Ahead of their recent UK shows, Planet Loud had a quick chat to Matthias from German metallers Heaven Shall Burn about their awesome new album, Iconclasts.
Planet Loud – Hey guys, thanks for your time. How are things today?
Heaven Shall Burn – We’re doing great. The album just got released and the feedback couldn’t be better.
Planet Loud – We’re early into 2008, how would you sum up last year for Heaven Shall Burn?
Heaven Shall Burn – Actually we didn’t play that many shows, but one more time we got the chance to play shows in Japan and in South America. It’s always cool to play so far away from home and get a warm welcome. We’re always eager to meet new people and make new friends. I guess that’s the best part of being in a band. Other than that we played some shows here and there and played a couple of festivals during summer. I think the show at Wacken was the highlight. In summer we also started to record the new album. So it had been a quite busy year for HSB.
Planet Loud – What are your aims and hopes for 2008?
Heaven Shall Burn – We’ll see what the album will bring. We have lots of touring in our agenda for 2008 and we’re happy that we’re going to play our first North American tour ever. We’ll also play a couple of shows in the UK. So watch out!
Planet Loud – You’re starting off 2008 pretty well with your awesome new album, what did you want to achieve with it?
Heaven Shall Burn – We just wanted to release another album that we like and that we can be proud of. So far we really like it and people also seem to dig it. So it couldn’t be better.It’s quite easy: in first place we have to like it and we need a good feeling when everything’s done.
Planet Loud – Are you happy with the way it has turned out?
Heaven Shall Burn – Yeah, we’re absolutely happy with the way things turned out, nothing to complain until now. If there’s anything that we don’t like on that album, I can tell you in one year or something like that. Right now we’re still too close to have real opinion about it. But right now, it feels very good.
Planet Loud – What was the writing process like? How long did you spend working on the album?
Heaven Shall Burn – You can’t really tell when it started. We’re trying new things in the rehearsal room all the time. It’s just that the songs just get written right before we go to the studio. After we entered the studio, it took like one and a half month until everything was mixed and mastered. But we didn’t spend the whole time in the studio. Sometimes we just took some days off and other days we only worked for 3 or 4 hours. So it was quite easy going. We also interrupted the recording sessions to play a couple of shows in Japan.
Planet Loud – The album is called Iconoclasts – could you tell us a bit about the story behind the title?
Heaven Shall Burn – If you would look after in some book, you would find many explanations of the word “Iconoclast”. Iconoclasts are “warriors” who are destroying religious symbols. Some are doing it, because they say that there is no way to picture God. We are talking about Iconoclasts who are destroying these symbols because they see people abusing them to gain power. In today’s society you can see many false leaders or false idols. Religious or spiritual symbols are created to mislead people. “Our” Iconoclasts are destroying the symbols because of that. In our times you don’t need a sword to fight wrong ideals or wrong idols and it’s not just about religion. Also politicians are using things to mislead people. You can fight these things just by questioning authorities in general.
Planet Loud – Religion and War are big themes on the album, do you see the album as a concept album?
Heaven Shall Burn – It’s a concept album. The lyrics work on two different levels. On one hand we have a stories that are rooted in reality. Stories and literature that are influenced by the lives of Victor Klemperer or Simon Wiesenthal are just two examples. And we got inspired by some Nietzsche stuff as well. The lyrics are not only linked to people, but also to some historical events. The CD and also the vinyl version of the album will come with some multimedia stuff and hints concerning the level that is rooted in reality. On the other hand we have the level that’s based on fantasy or you can even say spirituality. That means that you can take each single text out of the real context and create a story in your mind. You don’t have to know the historical background to be able to find something for yourself in the lyrics. So within the lyrics we have this separation between reality and spirituality. This separation can be also seen as a symbol for the separation of politics (reality) and religion (spirituality). We choose this symbolism because we think that it’s one of the biggest achievement of this modern society that religion and politics are separated from each other. There are people who want to end this, but we think it’s important to defend this separation. Already on the last album we had some lyrics dealing with that topic.
Planet Loud – Are all the songs linked on the album?
Heaven Shall Burn – Yes, as it’s a conceptual album, there are all linked somehow. But there is no certain song order.
Planet Loud – As well as the music on the album, there is a visual CD enhanced with the story of the Iconoclasts, what was the thought behind putting that on the album?
Heaven Shall Burn – It makes everything much easier. It’s also a try to make the lyrics really work. People can just get their own individual interpretation. In the past people always asked for the meaning of a song. I mean, it’s very cool that people are caring about the lyrics and stuff, but with an explanation you always lead their thoughts into a certain direction. Now, with the multimedia stuff, we just give the necessary hints to know what it’s about, but after that people can explore the lyrics by themselves.
Planet Loud – If there were no budget limits would you turn the theme into a visual element of your live show?
Heaven Shall Burn – I don’t know. I guess that would be a perfect show then, but live we’re far away from playing perfectly…hehehe. So I guess that wouldn’t match. We’re more about playing a raw show with lots of energy. So from my point of few, it wouldn’t really work. But, of course, it would be cool to add some elements like that. I’m just not into setting up a show that would look too big for a band like HSB.
Planet Loud – War has been a theme that you have touched on before in your material, is it something you have a genuine interest in outside of the band?
Heaven Shall Burn – There had been many wars in the history of mankind and many conflicts result in wars, but there’s no special interest from our side. The term war can be also seen as some metaphor for an inner struggle or some other kind of conflict. It’s not always about wars fought by soldiers.
Planet Loud – The album is sub-titled (Part 1:The Final Resistance) – will there be further chapters in this story?
Heaven Shall Burn – There will be a second part, maybe a third or even a fourth. We just don’t know yet. We got the concept and so we know the frame we set for this whole “project”, but we don’t know when we’ll be done with everything. Maybe everything will be told after the second part already.
Planet Loud – If so, have you planned the further chapters? Care to let us in on what you have planned?
Heaven Shall Burn – We just do it the same way as we did with the first part. We keep everything as a little “secret”. As I said, the frames are set but we’ll be still working on details.
Planet Loud – The album pretty much destroys the boundaries between hardcore and death metal. Do you think you attract fans of both genres of music?
Heaven Shall Burn – Actually we get a positive feedback from both scenes and from the beginning there was acceptance for our band, although we didn’t look like the average hc or death metal band. Our audience is quite mixed and I think it works to get attention from both sides.
Planet Loud – What are your musical tastes? What bands do you listen to?
Heaven Shall Burn – Right now I listen to Neurosis quite often and not that much besides it. But in general I listen to lots of different stuff. Actually everything, as long as it’s good…from pop music to black metal…hehe. The other band members also mainly listen to heavy stuff, but there are no boundaries.
Planet Loud – Okay, aside from the album, what are your touring plans for 2008?
Heaven Shall Burn – Yeah, we’ll finally tour the US in April. We tried for a very long time already and now it finally worked. Besides that we’ll play lots of festivals during summer.
Planet Loud – Okay guys, thanks for your time, is there anything else you would like to say?
Heaven Shall Burn – Thank you for the interview and the possibility to tell something about our band. All the best for 2008!
Interview by Graham Finney
