Chosen by Monk

There perhaps could be no more apposite or appropriate time for the release of this, the epic lead track off the just released first album in five years from the Thuringian melocore maestros. At a time when the world is plunging deeper and deeper into turmoil, Heaven Shall Burn return to the front line with their own, much more friendly but no less forceful, weapons of mass destruction: words, riffs and powerful message-laden songs.

Directly inspired by the ongoing war in Ukraine (and suitably featuring a choir of Ukrainian singers), this latest single takes its title from the words of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who said over 2,500 years ago: “war is the father of all things and the king of all”. Tragically, the band see the idea experiencing a troubling renaissance today.

I grew up behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany, says guitarist Maik Weichert.

For those of us who value peace, it’s a hard truth that the Cold War – with its arms race and nuclear deterrents – may have preserved peace more effectively than any international treaties. “If you hit me, I hit back harder”: that seems to resonate more with human nature than the wish for peace on Earth. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

The song’s theme and inspiration permeates the entire album – a philosophical exploration of war in all its aspects – which is framed by three orchestral pieces: the introductory ‘Ad Arma’, the mid-album  interlude Imminence’ and closer ‘Inter Arma’. With the former meaning “to arms” and the latter “in times of war”, the passages echo the album’s prescient description of war as a constant in human history.

For us, those titles are meant to metaphorically arm our listeners with thoughts, Weichert explains.

The idea is to help people see war for what it truly is: destruction unleashed by despots, with no real winners. War is uncontrollable by nature – and will always end up consuming even those who think they command it. But we also wanted to explore the ambiguities in how war is understood philosophically.

To put it simply: billion-dollar arms companies are getting rich again because, at this stage in human development, militarization seems to be the only way left to maintain peace.

The album’s title, ‘Heimat’ is the German for “home/homeland/native land” – an often misused term that merely refers to a relationship between people and spaces but has nevertheless always been highly emotionally charged, especially in recent times. Weichert comments:

’Heimat’ is not meant as the narrow-minded end point in the sense it has been used by agitators and populists, but the starting point for observations and perspectives. The album is about a much wider sense of the term ‘Heimat’: the homelands for many different people and also about the spiritual home, something that shapes and determines our thoughts and actions.

  • ‘Heimat‘ is out now via Century Media.