Maroon – Endorsed by Hate
Abacus Recordings – February 8th, 2005
By Jason Jordan
Vegan and straightedge?! Sounds like a recipe for no fun but, personal convictions aside,
Maroon have decidedly snuck under the Abacus Recordings door. The aforementioned label definitely has a fair share of young talent residing comfortably under its banner, but
Endorsed by Hate isn’t going to win anyone over with its less-than-stunning take on a hardcore formula that’s already been run into the ground.
Comical is the gunshot sound that permeates “The Worlds Havoc” and “Endorsed by Hate.” I guess they like gunshots. At any rate, “Catharsis” is a rather banal introduction. “The Worlds Havoc” chimes in after the blast, and is fairly enjoyable hardcore. The truth is: it’s not going to break you to listen to
Maroon; however, there are quite a few groups outperforming the Germans. “Watch It All Come Down” begins more slowly than other songs on the release, and the overall feeling I glean from
Endorsed by Hate is that hxc in a slower vein is not necessarily a negative thing. “Without a Face,” though, kick starts the pace and the band is up and running again. The former is much more melodic than its predecessors, which perhaps makes it more captivating. I prefer the riffage in “Chosen Fate” to almost anything else on the record and – when the china cymbal spills forth – it’s purely blissful. The other myriad opuses don’t contain any elements that haven’t been mentioned previously.
Honestly, I can only imagine the band traversing the upper echelons from here, but admittedly that said pilgrimage probably wouldn’t take place for a lengthy amount of time.
Maroon can continue practicing erstwhile their labelmates such as
Heaven Shall Burn,
Narcissus, and fellow Germans
Caliban claim the honorable prizes.
Endorsed by Hate shouldn’t garner hatred, but the aforementioned won’t show up on any year-end lists I bet.
7/10
Official Maroon website
Official Abacus Recordings website
