Endseeker

Having become one of the premier German death metal bands - and rapidly rising the ranks of the genre as a whole - Endseeker storm back into the fray with Mount Carcass. Building on the groundwork laid down on 2017’s Flesh Hammer Prophecy and having the difficult task of besting 2019’s stunning The Harvest they have returned with a streamlined, powerful collection that further raises the bar. “The title - and the lyrics of the song it’s drawn from - is a metaphor for our modern society, using the image of the ascent of Mount Everest,” state the band. “We’re living in a crazy world driven by the hunt for money, success and recognition, lead by elected madmen. It’s a time of political change and global challenges full of uncertainty, and a constant threat to our comfort zones.”

Going into the record they knew they wanted something rawer and more organic than The Harvest, and while Covid was causing global havoc the band embraced the time they would have otherwise spent touring, using it to rehearse and discuss what they wanted the record to be. From this process they knew they wanted the songs to be quite straightforward and even have something of a “punkish / crust feel, so to speak. The songs are pretty reduced to the core with all the ballast removed. Every part and every riff has a meaning and isn’t just there for no other reason than extending the song. The album is also very melodic. There are a bunch of very strong guitar hooks and vocal compositions that really stick in your ears for days. It’s way simpler and probably more easy to listen to compared to The Harvest or Flesh Hammer Prophecy but at the same time it has a very spontaneous and lively attitude with a big chunk of personality.” In total they spent half a year crafting the album, which was a very enjoyable process, with everyone more involved in every aspect of the songs than ever before. To keep the genre sounding fresh in 2021 they focused on the production, having just a touch of the old school vibe to remain rooted, and they did not limit themselves too hard to the Swedish death metal style of songwriting they previously embraced, but also let other influences into their songs. “You can hear all kinds of stuff that is inspired by bands like Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, Slayer, Dissection, Gorefest, etc. We listen to so many different bands and somehow a bit from all of this keeps adding to our music.”

Though not exclusively, Mount Carcass is also a very political record, which is different for a band coming from Endseeker’s genre. “We’ve always been very political individuals who never made a secret of our political views although we haven’t been a political band per se. This time, with all the shit going on in this world and the sheer amount of things going in a terribly wrong direction we felt the need to let all of the frustration out. We’re aware that a lot of people think that musicians should keep politics out of music but we don’t agree with that. We have a view on the world and we have our own opinions and if we feel the need to express these through our art we will absolutely do that. This doesn’t mean everyone has to agree with us or anything but it’s just shit that moves us and influenced the songwriting a lot so it is a part of this record. But don’t worry, there are typical Endseeker songs on it which deal with crazy animal behaviour or the opener “Unholy Rites” which has classic zombie lyrics.” One such song dealing with animal behavior is “Frantic Redemption”, which is about a famous bear nicknamed ‘Pablo Escobear’ who died from eating $15 million worth of cocaine. “We read about this incident from 1985 at some point on the tour bus and were absolutely fascinated by this story and it was crystal clear that we had to make a song about this.” Then there is “Merciless Tide”, which is about the growing world of “so called conspiracy theories.” Referencing Pizzagate, QAnon, Flat Earthers and more, “during the whole pandemic it seems like a growing number of people are getting hooked by this stuff. The fascinating thing about all this is that all sides claim for themselves to be in possession of the one and only truth and knowledge. This whole conspiracy thing has a lot of potential for escalation and can easily move into a dangerous direction, and it goes so far that people turn violent and somebody gets hurt, and that is what this song is about.” Then there’s the previously referred to title track, which on the surface is about the commodification of ascending Mount Everest and the business this has turned into. With too many licenses sold - at about €40.000 each - traffic jams of climbers are forming at high altitude, with deadly consequences. “All very ambitious climbers, spending a small fortune just to stand on the roof of the world for a few minutes. Some pay the ultimate price for it and freeze to death after collapsing in the waiting queue in the death zone, and most of them will stay on the mountain forever because it's hardly possible to recover dead bodies from there. Bizarre enough, but this also reflects the whole business mentality of the entire first world. Growth, success, profit, being on top and literally stepping over corpses. That’s what makes the world go around.”

Like both of its predecessors, Mount Carcass was recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by Eike Freese at Chameleon Studios in Hamburg, Germany. “Recording an album with Eike always feels like coming home and it – again – was such a pleasure to work with him. Eike completely felt the spirit of the record and brought the production so very well to life that we think this is our best production ever. It was kind of a task to get everything scheduled and tracked with all the Covid restrictions but we pulled it off and finished the recording within all deadlines. We couldn’t be any happier with the result.” The band also had time to track a cover, picking the title track of John Carpenter’s seminal science-fiction movie Escape From New York. “We have a long tradition of cover songs, but this is the first time we chose an instrumental track, and even a main theme from a movie, but 2021 is the 40th anniversary of John Carpenter's masterpiece, which just never gets old. The main theme has this iconic beat and mesmerizing melodies that sound so creepy and haunting in their original synth sound that we thought this would be the perfect template for a massive metal version. When we started to play around with it and try out different things for the arrangement it was clear very fast that this works out absolutely great. We tried to stick quite close to the original and keep that eerie feeling over the song as a deeply respectful homage to this awesome movie and composition.” And with this collection of songs primed and ready to go all the band can do is hope that they are able to get back on the road in the not too distant future. “Hopefully we’ll see the return of touring activities on a large scale with as many surviving clubs and people working in this industry as possible. We would love to meet all the other bands and fans on the road, pop some beers and have a good time with everyone. At the same time we really wish that we can expand our operating radius too, and visit more countries to play shows all over the place. Playing live is definitely the one thing all of us miss the most and we keep our fingers crossed that Covid will come to an end soon and we can go back to doing what we love to do most.”