“Will you find your serenity in the things that we could have been?“
Back in 2023, with their debut EP, HEAVENSGATE shone through the Australian metalcore scene like a flare in the night sky. AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE at the time was a standout record, and listening back through it now, it still stands worthy of the reception it received at the time. Tracks such as “GINSICK” and “LOVERSDANCE” were crushing in their emotion, and the likes of “SYMBIOTIC SUICIDE” were unrelenting in their rage. Such an introduction does lead to speculation as to what comes next, and through no fault of their own, the wait for the next chapter in the HEAVENSGATE saga did take some time to emerge, with drip-fed singles following.
Soon followed by the solid single in “VIOLENT JOY“, the next notable turn for HEAVENSGATE was a small “collaboration” with Pincer+, with HEAVENSGATE dropping “RATKING” and Pincer+, “Pulling Strings“, respectively. It continued to air out years-long dirty laundry that everybody, apart from the r/metalcore comments section, had managed to move on from. For what it was worth, it was a good song, yet it did suck out the air of a lot of the excitement around the band. Given the quality of AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE, something similar grandiose would have been expected to follow, rather than tracks about an unpleasant individual who simply does not deserve the time or thought.
The turn of the year brought the start of what would be the next chapter in the HEAVENSGATE story, with a signing to Pure Noise Records and a shift in their production. HEAVENSGATE began showcasing a much coarser and industrial sound, with production and mixing that lent itself to what Bodysnatcher and, to an extent, God Complex had done recently. Moving away from a production that was expansive and gave the track breadth, a harsher sound has come to be. The immediate issue is that it does make what HEAVENSGATE are doing blend further into what their contemporaries are doing, and without the genre shifts that God Complex now presents to make that styling work. It is simply heavy and harsh at times, which does feel very common these days.
With the announcement for A HEART IS A HEAVY BURDEN, HEAVENSGATE did show a noticeable improvement on the single that came with the announcement in “RAIN”. A bigger and beefier sound that matched the feel of the previous EP, with a blunt edge that gives it a distinction from what has come before. This wrath is something that HEAVENSGATE had always been strong at in their own manner, one that feels a step away from heavy hardcore and their contemporaries in the likes of Terminal Sleep, yet with their own styling to it.
As displayed on AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE in the closing moments of “GINSICK” and “LOVERSDANCE“, HEAVENSGATE can do the softer, more heart-strung moments extremely well. With the verse “One of a kind, one in a million, losing my vision, where have you been?” in the latter, still stuck in the mind to this day. Essentially, to be able to pull off such emotion on either side of that soundscape is an attribute that does stick them out from the rest. For HEAVENSGATE to pull it off at such an impressive level, it made the EP further stick with those who had listened through it. The first similar effort on A HEART IS A HEAVY BURDEN comes in the form of “PETRICHOR“, which has the bellowing guitars and Tharatt‘s passionate and huge vocals, but it does just end up feeling rather abstract.
Akin to what Love Is Noise have produced over the years in style, there is not much here to grasp onto. There is no driving moment of “Oh, my darling, I see you now, In thunder clouds on the horizon“; instead, it feels stuck in an ambient loop, barring the break, along with much of these ‘gaze-inspired tracks. This does come after “DARLING BLUE“, which does, on the whole, make a better effort of it. With some neat groove work on the drums, Tharatt again shows their clean vocal abilities. Yet while a pleasant track, it does lack that moment, too. The production, between the softer and heavier tracks, doesn’t have that natural flow or connection of the previous record. It all just feels rather muddy within itself, stomping through a rougher style that simply does not bring out the best of HEAVENGATE‘s sound.
It does ultimately feel difficult to place HEAVENSGATE now after A HEART IS A HEAVY BURDEN. Once arguably one of the most exciting prospects out of Australia and in metalcore, it does feel like the shuffle of it all has left them slightly lost. With their debut in AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE feeling bold and affirmative, A HEART IS A HEAVY BURDEN just feels like one of many records of its kind. While line-up changes and challenges of being a band have not helped, it is difficult not to escape that sense of what could have been with HEAVENSGATE. With whatever comes next, they will hopefully achieve.
7/10
A HEART IS A HEAVY BURDEN is out on 24th October via Pure Noise Records and can be pre-ordered here.