Heaven Shall Burn: Antigone

Extreme metal is usually so damned heavy that it really has to be inspired to catch the ear. This German Metalcore quintet's execution is flawless, and there are flashes of inspiration that deserve your attention, but most of these songs are pretty standard extreme stuff.

The music is very riff-heavy with a relentless double-bass under dual growling guitars without excessive distortion. The vocals are not at all melodic - and are pretty pretty basic high-pitched primal growling, usually solo, sometimes with backup.

So what makes this album different from every other extreme metal act out there? "To Harvest The Storm" has occasional clean vocals and elegant melody lines over the frantic growling. Not unique, but nice. A few rare sections of electronica break that extreme, repetitive head-banging vibe. And here's an interesting approach: The tracks subtitled "Intro", "Outro 1" and "Outro 2" (see below) are soft, classical-sounding pieces that seem completely out of place here. As an experiment, play these 3 tracks back-to-back. Each one segues nicely into the next, and you have a surprisingly elegant 6½ minute progressive chamber-orchestral suite! But as presented, it's broken into 3 well-placed islands of calm amidst the otherwise unrelenting storm of bass, power chords playing the standard progressions and heavy growls.

In summary - Antigone is basic stuff, heavier than most, very well executed and produced, with flashes of inspiration.

Track Listing:

1. Echoes (Intro)
2. The Weapon They Fear
3. The Only Truth
4. Architects Of The Apocalypse
5. Voice Of The Voiceless
6. Numbing The Pain
7. To Harvest The Storm
8. Rísandi Von (Outro 2)
9. Bleeding The Death
10. Tree Of Freedom
11. The Dream Is Dead
12. Deyjandi Von (Outro 2)

Added: January 7th 2005
Reviewer: Duncan Glenday
Score:
Related Link: Heaven Shall Burn's Web Site
Hits: 3204
Language: english

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