German
metallers Heaven Shall Burn have been around for quite some time and after
releasing "Invictus (Iconoclast III)" which was part of a trilogy.
The bad had gone out on the road in promotion and just getting their music out
to the fans that have always been there for them. The band also discusses the
album's sound, goals, and who is Heaven Shall Burn for those who may not be
aware.
1.
First, why are you the one that always gets stuck when it comes to the
interviews, that’s what I noticed?
Actually you´re
very lucky haha. Usually I am, just“doing
phoners and our drummer Matthias takes care of mail interviews. But you´re
right I do most of the interviews. That is because I write all the lyrics and
the songs as well.
2.
Can you give me a brief summary on how the band came to be, how the name came
to be, and anything else you'd like to toss in?
We´re
five friends playing together rehearsing twice a week and always writing new
material. We chose the name Haven Shal Burn as a statement against false dreams
and illusions. One should face reality, so “Heaven”
is a picture for a false paradise, that people promise themselves. The band
name is not a satanic statement.
3.
What were the goals you had in mind when you started to record “Invictus (Iconoclast III)", any
elements you definitely wanted to have on the album? How does it compare to
Part's 1 and 2?
Well part 2 was a DVD
so I guess the difference is quite obvious hehe. But after the great success of
the previous record, we wanted to clarify, that there is no commercial stuff
coming up, no effeminacy, and no whimper. I know many people expected HSB to go
more commercial, but that would have been a great disappointment for our real
and true fans, so we tried to record our most aggressive album so far. I guess
if you´re a fan of the band
you can tell after 10 sec. that this is the new HSB album and that is exactly
what we wanted. There is new stuff happening on the record, but in a way that
is a logical development.
4.
What about the sound of the new record, how would you describe the musical
direction you are going with this record?
As this is the third
part of a Trilogy we did not look for a whole new sound and we´re
really happy with the set up we had for the previous record, so we’re
more focused more on the way we played our instruments and stuff, that was the
main improvement this time I guess. If you have somebody like Tue Madsen doing
the mixing production, you do not have to worry about the sound anyway!
5.
How about the fans how have they been reacting to the new material, you
released two songs on your MySpace page, "The Omen", and
"Combat" which to me the intro of "Combat" sounds like an
upbeat techno song you'd dance to at a club.
As first song to be
revealed via MySpace we chose “The
Omen”, which is typical HSB
that jumps right into your face. Reactions were very good, but a few people
thought it was too much HSB even for HSB haha. But that is exactly the
statement we wanted to give - that nobody has to worry we would chance our
style too much. Second song on MySpace was Combat and this song is quite
different from what we did in the past. But here reactions were overwhelming
and even then few people who were a bit bored by The Omen were raving about
Combat. We did some electro-beat stuff in the past already, but ´never
as offensive and obvious as in Combat but it adds a really cool and brutal new
dimension tour sound.
6.
What songs and bands do you listen to?
That is so much,
really too many to name. But We listen a lot to Black Metal, Hardcore and
Melodic Death Metal. But also Rammstein, Kraftwerk and Ministry are among our
faves.
7.
How about you, Maik? How long have you been playing guitar? What got you
interested in the instrument in the first place?
I did start pretty
late with playing guitar, I guess I was like 18. But I was always interested in
music. I realized that people take notice of songs and lyrics a lot easier than
of flyers and articles for example. So voicing my opinion with a guitar in my
hand was just a more efficient way telling people what I was thinking. And that
is still what HSB is about. Music is the missile and our lyrics are the
warheads.
8.
So there is a red line that runs through all the songs, can you tell us more
about the lyrics?
The red line you´re
talking about is the intension that we want to tell stories about well known
heroes from a different point of view. So many legacies have been abused for
wrong political aims in the past. And on the other hand we´re
also telling stories about unknown heroes, people you´ve
maybe heard the name somewhere but you don´t
know the story behind it. But it´s not
only about certain persons it´s
also about myths and legends that need to be seen in the right light.
9.
What do you and the other members of Heaven Shall Burn do outside of your
careers in the band?
We´re
all was doing something besides the band. Our drummer Matthias studies
economics, our singer Marcus is a nurse, our bass player Erica therapist, our
guitarist Alex has his own recording studio and I am a jurist on university.
10.
Is the music written independently from the lyrics or do you try to reflect
lyrical ideas through the music?
Usually Lyrics and
music are written separately, but once in a while it happens we try to express
a very strong emotions also music wise, like in the song “given
in death” on
Invictus for example.
11.
Has Heaven Shall Burn had the opportunity to perform at all of the European
festivals it has to offer?
Of course not, there
are porn festivals and gothic festivals, Bratwurst Festivals and Reggae
festivals – do
you think we would rock the house there, haha I guess not! But regarding metal
festivals, we did play everywhere and it was great. The highlight was of course
Wacken Festival for the third time last year. It´s
hard for a German band to get on the bill for the big events in UK like
Download for example, but we´re
working on it!
12.
When can we expect to see you guys touring in the U.S.?
Hopefully soon, we had
a lot of fun on our last US tour!
13.
What does the rest of 2010 have in store for you guys?
Right after the
release of Invictus we´re
staring the festival season. Also some mainstream festivals this year, which
will be very interesting, so looking forward to giving some pop-punk kids some
metal. After the festival season there will be an Asia trip, Japan, Korea,
China, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan. And for fall 2010 we´re
working on a European tour right now.
14.
Any final words for the readers and your fans?
Check out our new
stuff and also read the lyrics! Let us know what you think about the new
record! Sorry for typos and stuff like that, English is not my mother tongue
you know.
15.
Thanks a lot for the interview!
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