Endorama is the ninth studio album by German thrash metal band Kreator, released on 20 April, 1999 by Drakkar Records. The gothic metal influences were the most prominent on this release,[1] and Lacrimosa frontman Tilo Wolff provided guest vocals on the title song. This is the final Kreator album to feature Tommy Vetterli, who was replaced by current guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö shortly before the recording of their next album Violent Revolution. The culmination of the experimental and least liked side of Kreator, namely "Endorama". Well, after the surprisingly washed out, not very demanding and barren-songy outburst with "Outcast", Mille Petrozza & co. did not go in the direction of erasing bad impressions in the climate of "Cause For Conflict" (after the release of "Renewal", the criticism of which was however greatly exaggerated), but - once again - they wanted to try a style completely foreign to them - this time, completely falling into a different stylistic compartment, barely related to previous albums. However, how well it worked for the Germans and the Swiss in 1999 - fans and critics immediately verified. On "Endorama" they were so spoiled that the longplay immediately gained the title of the worst Kreator album. Well, in this way, it's understandable, because as it was said - "Endorama" does not resemble Kreator in any way, with which their sound is commonly identified. "Endorama" was supposed to be such a now or never when it comes to the new style of this quartet. I mean, another radical volte-face will either bring them a sensible change of target and success in another niche or it will turn out to be a complete crap and a period in the history of the band that would be best erased from memory. Looking at the last sentence of the introduction... well, you can probably guess what the ending was. In any case, on the ninth full-length album Petrozza & co. took a huge step into a rather calm and melancholic gothic metal with clear, rhythmic guitar riffs, characteristic Mille vocals (this is basically the only common element with previous longs - although this topic requires clarification, about which later) and keyboard spots. So it looks a bit like the quartet suddenly envied the transformations and - following them - successes of Paradise Lost, Moonspell and Tiamat, which were very popular in the mid-nineties due to this type of vision of atmospheric metal, and tried to jump into the then strongly promoted wave of gothic metal. After all, if others managed to successfully change their style, why shouldn't it work in the Kreator case? However, when you have such iconic and great albums like "Pleasure To Kill" or "Coma Of Souls" in your discography, it should come as no surprise that cutting off from the past and searching for new identities will be received with a large dose of reserve. It may not be as bad as it's commonly heard about "Endorama", although its compositional level is very uneven, it does not fit the Kreator's name (the clear, classic logo on the cover art adds more confusion), and the experiments themselves are terribly shallow - very often coming down to softening or showy samples that fill the main content with as much as you can do with studio tricks. Naturally, "Endorama" is nothing that escapes the listener's perception or anything that goes beyond accepted musical categories. So, "Endorama" features a series of simple, gothic/heavy metal songs. There are many easily digestible patterns (rarely going beyond the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus), simple rhythms and melodies, a banally sounding bass (although that's actually a plus after previously hiding it on "Outcast" mix), keyboard variations, a reflective atmosphere and a mysterious aura, as well as catchiness inspired by The Sisters Of Mercy. The production of "Endorama", on the other hand, is completely good, with the right selectivity and naturalness, as well as the simple fact that there are solos in which Tommy Vetterli can show off. The link with Kreator's older albums is of course Petrozza's vocals, about which I have mixed feelings. His characteristic scream is as usual satisfactory, although the low, gothic attempts at singing are a complete failure. And similar feelings come to mind about the music itself - some good numbers, and some really bad. On the one hand, there are pleasant, atmospheric and catchy songs like "Passage To Babylon", "Shadowland", "Future King" or "Chosen Few", and on the other, boring, polished and evoking pseudo-dramaturgy "Tyranny", the title track, "Everlasting Flame" (sounds like a parody of Paradise Lost) or "Golden Age". "Endorama" is therefore the last period of Kreator's search and attempts to find their place in the realities of the nineties, when thrash metal fell out of circulation, and at the same time another proof that their experiments are not particularly successful or bring new quality. Okay, "Endorama" is not as bad as it is commonly believed, and a few tracks can attract attention on it, although the most troublesome here are the not very attractive arrangements and attempts to patch it up with studio tricks (again, the line-up's potential was wasted) and too much gentleness, unrelated to Kreator's character. The band quickly felt how much they had let themselves go with the too many changes on "Endorama", which is why they returned to more thrash metal sounds in the new millennium. Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal