MacCallister
Shivers

I think that the cover is best thing about the new EP called Shivers by German hardcore band MacCallister. Perhaps they call it shivers because they are expecting it to send shivers down the spine of the listener with their aggression that is broken up with some hope-carrying sequences. That is all fine and good as aggression laced with tiny bits of hope is the recipe for good hardcore music, and that is what they do: they follow the format to the letter and they don’t send shivers down anyone’s spine.

This album offers more or less what you can expect from a hardcore album, the shouty vocals, the aggressive playing and everything. But I think they are too restrained, the vocals are not angry, aggressive, or desperate enough to convey anything but an empty feeling. The glimmers of hope don’t really glimmer enough either except maybe for the second track Burden that has some nice clean guest vocals, but that’s a maybe. I don’t really think they offer anything we haven’t heard before and they take too much care to follow the format so they don’t really dare to act out their aggression, frustration and desperation into a strong hardcore album – perhaps they are not angry enough to be hardcorers and I certainly believe that better vocals would have been a clear improvement.

As I stated earlier, I think the cover is the best thing about this album and that isn’t really that interesting either so I would claim that this feels like a rather pointless album. I really think you have to do something else than just following the format if you want to be relevant today, and if you are really wanting to follow the format you have to be outstandingly good and this band just isn’t that great so I think they will drown and be fast forgotten. To me there is no real point in this album, unless you like characterless and typical hardcore.

HHHHHHH