HEAVEN SHALL BURN are a phenomenon. Instead of roaming distant shores in order to seek for innovations the five-piece from Saalfeld/Weimar, Germany is rather heading for well known territories in order to shed their collective skin. For years they have been drawing creative impulses from the long-term friendship between the individual members. Despite releasing new studio albums regularly they are hardly ever in a real hurry. “We take our time to finalize our songs and don’t record them before we feel that they are ready”, explains Alexander Dietz.

For “Invictus“ [the full title of which is “Invictus” (Iconoclast III)] HEAVEN SHALL BURN returned to Tue Madsen’s Antfarm Studio in Aarhus, Denmark. Again, the album was produced by the two guitarists Maik Weichert and Alexander Dietz. “Never change a winning team” turned out to be the best and most effective option to record their albums instead of burning budgets by trying out different people every time. Maik explains: “Tue Maden knows and understands our sound. For us it is easier to improve and develop our sound further when we are working with someone we know. Otherwise it would mean getting adjusted to someone new every time we record an album which doesn’t feel right to us.” By using Ólafur Arnalds for the atmospheric intro and outro they held on to another trademark of their sound. “To work new elements into our typical sound was definitely a challenge for us”, says Alexander. “The Lie You Bleed For” and especially “Combat” show them heavily flirting with electronica. Still, those shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody once recalling “Against All Lies” and “Muderer Of All Murderers”. However, “Given In Death” proves that their heavy sound leaves room for changes and innovations, as a highly emotional duet of Marcus Bischoff and Sabine Weniger from Deadlock is not exactly what you would have expected from HEAVEN SHALL BURN. Still, no fan who is into their heavy and majestic riffs that are influenced by Scandinavian metal will be disappointed and can indulge themselves in songs such as “Buried In Forgotten Grounds” or “Return To Sanity”. “Combat” even shows some frosty black metal references. “In Aarhus we were snowed in twice - that might explain the black metal influences”, smiles Maik.

“Invictus” is the 3rd part of the “Iconoclast”-story after “Iconoclast” (21 in the German Media Control Charts) and their DVD “Bildersturm” (German DVD Charts 3, album charts 54, Austrian DVD Charts 9). Again stories about unconventional heroes are being told, a different light is cast upon well known idols and legends.