Source: Album Artwork
It has been a little while since Reading & Leeds Festival now. However the permanent scorching of our musical reputation after the painful inurement of both Boy Better Know and Die Antwoord is one we thought we would never recover from.
However, Lord behold that we have found a remedy to our musical ailment, a record that has restored the destructive beauty into our collective blackened souls. Of course we’re talking about Wanderer from Saalfeld metal militia –Heaven Shall Burn.
We fell in love with this record immediately in all honesty. From the brutally beautiful first blast of ‘Downshifter’, we knew that Wanderer would be bringing some colossal cards to the table, and oh boy were we right. ‘Bring The War Home’ was more charming than a youthful Rod Stewart, with an opening riff so powerful we found ourselves immediately impregnated with a metal screaming hell foetus.
Vocally, Heaven Shall Burn’s Marcus Bischoff has exceeded himself this time around. So much so to be brought up in conversation alongside names such as Winston McCall and Randy Blythe, which is an impressive feat in itself. There’s just so much raw power and throat stripping energy throughout, with tracks like ‘Save Me’ and ‘A River Of Crimson’ acting like war cries to us, an army of loyal subjects.
Wanderer is incredibly well balanced. Incorporating both blissfully heavy and slower more melodic sections into what is in its entirety a balls to the wall high-octane thrill. Put it this way ‘My Heart Is A Compass’, could be retitled ‘Remember To Breathe’, as the rest of the track list doesn’t leave much room for it.
The whole record is just an exquisite piece of musical engineering. With each track being a technical masterpiece full of solos, double bass and treacle thick chugging bass lines. Just look at both ‘They Shall Not Pass’ and ‘Extermination Order’ if you don’t believe us.
To summarize then, we’ve had a cracking time with this record. Wanderer, is a record we’ll continue to listen to for a long while and one that, in our opinion, deserves a shit ton of recognition and praise. Heaven Shall Burn, get your asses to the UK and tour the life out of this record, and while on the subject of tours. How tasty does a Whitechapel, Heaven Shall Burn and Lamb Of God tour sound? We can dream.
