Heaven Shall Burn Announce New Album Of Truth & Sacrifice
We are mere days away from celebrating the birth of Christ. We do this via excruciatingly painful get-togethers with our families, so as to honor the agony the Virgin Mary endured when she popped that lil’ messiah out. It can be… stressful.
So here’s a nice reason not to drink so much egg nog that you asphyxiate on your own vomit in the night: Heaven Shall Burn have announced a late-March 2020 release date for Of Truth & Sacrifice, their first new album in roughly three-and-a-half years. And although the German melodeath outfit “allowed themselves a well-deserved break,” they’ve also made up for lost time: Of Truth & Sacrifice is a double album that is “Conceptually… split into two halves: ‘of truth’ and ‘of sacrifice’,” according to a press release. AND, on top of that, fans who spring for limited editions of the release will be treated to “a 90min documentary, ‘Mein grünes Herz in dunklen Zeiten’ (= ‘My Green Heart In Dark Times’), by renown producer Ingo Schmoll.”
In a statement, guitarist Maik Weichert makes it clear that, true to form, Heaven Shall Burn’s latest is an anthem for the Left:
“The title is exploring the idea of truth and the question what kind of sacrifices you are willing to make for it. Something reflected in the [album] artwork: A warrioress is shielding her child with her own body. While the mother is representing the willingness to sacrifice the child is standing for truth… It’s a title that refers to numerous current developments: people’s blindness in daily life and the unwillingness to make any sacrifices in order to bring about change. Still, there are many people in this world who do exactly this: teachers in Africa risking their lives in order to be able to educate children, journalists and whistleblowers who are putting their own safety at risk in order to flag things going wrong.”
Here’s that cover art to which Weichert was referring… it’s by the dependably excellent Eliran Kantor:
And in case Weichert’s statement failed to make it clear that Of Truth & Sacrifice is going to be a thematically, um, let’s say “liberal-leaning” album, check out these song titles:
CD1
- “March of Retribution”
- “Thoughts and Prayers”
- “Eradicate”
- “Protector”
- “Übermacht”
- “My Heart and the Ocean”
- “Expatriate”
- “What War Means”
- “Terminate the Unconcern”
- “The Ashes of my Enemies”
CD2
- “Children of a Lesser God”
- “La Résistance”
- “The Sorrows of Victory”
- “Stateless”
- “Tirpitz”
- “Truther”
- “Critical Mass”
- “Eagles Among Vultures”
- “Weakness Leaving My Heart”
I mean “My Heart and the Ocean” is presumably an ode to Titanic, but titles like “Thoughts and Prayers” and “Truther” certainly point towards progressive political messages.
Unfortunately there’s no single yet, but the press release says pre-orders will launch in early January, so expect to hear something then.
Meanwhile, Heaven Shall Burn already have a bunch of summer festival appearances booked. Those are as follows:
05.06.-07.06.2020 (DE) Nürnberg – Rock im Park [tickets]
05.06.-07.06.2020 (DE) Nürburg – Rock am Ring [tickets]
11.06.-13.06.20 (CH) Interlaken – Greenfield [tickets]
10.06.-13.06.20 (AT) Nickelsdorf – Novarock [tickets]
18.06.-21.06.20 (BE) Dessel – Graspop [tickets]
19.06.-21.06.20 (FR) Clisson – Hellfest [tickets]
26.-28.06.20 (DE) Gräfenhainichen – Full Force [tickets]
02.-04.07.20 (ES) Viveiro – Resurrection [tickets]
09.-12.07.20 (CZ) Vizovice – Masters of Rock [tickets]
09.-11.07.20 (SE) Gävle – Gefle Metal Festival [tickets]
17.-18.07.20 (NL) Eindhoven – Dynamo Metalfest [tickets]
