstille’s Reich. Did you find the production of ‘...Reich’ was a little too polished for an Endstille album? What prompted this return to the sound of some of your older albums? Which tracks are you particularly satisfied with and which will be regular editions to your live set? I’d like to hear at least half of the album in a 90 minute set if you ever decide to visit London again. Perhaps that’s being a bit optimistic though.

Cruor: I'm satisfied with Endstilles Reich too. It absolutely sounds how we wanted it to sound. But we never want the following album to sound like a copy of the previous one. So we decided that "Verführer" should sound a bit more atmospheric and darker, maybe like the style of "Navigator". So when we wrote the songs for "Verführer" we took care that we'll have as many slow songs as fast ones. We also wanted to have many songs on "Verführer" in which the speed varies. We wanted "Verführer" to sound as varied as possible. I think we hit that goal and I'm absolutely satisfied with each song. For me every song is unique and outstanding.

I think playing half of the album in a live set is a bit too much, because we also like to play older songs. But we already played "... of Disorder", "Hate me... God", Depressive/ Abstract/...." and "Ursprung" live. I think that's a selection everyone can be satisfied with. OC: Although it obviously isn’t a rip-off, ‘Depressive/Abstract/Banished/Despised’ reminds musically a lot of Gorgoroth’s ‘Possessed (by Satan)’. Is this in any way a kind of homage to the band? I’ve read they’re one of Mayhemic’s favourite Black Metal bands.

Cruor: Yes, we like the old Gorgoroth CDs a lot and "Possessed (by Satan)" is an outstanding song. When we wrote that song and when we played the first riff for the first time it reminded us of course of "Possessed" too. But that was okay for us, because we didn't copy it. Also the rest of the song doesn't really sound like Gorgoroth. The second riff for example reminds me more of Celtic Frost. So that song could be seen as a homage to some bands, but I think this song sounds absolutely like a Endstille song, too. I think Wachtfels’s way to play the guitar is too unique, so you'll ever figure out that it's an Endstille song.

OC: The cover of ‘Verfuhrer’ depicts a blood-soaked Emperor Wilheim II with a map of the German landscape behind. Considering all of your previous covers have depicted war scenes, this new approach suggests the lyrics reflect the bloody megalomaniac’s reign over Germany. Can you give us an explanation of what Iblis and Wachtfels wrote about?

Cruor: On the new album Mayhemic Destructor wrote many lyrics, too. His lyrics are about the history of the Northern area of Germany, where we're from. That's the reason why we put the map of the North German landscape in the back of the cover-artwork. Also he wrote the lyrics of the song "Verführer", which means in English "seducer". That song is about different persons who are leading others into war, chaos or other bad things. There are also some songs which are about the history of the First World War. Of course there are again some songs which have nothing to do with the topic of the whole CD, but we had such songs on the previous albums, too.

OC: There wasn’t a great deal of touring for the last album, despite it being your first for Regain. This time you have a European tour booked for the autumn. Will there be more time spent on the road promoting Verfuhrer in other countries and are there any plans to explore other continents, like Mexico which I know you toured late last year?

Cruor: At first we'll do that European tour and afterwards we'll see what happens. We would like to come back to Middle America again, but we also thought of a North American tour. Also we would like to see what's going on in South America.

Also I saw that during the European tour there is no date in the UK, so I also would like to play in the UK again. So hopefully we could make to the UK again and try to play as many songs as possible in London.

OC: Speaking of Mexico, you toured with Crimson Moon, whose guitarist you recruited for this summer’s festivals. Why the decision to take on a second guitarist for gigs? Is this going to be a permanent arrangement with session members or was it just an experiment?

Cruor: We weren't searching for a second guitarist, but when we were in Mexico we recognized that Overlord's style of playing the guitar is similar to Wachtfels’s style. We haven't seen anyone else playing that style before, so we had to kidnap him. I have to say that I really enjoy the live sound with two guitars, because the whole sound is very aggressive now. Don't get me wrong, I think we sounded aggressive live before, too, but now it's absolutely awesome. Hopefully we can arrange it that Overlord can stay here as a permanent member of Endstille.

For more on the band check out http://www.endstille.com
http://www.myspace.com/endstilleband

Interviewed by Oliver Cass

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