Groupe:

Heaven Shall Burn

Date:

07 Mars 2020

Interviewer:

ced12

Interview Heaven Shall Burn

Hi guys, thanks for taking some time to answer a few questions. We’re the French webzine Aux Portes Du Metal.
 

Heaven Shall Burn is unfortunately not that famous in France. Can you please introduce the band to our readers?

Actually introducing a band should be your job ! ;o) 
We're HSB from the eastern part of Germany and we play political Rock´n Roll !
 
 
What were the main influences for Heaven Shall Burn when the band started ? Do you have new influences now, after 25 years? 

We just tried to combine the political and ideological foundation of HC-Bands like Earth Crisis with the musical uncompromisingness of bands like Bolt Thrower. Of course there are new influences all the time, especially from the electronic music scene.
 
 
The members are vegan and have a straight-edge lifestyle. Is it important to you? Are the lyrics of the band related to this lifestyle? 

We never had lyrics about straight edge and we have never been a straight edge band. Some of our members are straight edge, but that is a more personal thing. Animal rights however have always been a vital part of our lyrics and motivation. 
 
 
The band Gojira also fights for Nature. Would you like to plan to plan something together for this cause?

We really like Gojira and if something can work out in future, we'd be happy to join forces with them !
 
 
Heaven Shall Burn is hugely successful in Germany. But the band seems to be less famous in other countries. How do you explain this? Isn’t it frustrating for the band?

It´s not frustrating at all. It was a conscious decision by us. We focused on the German speaking parts of Europe first and now we're about to bring our activities more into the rest of Europe. You know we're not playing 300 shows a year like other bands, we really have to plan the conquest in the long term haha.
 

Were you satisfied of your last album “Wanderer”? Did the Tour following this album go on well? 

It was great! And if we had not been satisfied with the record we would not have released it. We would never put out a record that is not a 100% what we wanted. The tours for the record were great and for the first time we also had quite good numbers in countries like France and Spain for example – something we can totally build our next steps on. 
 

I saw Heaven Shall Burn play at the Summer Breeze Festival 2017. The show was really powerful. What memories do you keep from this festival ? Did you have a good time with other bands?

We love the Summer Breeze festival, we’ve played there since the very beginning and it's great that we had the chance to grow with this festival. People there are always relaxed and it has a nice surrounding  - it's one of the last festivals in the European festival schedule and you can totally sense that all the bands are in an easier mood – almost like the last show of a tour. There are always great parties taking place. 
 

The band had taken a break before recording this new album. Was it a necessity? 

We just wanted to write and record this album without having any deadline in our heads. That was something that really pushed our creativity and the fun while recording.
 
 
Can you introduce the new album “Of Truth And Sacrifice”? Was it a conscious will or plan to make a double album from the start? Is there a concept behind the two parts?

We realized pretty soon, that there will be a lot of riffs, inspiration and material for this record. And also the album title came to our mind quite early. So we had tons of riffs and a title that had these two strong words in it, which makes some kind of a duality already. So it was pretty obvious from the very beginning that this would be a double record!
 
 
The artwork is great. Who did it?

The cover art is by Eliran Kantor, in my opinion one of the best cover artists today. I totally see him in one line with people like Dan Seagrave or Necrolord.
 
 
What have you planned for 2020 ? A few shows are announced for Germany. It also looks like Heaven Shall Burn will play at the Hellfest and Graspop. You must be excited…

We totally are. It is really hard not playing live for two years. And we're so happy to go back on stage and give everything we have! That is a good thing about a break, you come back with even more power and inspiration.  
 
 
Which bands are you listening to at the moment ? Which one would you recommend?

Right now I really enjoy the latest Borknagar record. Also new records from Macbeth and Testament are killer! The new Demons & Wizards record is also really good.
 

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