Heaven Shall Burn - Invictus (Iconoclast III)

I’ve been a fan of Heaven Shall Burn since hearing their first split with Caliban back in 2001. Albums like Whatever It May Take and the In Battle There Is No Law (EP) were so incredible that I have been debating whether or not to fly to Germany just to see them. My intensity to make that trip definitely hit a crash when they released Antigone back in 2004. Gone was the Bolt Thrower worship from the previous outings and more cliché melodic metalcore. HSB even opted to experiment with clean vocals and keyboards on that album. It sounded more like a newer In Flames record than a Heaven Shall Burn one.

It appeared that the band received enough negative criticism for that record that they issued a statement prior to the release of 2006’s Deaf To Our Prayers saying “There will be no clean vocals used on this record” (or something to that effect). The album wasn’t a complete return to form but was more in vain of the earlier material than the previous record. The band clung onto the newer melodies but still threw in enough 4th Crusade inspired riffs as to show they didn’t lose it completely.

Now onto the Iconoclast Trilogy:

2008’s Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance) built upon the foundation that Deaf To Our Prayers laid out. The overall styling of the songs was nearly the same format but with better production and chunkier guitar parts, the album came off as if HSB’s music had taken steroids in the two years between albums. Marcus Bischoff was the most ferocious he has ever been over the bands entire career. It was this album that resparked that old craving that I had with this band.

The 2nd part of the trilogy was a live DVD shot during the touring for The Final Resistance and was used to hold the fans over until the band returned to the studio to complete the trilogy.

The new album, which is meant to be the main focus of this review, is mostly just a continuation of the last record. It starts off with a very similar piano & violin melody that leads right into a super heavy opening song. Production, instrument sounds, and vocal performance are all identical to the last record. The big difference this time around is that once again Heaven Shall Burn decided it was a good idea to experiment. Instead of clean vocals and keyboards the band jumped head first into the world of techno beats. They aren’t there all the time but they will make their presence known just enough to make you mad. To make matter worse these parts come in during sections of the song where it doesn’t make sense. The riffs and drumming were perfect without the inclusion of a techno bounce in the background. Most of the time they ruin what is going on as it sounds like there are two separate drummers playing different beats. They create an element of chaos that isn’t needed.

For the most part this record is a very solid outing from these Germans. The techno parts only show up a handful of times and nearly ruin every song they are apart of but the rest of the songs are still fantastic. Outside of the techno beats the only other song I can’t recommend is track 12’s Given In Death which features Sabine and Sebastian from Deadlock. The song features a lot of slow clean breaks with Sabine singing over top of them and even during the heavy parts that Marcus handles, it still doesn’t sound like a Heaven Shall Burn track.

I’d say atleast check this album out. I warn the fans of any era of Heaven Shall Burn’s music to be prepared to be annoyed. The techno parts obviously should not happen and track 12 probably should have been put on a Deadlock album instead. The rest of the album is listenable and can be considered an EP of good material. It’s not a total waste of money but is also not the best sequel to the previous album.