•
Rating: I looked for it everywhere and I couldn't find it. No luck. Not even on the most hidden and obscure corners of the internet was I able to find a review of "Whatever It May Take," even though its successor "Antigone" (a splendid album, by the way) has received enthusiastic reviews from everywhere. Only and exclusively comments like "immense album," or "a milestone in metalcore", and so on. Yes, agreed, but a review? I couldn't accept the idea that an album like this was at risk of going unnoticed by many, just because it was by a not-so-famous band like Heaven Shall Burn, so I decided to write one myself.
Yet "Whatever It May Take", in a certain way, is important. Because it too helped to further narrow that thin gap separating hardcore from the purest metal, to better define the concept of "metal-core" by redefining many characteristics, but not only that. Heaven Shall Burn didn't just do what many modern bands dabbling in this genre tend to do, which is to take some riffs from Swedish melodic death (like the later In Flames) and mix it with a good base of old school hardcore, add some typically death rhythms and mix it all with a dose of modern thrash. Heaven Shall Burn has much to teach in this field simply because they have something extra. Something that these thousands of young bands choosing to follow this path sometimes lack, sometimes slightly, sometimes entirely: personality. A riff by Heaven Shall Burn is not easily confused with that of another band, despite the reciprocal imitation being a daily occurrence in metal-core. It is therefore not difficult to imagine how "Whatever It May Take" has become a veritable cornerstone of the genre, the result of a group destined not to be influenced, but to influence.
It all starts with a strange intro that feels very much like a 70s horror film (to be honest, the strange intro seems to be a quirk for this group): shortly, what will be unleashed in the speakers of your stereo will be a wave of granite riffs, thrashy structures in palm-mute, accelerations that resemble the angriest Napalm Death, a base of pure hardcore violence, and above all continuous time changes, perfectly interwoven with each other, that between one headbanging and another cannot but please the ears of the most uncompromising metal fans. But it's not just this: it is not a sterile and colorless sequence of riffs, no matter how engaging they may be. "Whatever It May Take" has a soul: the soul of those who harbor anger, of those who seek to "burning the heavens" of moral convictions, of institutional securities. The group puts their soul in here, with absolute love and spontaneity, essential in a world where many metal-core records seem to lack these qualities. Hence the melody insinuates itself into every riff, full of emotional charge, and intense melodic intertwines, almost choral, rise from the power of the guitars, from Marcus's furious voice, which lets out his increasingly poignant cry. "Whatever It May Take" is in my opinion an almost-masterpiece for the entire metal-core genre, weak only due to that greenness that deprived it of the charisma necessary to break through (it is precisely this weakness that prevents me from giving it a 5). If you just want to understand what it means to play metal-core today with full awareness, make it yours. A magnificent band, an unmissable album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Behind a Wall of Silence (03:41)
This beatiful world.
It looks so nice filled with sound and light.
It smells so fine so much bliss.
So much perfection a modern world a new society
life is fast, but I'm not fast enough.
Wealth and recognition to the strong, the paradise is here, but i'm too weak.
No graceful look, no charming smile.
Fate has set me down - below you all hold us captive behind a wall of silence.
We live our life in a prison of ignorance.
One of the forgotten - an unwanted son a life made just for you - not me and my equals.
I know, my feelings are not worth the pain.
Will you affected pitty ever turn to respect.
How can I long for warmth and love at all?
Do you think my heart is dead?
I should be dead, slain or poisoned - and everything could be so easy for you.
04 The Worlds in Me (04:21)
Deep inside my heart, where their reign will get no power.
where their violence can not hurt me.
I will breed the thoughts and ideals, that bring them down, down to their knees.
Their poisoned souls and wicked minds, these eyes have seen the death of freedom,
but no fist ever rose.
This righteous rage consumed by ignorance.
Freedom - my heart is strong.
One truth - I will not fall.
Passion - I´m not alone.
Denial - Your lies will burn.
My heart is strong, I swear I will not fall.
I´m not alone, I know we´ll rise to bear the worlds in us.
They can´t erase the worlds in me - too deep inside, too strong in me.
I´ll bring it to life, more than just dreams.
The vision, that keeps me upright their onlytruth will rot in peace, crack down
their ideals.
I´ll watch them burn, I´ll see them fall.
09 Whatever It May Take (03:44)
One by one they fall - and I just close my eyes.
It won't be over soon - do you regret this time?
I thought so many things were certain.
So many friends turned to the ones I hate.
You fade away forever - the hands of time.
I wanna see the things just how they are feel them, like a child would do.
Will this kid in me will survive this process?
Narrowed minds - I'll burst your mental chains even, if I'll live like them - my heart is free.
I won't become a tool, a puppet.
I'll bite the hand that wants to feed me.
My will to live against your world of zombies.
Blindfold the eye, that watches all of us and even, if I live like them my heart is free.
I'll never walk your way - whatever it may take.
You never break my will - whatever it may take.
10 Ecowar (03:22)
More and more, this certainty will rise.
It's far too late, until you'll understand.
More than ever, I feel there is no way.
To make you see, what's so drownright.
They betrayed the generations after them, framed their childrens.
Left a fateful wisdom you still consume, consume this matricide.
You still believe, believe these fatal lies.
Their machines, they kill for us.
But if we refuse, if we remonstrate at last.
They will go down!
They shall stand still.
Forever!
How can you be so indifferent to this creeping ecocide?
I'll fight against this way of thinking, to make you see, it dies!
This is my war, an ECOWAR!
My mother earth will not be assassinated by these parasites.
This is my war, an ECOWAR!
11 Naked Among Wolves (04:16)
One life, one hope - this is our life in hell punished for telling the truth, for unwanted ideals.
Innocence means nothing here - we stand and fall together.
The only way to ever leave this barren hill.
The smile of a child set free our minds.
A symbol of life in this domain of death they want to erase it.
If these bastards ever come to know, they'll kill us all.
They search everywhere - everyday, they infiltrate us.
They torture they slew my best friends.
As he would never betray as he saved the boys life, he set a world free.
A symbol of moral victory, we're invincible!
We raised from the dead, winged by this struggle.
We judged our tormentors, they fled like cowardly bastards.
The boys grew in freeom, we saved the whole world.
Loading comments slowly
