“Are they still going?” was my initial reaction when seeing that Heaven Shall Burn have released a new album. In fact, they started out in 1996, since when they have touched on but haven’t been an integral part of my musical life. “Veto” is album number 7 from the Germans.
It’s perhaps not surprising in view of their experience that this is big and tight. Power and authority pour out of this in vast quantities like water out of a leaking pipe. After the initial, impressive pomp, the melodic death metal onslaught is launched with “Land of the Upright Ones”. It’s clean, metal and festival-friendly but by goodness, it’s got punch. And what a scream from the vocalist. The headbanging experience is total. It’s all completely in time. There re no deviations but there’s no compromise and it’s catchy too. The drums thunder through it like a horseman charging through the night. Accomplished as it is, it’s perhaps too clean, but it’s early days. The movement is excellent and it’s anthemic with the slogans to match: “This life, this future, we bring a new foundation”. The war machine continues with “Die Stűrme Rufen Dich” (The Storms Call You). The pattern of battery and pace is familiar already. There’s almost an element of hardcore in the chorus. It works well. Always there’s a wall of sound. The intensity continues with “Fallen”, another decent metal song in which the vocalist makes his contribution to the spread of war. Strong riffs, riotous scenes, compact songs with melody and tight instrumentals abound. There’s a bit of keyboard work on “Hunters Will be Hunted” before the undiluted thunderous firepower is cranked up on “You Will Be Godless”. The death metal style is dominant.
It was always interesting to know how this album was going to develop. Was it going to remain in the same style throughout, which would perhaps be uninteresting after a while, or would “Veto” take on a new character? Well, the energy remains the same, which is good, but from “Valhalle” I detected an almost pagan element in the chorus as if Finntroll had put in a guest appearance. For me, this doesn’t work. It needed a more balanced soft / hard tone and Heaven Shall Burn don’t do soft so the chorus of “Valhalle” just sounds raucous. To its credit, there is an air of majesty which there hasn’t been so far. Triggering drums feature in the next song “Antagonized”, but overall I’d say this was typical as a track rather than spectacular or original. “Like Gods Among Mortals” is slower with more accentuated growls. There’s a kind of melancholy which is dominated and outdone by a fierce riff. This track reminded me a little of Mors Principium Est’s “Into Illusion”, but whilst I appreciated the variation from the norm, it didn’t really work for me. “53 Nations” was more successful, with its industrial feel and a welcome air of mystery in its progression which as been missing. This reminded me of Hypocrisy. The imbalance which seemed to take place between the first few tracks and the strange array of styles and experiments which followed was emphasised with the last track “Beyond Redemption”. A long and inviting instrumental piece was then taken over by an explosive and power packed section, but instead of leaving us on a high note, another section of mellow guitar work, at least by the standards of this album, was presented at the end. “Beyond Redemption” would have been better in the middle of this album and would have provided a break between two sets of musical composition.
I enjoyed this album but whilst appreciating the attempt to introduce new elements from “Valhalla” onwards, it didn’t really work for me. I much preferred the first six tracks, pure and consistent as they were. Yes, Heaven Shall Burn have been around for years. They know what to do, they follow all the rules of melodic death metal and do it well. They could be accused of following a formula, and whilst the tracks are not identikit, there are similarities. So although I wasn’t overwhelmed by “Veto” as a whole, there are some great quality songs here which are characterised by their strength and power.
(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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