Heaven Shall Burn - Iconoclast

June 30, 2008

Reviewer: Jesse

For the third time in the last four years, I found myself coming home from the record store with the new Heaven Shall Burn album and like last time, I didn’t even know they had a new release out.  Ever since I heard them for the first time on Antigone, I’ve been strangely drawn to their brand of intense melodic metalcore that straddles the fence-line of death metal.  I say “strangely” because given my taste in metal, I really shouldn’t like this band.  They have several qualities that generally turn me off to this genre.  The open endorsement of roundhouse kicking and the painfully generic ‘core vocals are the two most notable flies in the soup.  They even lifted a pretty well-known Carcass riff in the song “Like a Thousand Suns” and no one would ever accuse me of being part of the riff rip-off Gestapo, so if I noticed it, then it must be incredibly obvious.

Now, that said, Heaven Shall Burn have a great talent for creating very memorable songs that are intense as all hell and very heavy and despite the vocals, I can’t stop listening to them.  Of course, maybe the fact that they aren’t wildly popular and aren’t shoved down my throat in every metal rag could have something to do with it.  Plus their name is one of my favorite Marduk albums and there is a welcome lack of breakdowns as well.

Iconoclast is by far the best of the past three albums in which they have been steadily progressing year after year.  Hearkening back to Antigone, they again open the album with a beautiful instrumental intro with a piano and a lush string section that bleeds into the first song “Endzeit.”  “Endzeit” is a song that I would be scared to be in the mosh pit for.  With the amount of ninja-kicking and flailing arms that I’m sure are rampant at one of their live shows, I don’t see how anyone is left standing after this song.  So powerful and the double bass is insane.

There is an outstanding amount of variety on this album considering the style.  Antigone and Deaf to Our Prayers got boring rather quickly, Antigone more so.  Don’t get me wrong, the intensity is still there, but the catchiness takes a dive after a few songs.  Iconoclast has really shown me that these guys are quite talented and use a wide array of styles and hooks.  On display is everything from an electronica segment to an undistorted lead guitar section that borders on acoustic to letting the bassist go wild on a few songs.  In fact, I’m positive that the bass player just has a blast in this band.  They even covered an Edge of Sanity song.  The guitars leave a little to be desired as they’re generally very structured and not much personality, but as long as it works for what they’re trying to do, then I guess I can’t really complain.  A solo every once in a while wouldn’t hurt though.

In the end, Heaven Shall Burn have really created quite a beast of an album that is an intensely good time. I’m so pleased in the more progressive approach they took in this album.  Ok now, all the prog-heads reading this, don’t misunderstand.  No one would ever confuse Iconoclast for a prog album.  I just mean that they have ventured out of the box to an extent that really showcases their songwriting ability in a way that I haven’t heard from them.  I’m glad that I took a chance on this band back in 2004 and I’m glad that that strange attraction I have for their music hasn’t let me leave the record store without buying their albums.

Release Date: February 2008
Label: Century Media Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Awoken
2.  Endzeit
3.  Like A Thousand Suns
4.  Murderers of the Murderers
5.  Forlorn Skies
6.  A Dying Ember
7.  Joel
8.  Quest for Resistance
9.  Black Tears
     (Edge of Sanity Cover)
10 . The Bombs of My Saviours
11.  Against All Lies
12.  The Disease
13.  Equinox
14.  Atonement

Total playing time: 58:17

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