interview by: Roberto Martinelli

Heaven Shall Burn was my introduction to the growing genre of metalcore, a style that is essentially metal but whose vocals are in that screamy hardcore style and whose lyrics are more about real life issues and politics. Heaven Shall Burn in particular caught my fancy in their mix of a strong Bolt Thrower influence and the most intense screaming I've ever heard. I could listen to Maik, this group's vocalist (who it turns out can sing pretty well, too), all day.

The following questions were answered by Matthias, the band's drummer. The initial sending of the questions was about eight months prior to this posting, and thus there is little concerning the band's latest album, Whatever it May Take. The guys in Heaven Shall Burn are super nice, but they're a little slow. Follow up questions to this interview will probably be posted at a later time. In the meantime, please enjoy the excellent and in-depth answers that Matthias gave to the original round of questions.

Maelstrom: You cover Bolt Thrower's "The IVth Crusade" on your Asunder album. I was happy to hear it. Why did you pick Bolt Thrower and why that particular song?

Matthias: We just chose the song, because we think that it's one of the best death metal songs ever. Bolt Thrower wrote many outstanding songs, but this one is a real classic!!! Since Bolt Thrower is one main influence for Heaven Shall Burn, it was just a question of time to do this. There are also tons of other bands that have influenced Heaven Shall Burn so much in many ways, lyrically and music wise... Maybe we'll do some other covers in the future as well.

Maelstrom: Do you care to name the kind of music that your band plays? We at Maelstrom like to think of Heaven Shall Burn as a metalcore band: sort of taking the best stuff from metal and hardcore. What was the inspiration in choosing your musical style?

Matthias: We also think that we are a metalcore band, although we don't care that much about something like a "kind of music." Actually there's just good and bad music. Unfortunately you need to name the style of a band ...just to give the listeners a small hint what they have to expect. We always loved metal. I grew up with bands like Iron Maiden, Accept, Judas Priest, Slayer, Manowar, Anthrax and Metallica. Later we were fascinated by all the early 90s death metal bands like Dismember and such. One thing that always bothered us a bit was all those dumb as fuck lyrics. Okay, it's just entertainment, but we became kinda tired of it. That's why some of us got in touch with hardcore or even punk. I really don't think that there are more intelligent people, but some of the bands have lyrics that are much better than all this gore- and splatter-cliché. In the mid 90s this whole metalcore thing caught our attention. Belgian bands like Congress and Liar mixed the 80s thrash metal with hardcore attitude. That's what we liked... So I guess without these bands, bands like Heaven Shall Burn would not exist...at least not like they are now. Earth Crisis was also one of the most important bands for us...

Maelstrom: How long has Heaven Shall Burn been around, and what have you done in your careers?

Matthias: Maik (guitar) and me founded a band in 1995. This was the beginning. We both were in different bands before, but they are not worth being mentioned. It was during the summer of 1998 when we decided to change our name to Heaven Shall Burn. Formerly we were known as Consense. We just changed the name right before our first MCD In Battle There's Now Law got released on Deeds of Revolution. Our bass player, Eric, and our singer, Marcus, had no other bands before this one. Patrick was active in some other bands before...

Maelstrom: The last track on Asunder is entitled "***********," or 11 stars for the 11th track. This track has music and lyrics, both of which aren't credited in the booklet. Is this a cover song? This track also goes on in silence quite some time after the song is over. Why is that?

Matthias: Actually the 11 stars are for "Battlecries." It's a cover of the Belgian band Liar. As I told you before, Liar has always been a main influence for Heaven Shall Burn. You are right! The lyrics are also not in the booklet... We thought that it is not usual to print the lyrics of a cover song. We just did it once, when we did the cover of Point of No Return's "Casa de Caboclo." I guess next time when there are good lyrics in a cover song they will be printed, too. It wasn't that we didn't like the lyrics of "Battlecries" or "The 4th Crusade." We just thought that it's not usual to print them. The silence after the song is quite easy to explain: We just wanted a playing time of 66:06 minutes for the record...this was the only possibility. You know, we're EVIL!!!

Maelstrom: The first song on Asunder is called "Inherit the Guilt." It has lyrics like: "To erase three generations/ To slaughter millions of dreams/ (…) How many poets died, how many books were never written/ So many songs we'll never hear/ So many friends we'll never meet (…)/ No killers left to charge/ (…) our crime is called forgetting (…) our shame for ever." Am I correct that you are referring to the guilt that modern day Germany has about the actions of Nazi Germany in World War II? Do you think it's your responsibility to feel guilty about something that you have no control over?

Matthias: Well, actually Maik writes all the lyrics. But in this case, I can also say something about that. Of course the lyrics deal with our feelings about everything that happened in Germany between 1933 and 1945. I mean there is almost no one left you can judge for his crimes against humanity during Europe's darkest times, but so many people are still thinking about Nazism, fascism and racism when they think about Germany. My grandparents told me so much about their suffering during these years. My grandmother lost her brother and her father because of it. Other families got totally erased. It was the same in all European countries. Almost the whole German nation stood behind Hitler and his politics. They were blind! Without them the World War II would have never happened. But it happened. And today we all know about the history. We all know what happened during these years. So we have to do everything to not let something like that happen again. Of course, it wasn't just the war. There was also the persecution of homosexuals, Jews, gypsies, communists, handicapped people who didn't fit into the cliché of the Aryan superior race. The worst things one can imagine happened within these 12 years. It would be a crime to forget about it. We have to fight the roots of fascism, racism and any other kind of oppression by all means necessary. I'm not responsible for the things the generation of my grandparents did, but I would be responsible if this would ever happen again. This would be the crime of our generation...to ignore the danger of a 4th Reich. That's what the song "To Inherit the Guilt" is about.

Maelstrom: Considering your feelings, what is your reaction that Israel is now starting to behave a bit like Nazi Germany did by marking Palestinians on Jewish land so as to easily identify them?

Matthias: Well, it's a difficult topic and I have to be really careful with the vocabulary I'm going to use to describe my feelings. Unfortunately many people don't know the difference between criticizing the government of the State of Israel (including the IDF) and making disparaging comments about Jews. In my opinion Rabin was the last statesman of Israel who wasn't a criminal! It's a fact that the Palestinian people are oppressed for years and the IDF acts like fascists by killing and torturing civilians there. On the other hand, Palestinian fundamentalists are also killing Israeli civilians. Both sides have people who are not interested in any peace. I can just say that the Palestinians are the oppressed ones and some religious fundamentalists abuse the bad circumstances in the Palestinian refugee camps. They just want to increase their power, and the reason for their success is Sharon's politics. Palestine has to be an independent state. It would be the first step to a peaceful future. But as long as Sharon and the IDF will continue acting like they do right now, many school-buses or discotheques are going to explode in Israel...again and again. Marking Palestinians won't help them. Of course it reminds me a lot on the behavior of the Nazis when they marked Jews with yellow stars. So I didn't feel very comfortable when I heard about it. But like I said before, as long as the IDF acts like terrorists in the Palestinian areas, they have to expect also terrorism from the other side. I feel really sorry for all the Israeli civilians and their families as well as for all the Palestinian people who were killed. In my opinion the IDF and the Israeli government are the reason for all the hate and violence in this area. Their acting causes the power of the religious fundamentalists on the Palestinian side. And for me it's just disgusting when I see people wearing IDF shirts at hardcore shows. Tell me, how dumb one can be!?! The problem here in Germany is that the right wing abuses the situation in the Middle East to spread their anti-Semitism. But they don't care about the Palestinians, not even a bit. They just want to spread their stupid ideals. So if they shout out: "free Palestine!" they just do it because they hate Jews. There is no other reason. That's why I've said in the beginning that I have to be careful with the vocabulary I was going to use. This topic is so complex and there is more than just "black and white."

Maelstrom: How about you, Matthias? How long have you been playing drums? What got you interested in the instrument in the first place?

Matthias: I've bought my first drum set in 1993, but it was just for fun. I had no further intentions. A friend of mine sold his drums really cheap and at that time I had some money left. I was always a bit interested in [the instrument]. I've never had any lessons and it wasn't really serious before 1995, I guess. I just became more interested in it after I was already playing for a while. But I don't see myself as a real musician. I just play.

Maelstrom: What are some of the albums that you listen to the most?

Matthias: Well, my all time favourites are: Amon Amarth - Once Sent from the Golden Hall, At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul, Bolt Thrower - ...for Victory

Right now I'm listening to the new Amon Amarth album, Versus the World...

Maelstrom: What do you and the other members of Heaven Shall Burn do outside of your careers in the band?

Matthias: Hehehehe, I would say that we do the band outside of our everyday life. Although it takes a lot of time, our "careers" still have the first priority. Our bass player, Eric, is doing an education as an ergo-therapist. Marcus (voc) is becoming a nurse and Maik (g,lyrics), Patrick (g) and me are studying.

Maelstrom: By the way, how did you pick the name Heaven Shall Burn? I'm asking because it seems more like a name for a Satanic band, whereas your band seems to write lyrics about social issues.

Matthias: We got the name from the Swedish black metal band Marduk. They released an album called Heaven Shall Burn...When we are Gathered. I like the album, but that was not the reason for choosing the name. We are also not satanic...hehehehe... well, just a bit. The reason why we chose the name was that it sounded provoking and powerful. For us the term doesn't stand for killing Christians, raping their wives, nor burning down their houses, of course. The word "heaven" should stand for something like a fake-paradise. Many people live their lives in a world far away from reality. They build up their own world and don't realize what's up around them. We hope that some of them will wake up really soon and see what's reality. So their "heaven" - their fake paradise - shall burn...

Maelstrom: I've read that Heaven Shall burn has released a new album. Could you please tell us about it?

Matthias: Well, the new album called Whatever it may Take was released in December 2001. So it's already one year old. We're still really happy with the result, although we already know that some things could have been better, just like always. I guess we changed a bit since <Asunder>. The songs become better because of some progression in our songwriting. We've all developed on our instruments of course. There are also more thrash metal influences in it. We move a bit away from this typical 'bolt thrower-riffing' which you can hear on 'asunder'. Everything is more melodic and the songs are catchier. Right now we are already working on new songs for our next album. I guess that we'll hit the studio again in summer 2003, but there's nothing sure yet. We'll see...

Maelstrom: When I first learned about your band, I also learned about Caliban, which is indeed quite similar in style to Heaven Shall Burn. In fact, Caliban is not only on the same label but also from Germany. What's more, you have released a split CD with that band. (we also hope to have an interview with Caliban alongside yours in this issue) Are the two bands very close friends? Have you influenced each other?

Matthias: We are friends with Caliban and it's always nice to play with them. I don't know if we have influenced each other that much. Many people say that their style is quite similar to our style, but I don't agree. We don't have these emo parts and we go even a bit more into the metal direction. I think our styles are different. Anyway, it's no problem if the people compare Heaven Shall Burn to Caliban. It's always hard to say something about one's own style. In my opinion just the listener is responsible for it.

Maelstrom: Do we outside of Europe have any hope to ever see you play live?

Matthias: We'll we already toured outside Europe. Last January we went to Brazil for 10 days. We've also tried to confirm something for the USA or Canada for December 2002, but it didn't work out. It's always really difficult to find a time when everybody in the band is available. Heaven Shall Burn really have to tour North America and I think we'll do this in 2003. I hope that it will work out next time...

Maelstrom: Thanks for answering our questions. Take care and keep up the good work.

Matthias: Thank you for the interview. I hope to see you on tour in 2003...keep your fingers crossed.

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