Those unfamiliar with them may be wondering, “who the heck are these Eskimo Callboy guys and where did they come from, all of a sudden?” Hailing from Germany, the metalcore outfit has been active for a whole decade, slowly but surely making their way to the biggest metal festivals, including Wacken Open Air. So, why are they seemingly so popular all of a sudden?
At the beginning of this year, they announced their split with former clean vocalist Sebastian “Sushi” Biesler, which might’ve led some to believe that their rising success would come to a halt. Those fears were soon put to rest, however, as they revealed their new singer, Nico Sallach, as well as unveiling their new EP MMXX and releasing the monster of a single, Hypa Hypa. Now that we’ve got all of the exposition out of the way, let’s dive in, shall we?
While only half of the EP is made up of new songs, with the other three tracks being re-recordings, MMXX perfectly pulls off the transition from the past-era of Eskimo Callboy into a new one, propelled by Sallach’s energy and powerhouse vocals. The aforementioned Hypa Hypa is bound to get the whole audience jumping and chanting along with the band, Hate/Love shows off the great chemistry between Sallach’s cleans and Kevin Ratajczak’s screams, and MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja) offers a worthy sequel to their smash hit of the same name – though the original is still a little better in our opinion, but both are very good nonetheless.
As previously mentioned, the latter half of the EP is made up of three re-recorded songs. For the most part, this is actually a really good move on the band’s part, as this breathes new life into said tracks. Monsieur Moustache and Dramaqueen greatly benefit from this, as they now feature an updated mix and production compared to their 2010 iterations, and Sallach’s cleans fit right into these tracks, as if they had just been recorded after becoming the new singer of Eskimo Callboy. One of their most recent songs also shows up here with a new coat of paint – Prism. Where this one differs from the original is that it’s an acoustic ballad, featuring solo musician Tobias Rauscher. In our opinion, it feels a tad out of place on this EP, as we believe it wasn’t a song that needed to be re-recorded. Having said that, it’s not a bad re-imagining by any means, and we’re sure that fans will like it regardless.
In the end, the MMXX EP only proves one thing: Eskimo Callboy won’t be deterred by a mere line-up change. The band is firing on all cylinders, the re-recorded songs sound even better, with punchier drums and poignant keys and synths, and newcomer Sallach’s voice ties everything together in a package that not only screams “HYPA HYPA”, but most importantly, “we’re here to stay”.
9.5/10
Standout Tracks: Hypa Hypa, Hate/Love, MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja)
For Fans Of: Asking Alexandria, Attila, Crown the Empire, To the Rats and the Wolves
Written by: Florin Petrut
