Metalcore from Germany? Yep, that's what you get with the latest from Maroon. This band has been around for roughly seven years, releasing their first album back in 2002 called Atagonist, followed in 2004 by Endorsed By Hate. On When Worlds Collide, these teutonic maruaders pull no surprises, delivering 13 tracks of hateful hardcore infused metal, with just a touch of Gothenburg melodic styled death metal and a smattering of complexity here and there. In other words, Maroon are not doing anything here that you haven't already heard before, but the lads are talented, and all the songs on When Worlds Collide are certainly solid, especially tunes like "Wake Up in Hell", with growling vocals mixed effectively with some melodic clean passages, and the intricate guitar riffery of "Annular Eclipse". Guest melodic vocals and keyboards on the album are handled by some of the guys in Mercenary (also a Century Media band), who in my opinion give this album the needed variety it might have lacked had this been straight up angst and aggression with no melodic vocal parts. Actually, lead vocalist Andre Moraweck has a powerful set of lungs, and delivers his angry shouts and growls with conviction and is rarely overbearing. The band is very tight, and drummer Nick Wachsmuth especially shows off his enormous talents throughout the album, with manic double bass blasts and plenty of gymnastic fills.
The end result like I mentioned is a solid album, filled with plenty of mosh worthy breaks, precision guitar riffing, tasty solos, and a heaping amount of thrash and hardcore attitude. But damn guys, haven't we heard all this before?
Track Listing
- 24HourHate
- And If I Lose, Welcome Annihilation
- Sirius
- Wake Up In Hell
- Annular Eclipse
- Arcturus
- Confessions Of The Heretic
- There Is Something You Will Never Erase
- The Omega Suite Pt. II
- Sword And Bullet
- Vermin
- Koo She
- Below Existence
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