Maroon
The Cold Heart Of The Sun
Century Media


Rarely does a band that tries to cram as many influences into an album as possible actually impress me, but the German metal quintet Maroon's new studio release is well deserving of musical praise. Yes, the album consists of a massive conglomerations of musical styles, but it is intelligently blended together in what could be called a centrifuge of various metal techniques.

If I had to put a genre to it, I would call it progressive-Scandinavian-metalcore. There are influences from bands like Dark Tranquillity and Arch Enemy, combined with the hardcore influences from Shadows Fall or As I Lay Dying. But then you have speedy tinges of bands like Dragonforce or Children Of Bodom, and the tremolo-style guitars from acts like Deicide or Dimmu Borgir. Now I know what you may be thinking; that's pretty much a clichˇ combination of bands that have been there and done that - boring. Well, it actually worked this time! In my opinion, Maroon are the one's who have pulled it off most successfully to date.

The track-listing provides a diverse balance of tempo and style, songs like (Reach) The Sun and As Truth Becomes Vains are fast, upbeat thrashy tracks with speedy in-your-face licks, rapid drum-work, and impressive guitar solos. There's also the odd slow track with catchy hook riffs like Black Halo, strong breakdown-orientated tracks like Steelbath Your Heart and For Those Unseen and off-beat tracks like The Iron Council that work-well with rather odd chords. The diversity is really a credit to the band's musical ability.

As far as I'm concerned, with this release Maroon have actually pulled off something not many bands can do, and thus is a crafty contemporary metal album that was an enjoyable listen.

Brad Holland