If awards were given out for being successful in mainland Europe without ever breaking the UK, Germany’s Heaven Shall Burn would be a relatively safe bet for winning. They’ve been tearing stages apart since the late ‘90s but have yet to make more than a ripple on these shores. They’re well overdue for finding an audience here beyond the folks who venture abroad for festival season, but if there’s an album that’ll change that, ‘Of Truth And Sacrifice’ most likely won’t be it. Not because it’s bad or anything, but because it’s that which all record label sales reps fear: a double album.
If you’re going to release something across two discs, there’s a serious risk of spreading yourself too thin. There have been some quality double albums in the past, but how many folks out there can honestly say they regularly listen to the second half of ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness,’ never mind make it to the end? Sitting through all ‘Of Truth And Sacrifice’ is tough, especially as their idea of a deft touch is removing the knuckle duster before taking a swing at your jawline, so while it’s undeniably impressive, it’s also exhausting.
The first disc is exactly what you’d expect; a straight up rager, full of pit-igniters and righteous fury that’ll satisfy their diehard supporters. Once the introductory John Carpenter Goes Metallic intro track is out the way, they launch into the wanton madness of ‘Thoughts And Prayers,’ an absolute beast and a far cry from the shiny, clear cut metalcore that clutters the airwaves. There’s no clean vocals, the riffs are straight from the Gothenburg school of axe-wielding and listening to it is like being strapped to the jet engine of a 747.
‘Eradicate’ follows and is four and a half minutes of propulsive energy. It’s a heady mix of thrash and deathcore, but played with the enthusiasm of bands half their age. ‘Protector,’ ‘Ubermacht’ and ‘Terminate The Unconcern’ are all cut from a similar cloth, while the brooding ‘My Heart And The Ocean’ is another welcome mosh monster.
In fact, disc one would be a perfectly solid Heaven Shall Burn album all by itself, or at least it would if it wasn’t for the lengthy ‘Expatriate.’ This one goes on for almost nine minutes and sees them playing with the formula, bringing string sections into the mix and coming across like an atmospheric post-rock band giving metal a try. You have to hand it to them for trying a new approach, but it doesn’t gel and is bizarrely, quite boring to listen to, something we never thought we’d say about Heaven Shall Burn.
They carry a similar ethic over onto the second disc, which sees them stretching their boundaries but with inconsistent results. ‘Children Of A Lesser God’ kicks things off with more of their standard fare, packed as it is with exceptional riffage and Marcus Bischoff’s glass gargling screams, but things go more left-field with ‘La Resistance.’ Here, they embrace electronica like never before and in doing so, create a hybrid of death metal and pulsing drum ‘n’ bass. They’ve still got the same unstoppable energy, but it’s done in a distinctly different way and doesn’t turn out as well as you’d hope. It’s an awkward misstep at best and the fact they don’t repeat this style again speaks volumes.
‘The Sorrows Of Majesty’ then channels their inner Goth-kids and while it’s undeniably odd, it does work better than the previous experiment did. There’s a rare clean vocal line and a sombre melodicism, fitting nicely with the heavier moments. The best way to describe it would be as a mash-up of Heaven Shall Burn with Type O Negative and it’s one of the better efforts on disc two.
It is however another long one and by the time it finishes, disc two has gone for almost twenty minutes but is still only three songs in. By itself, it’s been trying, but played straight after the first it’s been a pulverising endurance run. It’s almost a relief when they return to their neck-wrecking best on ‘Stateless’ and ‘Tirpitz,’ the veterans embracing death metal all over again and bringing a welcome dose of familiar energy with it. There’s also the now traditional cover song, the quintet paying tribute to thrash heroes Nuclear Assault with a cover of ‘Critical Mass’ that proves to be very enjoyable indeed.
Elsewhere, there’s another furious slammer in the shape of ‘Eagles Among Vultures’ and the Gothic melodrama of ‘Weakness Leaving My Heart.’ This latter track is surprisingly touching, an extended finale that sees the album out with an emotional finale. It’s amazing how much empathy you can wring from a voice that sounds like a gargoyle trying to hack up a hornets’ nest.
Ultimately though, ‘Of Truth And Sacrifice’ falls victim to the double album curse, despite a valiant attempt to keep things interesting. It makes it easier to treat the first half as the proper album and the second as an odds and sods collection, but truth be told this could probably have been whittled down to one very good, 14-tracker. In its standard form it’s unwieldy and over-ambitious and while there’s still much to love about Heaven Shall Burn, for anyone on the fair shores of Britain looking to get into this Teutonic institution, we’d have to recommend the ‘Antigone’ or ‘Iconoclast’ albums before trying to tackle this monster.
On a final note though, we must highly recommend looking up the video for ‘Eradicate.’ It is by some considerable margin the best music video of the last twelve months.
- ‘Of Truth And Sacrifice’ is released on Friday (20 March). You can get your copy HERE.
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