Band: Heaven Shall Burn
Release: Veto (Album)
Release Date: Out Now!
In times gone by, it was commonplace for musicians to express their political views in their music, and to openly extend their backing to their favoured ideologies. Today, artists like Billy Bragg are on the decline, and you’re more likely to think Anti Flag’s militant communism is annoying than praiseworthy.
It’s refreshing, then, to see that there are still bands out there who are keeping this long tradition of socio-political activism alive. After 15 years in the business, and seven studio albums, Heaven Shall Burn are still churning out monolithic works of melodic death metal that are designed to penetrate your skull and pummel the German quintet’s well-reasoned worldview directly into your brain.
Some of the most impressive tracks on ‘Veto’ are those with the strongest social themes – it’s as though the conviction with which Heaven Shall Burn hold their beliefs is what fuels their passion and drives them to craft truly brutal aural barrages.
‘Hunters Will Be Hunted’ is an epic arrangement of galloping riffs, orchestral synth layers and guttural vocal screams in a track that directly supports the work of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to protect marine life.
Similarly, ‘You Will Be Godless’ launches a scathing attack against peddlers of organised religion and, specifically, the Catholic Church. The band’s view that preachers are generally corrupt hypocrites has once again provided the inspiration for the heaviest track on their record.
Guest appearances provide listeners with an insight into the communities and relationships that exist in the music world. On ‘Veto’, Heaven Shall Burn enlist the masterful fingers of guitarists from German thrash outfit Macbeth to lay down the solos on ‘Land Of The Upright Ones’. Born From Pain frontman Dominik Stammen provides guest vocals on ‘Die Stürme rufen Dich’, and (best of all) Hansi Kürsch himself makes an appearance on their cover of Blind Guardian’s ‘Valhalla’.
After a 43-minute journey of moral and historical education, ‘Beyond Redemption’ rounds off the record in style with the most musically diverse piece on the album. Essentially an instrumental track, broken up by a few sparse vocal passages, this reflective number winds down the LP by proving that these angry Germans are capable of creating something laid back and melodic when they feel like it.
Over the course of their long and distinguished career, Heaven Shall Burn have become experts in delivering frenetic, politically aware extreme metal – this record does not break that tradition, and is essentially what you would expect from a band of this calibre.
7/10
Reviewer: Solomon Radley
