Review Summary: Maroon deliver their heaviest, darkest and best album to date.
This is my first review, let's go!
So here is it: Maroon's "The Cold Heart of The Sun". The first Thing you notice when you press the Play-Button is: they got heavier. Much heavier.
But that is not the only thing that Maroon changed in their sound.
The Album offers a pretty eerie and dark, yet agressive Atmosphere. Like facing a beast of prey hiding in the dark, ready to strike at any moment.
The production of this Baby here is crystal clear and extremely heavy, but it lets room for the instruments to breathe and isn't too "sterile".
Maroon left their Hardcore-Roots further behind and extended their Metal Fangs. If you are a fan of heavy breakdowns, you might pick up one of their past albums. Don't get me wrong, the breakdowns aren't completely gone, the guys from Nordhausen just put them into better fitting situations and added some really nice suprises, which you wouldn't have expected.
The songs all have their own identity and characteristics, making them different frome ach other, but they always fit into the mood of this record.
How about the Performance?
Yea, Maroon are better than ever here. Andre's Vocals have never sounded more pissed off, he screams and roars his hate out of his lungs and spits his bitter words out in the world. He also shows his clean voice in an impressive way at the end of the record, which is definately a highlight.
Nick Wacksmuth's improved his drumming skills and shows here a great job, extraordinary work.
The guitars deliver great stuff, they harmonize perfectly and their thechniques and creativity took a huge step forward since the last album.Anyway, at some points, they should have used more non-generic riffs.
The Bass adds much to the brooding sound of this record, building the fundament for the guitars and having some cool moments, in which it dominates everything.
From beautiful acoustic passages to furious highspeed-attacks, from deadly breakdowns to spheric keyboards, although "The Cold Heart Of The sun" is heavy, it is also full of details. Sometimes you may wish that Maroon carried out their ideas with more endeavour.
What about the Lyrics?
There are those, which are plain and simple ("Steelbath Your Heart") and those which are mysterious and demand some exploring, adding more depth to the album ("Black Halo!").
You have catchiness, partying hard with this album from the start, but you also get songs, which you need to listen to several times to understand what's going on there.
So, what do you get?
A very heavy, interesting album, with some suprinsing ideas and dark atmosphere, fitted with a good production and a matching artwork, the currently best Maroon album.
