The GUMOMANIACS are a German thrash metal band that came into being back in 2007. At that time, it was just Daniel "Gumo" Reiss and a drum machine. Now ten years later the band releases its 10^th anniversary double album, "By Endurance We Conquer - Demons & Damnation". This is a monster album with a total of 20 songs, tracks 1-10 are the Demons part and 11-20 the Damnation.

This album starts out with "Demons". I think its one of the weaker songs on the album. For me the vocals seemed like they didn't fit along with the music, like they were an after thought to the music. The instrumentation is good on this song, but nothing special. The band does change up the song style about half way through the track, which makes the end better than the beginning. Even though this is a weak song, the tracks get better from here on out.

"Marooned" begins with a great guitar riff and then the vocals kick in. Again, on this song the vocals seem a little disjointed from the rest of the song, but overall, it's a good song. The musical arrangement is very strong on this song, leading into a killer guitar solo half way through the song. The solo revives this song making it a must listen to song on the album.

By the time I get to "Lady Leech" I am enjoying the album, but the sameness of the songs starts to wear on me. This song changes it up enough to peak my interest again. The vocals get changed up to in places, changing into a demonic spoken word. GUMOMANIACS offer up another good guitar solo within the song that makes it worth the listen. I would have to say Lady Leech is my favorite song on the Demons part of the album.

"Hellcome Home" is the first song of the Damnation part of the album. The fact this is a different part is instantly apparent. The music composition is stronger and more diverse than the songs on the first part. The vocals have a very similar cadence, but it fits with the music much better on this song.  Most of the songs from here on experiment with the song and diverge from the cookie cutter thrash sound, and the second part of the album shines because of it.

Most of the songs on the last part of the album follow this same thread. "Poltergeist Possession" you can hear the experimentation within the music, again the vocals meld well with the music, to make a good cohesive song. "Siege of Sardis", with its orchestra sounding opening before it melds into a good metal song. "Billy The Kid" a more traditional thrash metal song compared to the rest of the second part of the album. Overall, there isn't a bad song after you pass track 11.

I enjoyed this monster of an album from GUMOMANIACS. The first 10 tracks had a lot of similarity and didn't seem to have much experimentation. The last 10 tracks drip with experimentation and it makes the last part of the album more enjoyable. All together it is a decent album, with the beginning bringing the whole down some. I think if it was just the last part by itself this would have been a much better album overall.