What’s this? Another Vegan Straight Edge monolith on Century Media?

Unlike Earth Crisis though, Maroon are virtually unrecognizable from the maniacs that unleashed “Captive in the room of the conspirator” and “Antagonist.” Back then it was all about the new school sound forged by Day of Suffering, Arkangel and to an extent Earth Crisis (oh Maroon chugged relentlessly on those early records). Now though, its all about the metal, which is oh so, so, so German. Give em, credit though, they are supporting Bolt Thrower and Kataklysm in the coming months, have covered Samael for and now even have a song called “Stay Brutal.” It’s as if they are screaming for metal cred.

Admitted I have been pretty enamoured with Maroon since Endorsed by Hate, but was less then impressed with their last effort Cold Heart of the Sun, lambasted elsewhere as poor man’s Soilwork with weak breakdowns (to be honest, there was barely any, more Soilwork if anything).

Definitely not an image you want to be stuck with.

Fortunately they’ve fixed the aching problems from that record and even bought back some of the “core,” on this one.

As song writers, they are finally maturing, numbers such as “Schatten,” and “Bleak,” showing the grasp of dynamics that their previous record was shooting for. Despite that, they can still write with teeth and as mentioned though, there is a good serving of core though, with the goofily titled “Stay Brutal,” being hammer face smashingly satisfying in its attack. Better still is “This Ship is Sinking,” with parts akin to those legendary vegan jihad inducers Day of Suffering. What’s supreme though, is the metal, which reigns with omnipotence. Be it mid-paced chugs, valiant gallops, blackened blasts, or doom dirges, its encouraging to see the band finally controlling these influences and sculpting some impressive pieces from them.

Admitted there is still some way to go if Maroon are to continue down their desired musical path, but given the growth that has taken place from record to record, and the marked improvement in terms of quality on Order’s predecessor, it will be interesting to see what they bring next.

[Visit the band's website]

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