Veto

To me, the music of Heaven Shall Burn would easily be described as an explosive, vitriolic, venomous, and a downright awesomely powerful blend of melodic death metal and hardcore/metalcore, and the results that this five piece outfit from Germany deliver are just nothing short of awesome. The band's seventh album from 2013, "Veto" is a very highly explosive, monstrous, intense, brutal and downright devastating album that is extremely enjoyable from start to finish, and is very heavy and melodic on every imaginable level ever thought of. This is a pure heart-stomping, gut-pounding, head-banging experience when in that first moment when you hear the first blasting song right from your speakers, you know you're in for one seriously explosive and heavy hitting thrillride with this album here. Trust me, this is an album that doesn't show absolutely any kind of mercy whatsoever. While "Veto" doesn't incorporate absolutely any no clean singing vocals for that matter, it does however intertwine in just enough melody especially in the dueling guitars courtesy of Maik Weichert of Alexander Dietz to make things here very memorable. The guitar work on this album here is just extremely flawless as both Weichert and Dietz pound out one abundance of brutally heavy, blistering, crushing, thrashing riffs and unbelievably soaring and stunning melodies and leads, and awesome breakdowns after the next on each track. Meanwhile, drummer Matthias Voight pummels and pounds his way through each track with his super brutal double bass and explosive drum beats with relentless execution and precision, while bassist Eric Bischoff rumbles his way throughout with his relentless bass playing, and of course, vocalist Marcus Bischoff tops everything off here with his vicious, screeching, soaring, no-nonsense, throat-ripping screams which are good enough to rip the listener's throat out. All in all, everyone here is in absolute fine form on this album. The album's opening track, "Godiva" is easily one of the album's biggest standouts as it starts with a splendidly nice and clean, melodic intro before kicking the doors down with all guns-a-blazing with a furious and ruthless assault of pounding double bass drums, blazingly fast, heavy, melodic riffs and soaring melodies and harmonies, and brutal, raspy, dissonant, throat-lacerating hardcore induced screaming abound throughout this incredible opener of a track. Definitely one of my favorites. Also for a fun fact, I learned that "Godiva" lyrically is about Lady Godiva whom was an 11th Century noblewoman, that according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry, in England, covering herself only with her long hair, to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband imposed on his tenants, and not to also mention that the album's cover art also happens to feature a John Collier painting of the Lady Godiva as well which is also really cool. Following that, we have the second track, "Land of the Upright Ones" which is another blazing and thunderous onslaught of violently furious and brutally fast riffing, plus a short, yet sweet, ripping and screaming guitar solo in the beginning, along with ruthless, blistering, thrashing double bass blasting, and savagely angry vocals, meanwhile track three, "Die Sturme Rufen Dich" is highlighted by some really cool, slow and atmospheric, techno/industrial-like intros/outros, and also features yet more brutal, heavy, teeth-grinding riffage and catchy, soaring melodic leads, brutal throat-shredding screams, and thundering double kick percussioning as well. Following that, we have track four, "Fallen" which is another ferocious, straight-ahead thrashing blaster which is bolstered by more straight-ahead blistering, fiery, razor-sharp riffing, thunderous grooves, and mean, vicious, thrashing double bass drumming, blistering screams, and is also highlighted by a very memorable chorus as well. Definitely another highlight for sure. Moving forward, we have another huge standout in track five, "Hunters Will Be Hunted" which is my absolute favorite song on the album here that starts with a nice, clean, atmospheric and melodic guitar intro (pretty much like how the first song "Godiva" starts), before smacking you in the chops with an onslaught that is fueled by beefy, galloping rhythms, heavy duty, twin-guitar chugging and more awesome soaring melodic leads, and beefy, thrashing, pounding double bass blasts, and savage screams abound, and elsewhere, track six, "You Will Be Godless" is a serious, heavy hitting number that just smacks the listener right in the face with a ferociously pummeling assault complete with beefy, heavy, chugging, gut-pounding riffage, vicious, blasting beats and pummeling double bass slamming, and heavy, throat-ripping screams and growls from Marcus throughout. Next up, the album's seventh track, "Valhalla" (which is a Blind Guardian cover song) is yet another huge standout track on here and one of my favorites. This is an excellent cover song that is heavily anchored by a relentless cascade of blistering, blazing thrash-induced riffing and awesomely breathtaking and soaring, fiery, blazing melodic leads and solos, along with fast, booming, blasting double bass thuds, plus some very memorable vocal patterns throughout, and also features guest vocals from Hansi Kursch, plus some epic choir vocals as well which add to the song's blistering epicness. The album's following cut, "Antagonized" is also another blisteringly heavy and thrashing, blasting number that borderlines on a super heavy-duty barrage of blistering and menacing, machine-gun-like double bass kicking and thrashing blast beats from drummer Matthias Voight, along with fast, chugging, bonesaw-grinding riffage and vicious, soaring screams and growls from Marcus throughout. The following cut, that being track nine, "Like Gods Among Mortals" is another awesome, solid song that slows things down a bit as it contains more slowly, restrained drum beats mostly throughout, yet features some great machine-gun-like double bass kicking, along with savagely blistering, chainsaw-fast guitar riffing and picking, plus some deliciously catchy and stunning melodic leads, as well as more soaring, throat-tearing screams and roars as well, and meanwhile, the album's next song, "53 Nations" is highlighted by some positively catchy and bone-crushing, chugging, mosh-worthy riff work, plus it also includes some more beefy, stomping drums and great double bass kick fills, and more of Marcus' amazing vocal deliveries. Then following that, we have the album's closing track, "Beyond Redemption" which has seriously become one of my favorite Heaven Shall Burn songs as of late, and is also mostly a beautifully atmospheric and haunting instrumental venture and an excellent one at that which features some nicely restrained, clean melodic guitar strings, and beautifully soaring melodic leads and solos, along with some nice and steady, slow drumming being peppered throughout this song as well, and the song doesn't feature any vocals until near the end where there is a small screaming verse which is featured. Definitely an amazing song. I love it. We're also treated with a bonus track entitled "European Super State" which boasts a very catchy and upbeat, techno/industrial-ish synth driven vibe throughout, along with crunchy guitars, and driving, thumping drum beats, and also features some catchy vocal patterns that also includes guest female vocals courtesy of Katharina Radig as well, plus a very catchy and memorable chorus is also featured to boot as well. Also, for an added bonus, we're also treated with a bonus second disc called 500.Live that includes 15 classic HSB songs recorded and performed live in Saalfeld, Germany on December 21st, 2012. All in all, I personally found "Veto" to be an absolute monstrous, heart-stomping, hair-raising, living room thrashing, metal thrillride that is extremely enjoyable from start to finish, and it also shows that Heaven Shall Burn have shown a lot of growth and maturity without sacrificing their trademark sound, yet they're able to move outside of the box and do some different things yet maintain that heavy, metallic hardcore aggression. There is certainly not one single bad moment on this album whatsoever, and there's also seriously no question that "Veto" is easily one of HSB's strongest and tightest albums in their album cannon, and it also happens to be my personal favorite HSB album, well maybe "Antigone" and "Deaf to Our Prayers" both come pretty close. Well anyways, I highly recommend this amazing album to any fan of Heaven Shall Burn, metalcore/hardcore, melodic death metal, or just metal period...BUY IT NOW!!! HORNS UP!!! \m/ \m/ Jeremy

Recently I have been listening to quite a bit of Caliban. After doing a little research I found HSB had done a couple of split albums with Caliban. I decided to give this album a try and was pleasantly surprised. Closest I could describe HSB would be a mix of As I Lay Dying, Parkway Drive, and Devil Driver. While this album does not incorporate any clean vocals as most of the modern metal albums in this genre do, they prove you do not need to have a gutteral, clean, gutteral sound to bring in some harmonies. They instead make great use of the dueling guitarists, similar to old AILD, to give harmonies to the songs. I unfortunately can not give a comparison of this album to their older catelog since this is my first time listening to HSB. If you are looking for a great way to get to know this band I recommend the deluxe version on amazon mp3 due to fact it includes a second live cd that has many of what I can assume are their older fan favorites. The live disk is recorded quite well and makes me want to purchase some of their older albums. 26 songs for $7...you can't go wrong! I did not get bored with this album and found quite a few gems in here. My favorite song is Godiva, which is track one. What a way to draw you into an album! They make great use of a clean intro riff then just smacks you in the face and does not let up! Hunters will be Hunted follows in the same footsteps and is another standout. They show their heavier side with You will be Godless. This is the only song like this on this album and is in the vein of Upon a Burning Body. Though it seems out of place with rest of album, it has turned into a song I jump to everytime I put this album on! They close the album with the slowest song on the album that is an instrumental of sorts similar to Metallica Orion in style with a small verse near the end. A perfect end to a great album! After listening to this album I can understand why HSB has been around since the 90s. They are good at the style of metal they play and keep it entertaining! I highly recommend this album, especially if you are a fan of Caliban, AILD, DevilDriver, and Parkway Drive.

A very enjoyable listen from start to finish. I've been listening to this band from the beginning, and while every album of theirs has been a pulse-pounding, room thrashing experience, their last album Invictus sounded a bit similar to Iconoclast. Not necessarily a bad thing, and perhaps that was intentional as Iconoclast was a 3-part series, but the subtle changes in songwriting and technical ability of the musicians in Veto is exactly what I was hoping to hear when I blasted this gem through my speakers. The album as a whole seems to have a slight mid 90's melodic death metal influence to it (can hear some In Flames and a bit of At The Gates sneaking their way in). To me, it seems as if they took the best of Whatever It May Take, Antigone, and Deaf to Our Prayers had, and created a hybrid called Veto. One of the tightest albums in their inventory, it's been on repeat play on my Ipod since I bought it weeks ago.

Heaven Shall Burn seems to have grown up some in their latest album without sacrificing their trademark aggression. The driving beat and aggressive vocals we all know and love have been supplemented with more melodic, up-tuned guitar work. It reminds me more of Weapon They Fear and Voice of the Voiceless than the more brutal (though just as good) Combat. Hunters Will Be Hunted is one of the best tracks, and one should definitely watch its music video!

Somehow this latest album was my first exposure to Heaven Shall Burn, and I've been blasting out my ear drums with it for days on end! Brutal from front to back. The Live disc is killer as well. Already ordered several more from this band. Get Some!

The kind of music that Germany's Heaven Shall Burn is often sub-categorized (one might even say "abbreviated") as "deathcore," a misleading term when considering that HSB's sound is actually a corrosive, explosive, and vitriolic blend of all things heavy, namely death metal, grind, black metal, hard/metalcore, and even a little bit of melodeath. This fact has not been exemplified more clearly than on the band's latest, seventh full-length offering, 2013's "Veto." The end result is an explosive and monstrous album that utilizes absolutely no clean vocals or keyboards, and intertwines in only just enough melody to be memorable. And, on the whole, this musical product sounds assailable to the likes of modern-day Napalm Death mixed with early Bolt Thrower. And some Fear Factory, Earth Crisis, Carcass, Hatebreed, Arch Enemy, Krisiun, At The Gates, and Dimmu Borgir elements are fused into the mix, here, too. The album begins with all guns blazing, as "Godiva" is a furious attack of raspy, dissonant, hardcore-inflected vocal stylings, blasting drums, and blazing guitars, thus evoking some Black Dahlia Murder stuff. And next comes "Land Of The Upright Ones," another thunderous romp of ferocious buzzsaw riffing, thrashy, walloping skins, and rabid, ultra-visceral, foaming at the mouth vocals. The noteworthy slow, atmospheric, and even techno=industrial-lite intros/outros of the almost Rammstein-ish "Die Sturm Ruten Dich" are a welcome inclusion, as they break up the album's same-y soundingness, but the succeeding "Fallen" picks up right where "Land Of..." had left off, with thunderous grooves, pounding thrash beats, and blistering, razorwire picking. "Hunters Will Be Hunted" plays like a piece of full-on Eighties thrash metal, as it is fueled by Slayer-approved twin-guitar chugging; but "Valhalla" is an even bigger standout. It is a Blind Guardian cover song, and one that is home to a seemingly never-ending cascade of thrash riffs (anchored by booming blast beats), and unorthodoxly melodic guitar leads/soloing. It also boasts really memorable vocal patterns, including some almost operatic-sounding backing vocals in the song's choruses. With that said, though, it is actually the drummer, Matthias Voigt, that stands out the most in "Antagonized," and he does so by uncorking a deluge of motoring, machine-gunning double bass kicks and blasts. But that is not the case for the next two tracks, "Like Gods Among Mortals" or "53 Nations." The former of these two tunes has blistering, chainsaw-fast guitar picking tearing throughout; and the latter has very catchy and positively moshable staccato chugging. And as one final standout, check out "Beyond Redemption," a mostly instrumental venture with a restrained string arrangement and nicely melodic and soaring guitar leads and solos. "Veto" is definitely too monotonous to be completely or thoroughly noteworthy, but when taken as a whole, it is another very remarkable effort from Heaven Shall Burn, Germany's second finest death metal band (they are second only to Necrophagist). And even the most casual of metalheads should find it to be nothing if not exhilarating and satisfying.

Pretty much melodeath gold. If you don't own it, i'd advise not admitting that to anyone. We all need a good friend to intervene once and awhile. I really think you owe it to your community to play this really loud while in your car.

This is the best of my collection to date. The live stuff is excellent! I wish they would come to town so I could see them in person.