Heaven Shall Burn - Invictus

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The well known German melodic Death Metal/metalcore band HEAVEN SHALL BURN are ready to release their 6^th studio album. “Invictus”, as it is entitled, is the third and last part of the “Iconoclast” trilogy, following their previous studio album “Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance)” from 2008 and the “Bildersturm: Iconoclast II (The Visual Resistance)” live CD/DVD (2009). Since their debut album HEAVEN SHALL BURN has always released really good and fine material and fortunately “Invictus” is not the exception to this informal rule.

This is an album that you can not really say many things for. The band follows the same musical paths of their recent successful albums such as “Deaf To Our Prayers” and “Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance)” with minor changes. Again they combine melodic Death Metal and metalcore with some pure aggressive Death Metal elements. Everything that made them famous, blastbeats, aggressive and fast guitars combined with melodic riffs and brutal growls are here! Again the lyrics were inspired by historical facts, war, politics and even literature. While listening to the album I caught myself headbanging many times and I must admit that in its entity the album is really enjoyable and flows fluently form one song to the other.

“Invictus” starts and ends with two slow mid-tempo instrumental tracks called “Intro” and “Outro” respectively. The CD virtually starts with “The Omen” which is probably the highlight of the album with guitar riffs and melodies that impress the listener from the first moment. Two very good songs follow, “Sevastopol” and “Return To Sanity”,which talk about two historical and violent Word War 2 battles. “Buried In Forgotten Grounds” is another impressive song talking about Augusto Pinochet and the role ofCIA in South Americaaround this time while “Of Forsaken Poets” is influenced by the poem “Ein Deutscher Dichter Bin Ich Einst Gewesen” by the German poet Max Herrmann-Neisse. The only song that follows a different musical direction is the kind-of ballad “Given In Death” featuring an emotional duet of Sabine Weniger (of DEADLOCK fame) and Marcus Bischoff . Despite being much different from what we are used to by HEAVEN SHALL BURN, “Given In Death” is in my opinion one of the best and most accessible songs of the album.

In general, “Invictus” is a very good album with everything you might want from HEAVEN SHALL BURN. It does not offer anything new to their sound and style but it is still a powerful CD with good ideas, interesting lyrics and will surely satisfy fans of the band and the genre in general. Also I must mention that there will be a limited edition of the album with a bonus track, a wristband, a sticker and a bonus DVD containing a special live performance in Vienna under the motto "Defending Sparta" inspired by the film “300”!