Heaven Shall Burn-Iconoclast Album Review

In the beginning when Metalcore was a new thing I really did enjoy the genre. At The Gates, Caliban, Killswitch Engage and the like were innovative. Bands like these took the heaviness and technicality of death/thrash metal, hardcore style breakdowns and combined it with melody and some cleaner singing parts. It seemed like a good formula but boy oh boy have I grown tired of this genre. Heaven Shall Burn was indeed a pioneer of the Metalcore genre but on their latest album Iconoclast, I don’t hear much growth. Iconoclast definitely is much heavier than your typical Metalcore release but not much about the album stands out. The musicianship is top notch and the band displays pretty much non stop heaviness throughout the album but, these days with so many bands, it takes a special element to stand out which I believe Iconoclast lacks.

Oh and another thing, guys please stop with the 90 second piano/electronic intro to the album. It’s been done far too many times and it only makes me want to skip the track. And I’m not just talking to Heaven Shall Burn (you know who you are). That is admittedly a minor nitpick so lets move on to some good points of Iconoclast shall we?

As noted before, the musicianship is excellent. These guys are fairly technical while staying heavy and some what catchy. In my opinion, the drummer is excellent and his work definitely stands out on Iconoclast. The production is clear and chunky and not the muddied mess that you get with a lot of the heavier bands these days. You’ll get the usual fare of blistering twin guitars, tons of double bass and, heavy, sinister sounding vocals. Overall it is a good metal album but what does it lack…?

Iconoclast lacks an identity of its own. There is nothing particularly bad about the album except for the fact that it doesn’t possess that element, whatever it may be that grabs the listener’s attention. Fans of Heaven Shall Burn will no doubt embrace this album as it is a lot more of what they appreciate about the band but, casual listeners or first timers may dismiss it as yet another Metalcore/Deathcore album. I’ve always thought the band has put out solid releases but this one just seems to miss the mark with me. I actually prefer their 2004 release Antigone. Don’t consider this review a bashing of Heaven Shall Burn because it’s not, it is merely one mans opinion that a band of this caliber that’s been together for almost 10 years now would release a more memorable and listenable album. Not by any means is it bad but it is far from excellent. 6/10

Webmaster Recommendation: Heaven Shall Burn-Antigone

Metalcore, The Scourge Of Metal?

Ask any old school heavy metal fan what’s wrong with music today and they will inevitably say “metalcore”. What is metalcore you ask, let me explain. Metalcore is basically heavy metal and hardcore mixed together with equal doses of eye liner, girl pants and angst thrown in for good measure. Is all metalcore bad? No it is not. Some notable metalcore bands are Trivium, Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying. My main gripe with this type of music is lack of identity. The market is so flooded with metalcore these days that I couldn’t tell you at any given time whether Im listening to an album by August Burns Red or The Devil Wears Prada. On the surface there’s nothing wrong with the idea of metalcore as it incorporates many of the finer elements of music such as breakdowns, dual guitar harmonies, aggression and lots and lots of that good ol double bass pedal. Let’s go back a few years shall we? In 1995, Swedish metal band At The Gates released the album “Slaughter of the Soul” which is arguably the definitive metalcore album. At the time the sound was fresh and exciting to metal fans because it couldn’t really be pigeon holed in any one genre such as death metal or black metal. It was ground breaking to say the least but ultimately paved the way for many, many copycats. Now in the year 2007 the style has been beaten to death, resurrected and subsequently beaten to death yet again. Bottom line, the sound is not fresh or innovative anymore people. How many staccato break downs, pseudo thrash guitar riffs or wannabe Dave Mustaine guitar “solos” can you hear before you’ve heard them all? Oh and for the record, a lot of people claim that Killswitch Engage are pioneers of metalcore while in all truth, not even considering At The Gates, Germany’s Caliban was here first. Check out Shadow Hearts by Caliban and you will see what real metalcore is supposed to sound like. Here’s the good news, the masses have finally caught on to the bs and it appears that metalcore is on the way out and good old fashioned Metal is on the rise. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some metalcore as noted above but at this point it’s so stagnant and repetitive I really can’t see anything new being done with the genre. Metalcore, at one time you were exciting and we really had some great times but these days, I think it would be better for the both of us if you moved on. So to all you fan boys out there, stay away from your mommys make up, get a girlfriend, throw on some Megadeth, have a beer and you just may be able to save yourself…maybe.