“Why don’t you oppose this crime, your silence is consent.”
5 years after the release of a monumental double album, the provocatively titled Heimat (“homeland”) marks Heaven Shall Burn’s return. Occupying a place in modern metalcore few of their peers can claim, and unashamedly out of step with the latest trends, the German heavyweights retain an unflinching grasp on a nostalgic sound. Having evolved almost untouched by developments in the wider metalcore genre, Heaven Shall Burn couples classic Killswitch Engage and Darkest Hour-style riffing with a splash of death metal brutality, all the while packed full of anthemic choruses and twin guitar leads harking back to the glory days of At the Gates worship and crowned by often introspective and fiercely political lyrics.
Released against a backdrop of ever greater social polarisation and an ascendant far right across Europe and beyond, the latest stage in the band’s 30-year career channels Heaven Shall Burn at their most assertive, hot on the heels of two collaborative singles with German punk artists. With even the album’s title challenging notions of identity and group belonging, staking an outspokenly antiracist claim on a term used and abused by the extreme right, Heaven Shall Burn’s tenth studio outing doubles down on the band’s core message of strength in inclusion, all the while staying true to their nostalgic metalcore sound.
That’s not to say that Heimat sees the band coasting, knocking out another album patterned with tried-and-true, battle-tested Heaven Shall Burn signatures. Whereas Of Truth And Sacrifice, much like Wanderer and Veto before it, launches straight into its opening track, Heimat takes a more measured approach to its pacing, evident throughout the album. Bookended by atmospheric string quartets, the album feels more spacious and, at times, pensive, than its predecessors. Starting things off with a nod to 2008’s Iconoclast: Pt. 1 (The Final Resistance), intro track “Ad Arma” quickly gives way to “War Is The Father Of All”. A mid-tempo stomper, nu-metal style guitar harmonics and chunky rhythm guitar work is the order of the day, coupled with the first of Heimat’s many infectious lead guitar lines in the chorus. Even though the album features no clean vocals from frontman Marcus Bischoff, like many Heaven Shall Burn tunes you can’t help but want to sing along. Rousing third single “Empowerment” and “Dora” sit in a similar groove, backed by the no-nonsense drums of Christian Bass and muscular guitars from Maik Weichert and Alexander Dietz, along with penultimate track “A Silent Guard”. The latter features all the ingredients of a classic Heaven Shall Burn song – weighty guitar chugging, soaring chorus leads not unlike old Parkway Drive, pummelling double bass and Bischoff’s throaty screams – coupled with a welcome clean break and guitar work at times closer to blackgaze than typical melodeath writing.
As good as the slower side of the band’s sound is, Heaven Shall Burn definitely know how to kick things up a notch – most of the back half of the album, punctuated by string interlude “Imminence”, consists of fast numbers tailor-made for starting circle pits at Europe’s biggest festivals. True to the melodic death metal side of their sound, they are packed full of crushing old-school death metal style guitars and even blast beats. These hit all the harder on tracks like standout “A Whisper From Above” and the crushing “Ten Days In May” for their restrained use, serving to accent particular sections in the band’s already heavy songwriting. Lead single “My Revocation Of Compliance” showcases the best of the band’s more aggressive side, injecting half-time sections which will surely get any crowd moving into trademark 2000s riffing. Heaven Shall Burn show their influences proudly, with a cover of Killswitch Engage’s “Numbered Days” featuring Killswitch vocalist Jesse Leach as a centrepiece on the album’s back half. A well-executed cover, Bischoff’s screams blend flawlessly with Leach’s cleans; it is a fitting tribute to one of metalcore’s most legendary bands, who are no doubt a clear inspiration for the quintet.
Heimat also sees the band embracing a more judicious use of orchestrations and synthesisers to complement their almost entirely guitar driven sound. Dramatic choirs on “War Is The Father Of All” and the pulsating synths on second single “Confounder”, the latter an undoubted highlight of the album, add welcome texture to the 51-minute runtime without outstaying their welcome. “Those Left Behind” features some well-timed synthesisers in its bridge, adding weight and atmosphere to this impactful section; further use of synthesisers throughout the rest of the album would not go amiss. With Heimat’s modern production courtesy of guitarist Dietz relying on wide guitar tracks to fill space, resulting in a typically airy and expansive atmosphere suiting the band’s penchant for anthemic leads, variations in the band’s twin-guitar sound are particularly noticeable and engaging. That said, the album never sounds overly clean, leaning towards warm-sounding rhythm guitars, taut drums and Bischoff’s doubled vocals given an impactful place front and centre in the mix.
Heimat is a product of Heaven Shall Burn at their most defiant, laden with impassioned pleas against the injustices and atrocities being perpetrated in the world. It makes sense, therefore, that the band wields their signature nostalgic sound, which seems to be perennially fresh no matter how many years pass since classic metalcore’s heyday, in such a way as to give their appeals the weight they deserve, producing a vital and unflinchingly honest record in the process.
8/10
Heimat releases on June 27 via Century Media Records and can be pre-ordered here.