Reviews

These five young men have made a big splash on MTV and at the Grammys this year. With their hit single “She Will Be...” Oh wait. That’s Maroon Five. They suck. This is Germany’s Maroon and the music they play would knock Maroon Five flatly on their trend riding asses. Formed in 1998 and playing brutal vegan straight edge hardcore relentlessly since then, Maroon has watched a once powerful community fade and leave the ascendancy of Earth Crisis but a memory. Still they continue chugging Hatebreed riffs under gruff vocals about veganism despite the drying up of the audience. Maroon 5 on the other hand, came about in 2001, have sold 3 million copies, and yet have nothing to say of any consequence except something about a girl name Jane.
 
Maroon’s Endorsed By Hate kept reminding me of Bleeding Through with socially conscious lyrics, but with less interesting lyrical imagery than BT. Better lyrics than Maroon5 though.  By a mile  Not that you can really understand the vocals Andre Moraweck shouts half the time.  is voice is very much in the vein of thunderous hardcore heroes like Jamey Jasta or Roger Miret.  But the best comparison would be to Brandon Bleeding Through. The comparison just seems so uncanny; so many guitar pull-offs, a few haunting keyboard lines hidden in the background...
 
But still, being called a less lyrically interesting Bleeding Through is damning with faint praise. However, Maroon does have the sick line, “Your soul is raped by evil.” That has to count for something.
 
The song Watch It All Come Down, starts off as a slow metal dirge, before regaining the frenetic pace which is the pulse of the entire album.  Most of the songs are so metal you can’t bring the album through security at the airport.  Blazing guitar lines, relentless blasting beats, and super gruff vocals. But all too soon, the songs on Endorsed By Hate start blurring together, as you realize that the bass drum as not stopped beating incessantly outside of a breakdown for most of the record. Maybe Maroon is just too hard for me. I should give Maroon Five another shot.