Antigone

Ok, ok...this really gets 4.5 stars. The ONLY thing I did not like was that the disc did not come in it's original case, but with that out of the way, everything else was has promised! Still a satisfied customer...

From a metal JUNKIE!!! This is my favorite artist and album out of the 120 gigabytes of music I live with. (trust me) I have never written a review before, but this disc deserves it!

"Antigone" was my first Heaven Shall Burn CD that I ever bought, and I was really blown away by it. Having listening to the song "The Weapon They Fear" on a metal compilation CD and really liking it, I knew I had to pick up this album and I was very happy that I did so. Released in 2004, Heaven Shall Burn's third full length release, "Antigone" is easily put one of the most heaviest, heartfelt, melodic, terrifying, and upliftingly brutal and devastating pieces of extreme heavy music to ever be plastered on a disc. Blending both metalcore and melodic death metal, the songs on "Antigone" are extremely interesting, strong, and brutally heavy as a Sherman tank, and while most of them aren't exactly super fast, but they definitely deliver an unrelenting barrage of pure, bone-crushing, heavy metallic goodness filled with jaw-dropping hooks, brutally vicious and bone-crunching twin-guitar onslaughts, hard hitting double bass drumming throughout, and brutal, harsh screaming vocals throughout. Each instrument on here is just drenched with absolute bludgeoning power and smashing intensity throughout, no question about it. Vocalist Marcus Bischoff delivers an outstandingly unforgettable performance, belting out each lyric throughout with his harsh, loud, frightening, throat-piercing screams and yells that are guaranteed to send chills down your spine. The guitars are also a treat here as Maik Weichert and Patrick Schleitzer both engage in an onslaught of ferociously vicious twin-guitar frenzies complete with the heavy metallic riffage of metal, and the massive bone-crunching breakdowns of hardcore. Also, the band's rhythm section consisting of bassist Eric Bischoff and drummer Matthias Voigt is just top notch crushing throughout especially Matthias's drumming as he just destroys and dominates his kit with heavily crushing and hard hitting double bass beats and crashing cymbals and everything else in between with absolute authority. Another thing that I really like about this album is the overall production which is handled by Patrick W. Engel and it's very solid, clear, and nearly perfect throughout especially with the help of Tue Madsen who also handles the mixing and mastering as well."Antigone" starts off with "Echoes" which is a short, yet beautifully melodic piano and violin driven intro which sets the mood for what is to come, and then before you know it, we are thrusted into the album set's real opening track "The Weapon They Fear" (my favorite song on here), and that's where the fun begins. The song is bolstered by a blistering and unforgiving onslaught of massive, bone-crunching, teeth grinding riffs, catchy, melodic tremolo picking leads, and pummeling breakdowns, thunderous and pounding double bass drum assaults all lead by Marcus' chilling, enraged, throat-tearing screams, and the song is also highlighted by a nice melodic keyboard-ish breakdown halfway through the song before the heaviness quickly resumes as well. This song on a lyrical basis also commemorates Victor Jara, a Chilean singer who was murdered in the seventies because of the power in the songs and music that he wrote. The following track, "The Only Truth" is another addicting and heavy hitting number that is anchored by some more fast, hard hitting double bass beat tempos, and blistering, surging, heavy riffing and punishing, head-stomping breakdowns that just crunch with sheer authority, plus more of Marcus' excellent larynx-shredding screaming vocals to boot. Next up, we have track four, "Architects of the Apocalypse" (another one of my favorites) which continues the album's bludgeoning onslaught as it begins with a cool, sinister keyboard intro before thrusting into another blistering metal assault complete with monster, cranium-crushing riffs and breakdowns, plus some catchy melodic leads, along with heavy, deft, energetic stomping drums, and more ferociously frightening, throat-tearing screams that are just totally spine-tingling throughout. Another huge standout, track five, "Voice of the Voiceless" is another heavy standout track that starts off with some wicked, blood-curdling screaming from Marcus before the rest of the band unleashes a straight ahead onslaught of fiery, straight ahead, melodic tremolo picking riffs and catchy melodic leads, and deft, pounding skins and ripping double bass flurries that are guaranteed to get the listener's blood pumping with sheer authority.Meanwhile, the album's next track, "Numbing the Pain" is one of the more slower tracks that brilliantly incorporates all kinds of nice melodies through awesome, melodic driven guitars and eerie piano sections and just ooze with pure passion throughout, meanwhile, track seven, "To Harvest the Storm" brings back the speed and heaviness as it boasts yet more deft, charging, stomping double bass thuds, epic, crushing, thrashing, yet melodic riffing, and ferocious, ear-piercing vocals throughout, and the song is also highlighted further by an amazingly golden chorus that also includes some surprising clean vocals as well too. This song is definitely another one of my favorite highlights on here. Also being featured on "Antigone" are a couple of beautiful piano/cello driven outro/interlude cuts: "Risandi Von" and "Deyjandi Von" both which give the album a nicely deserved break in between heavy hitting songs here, meanwhile, track nine, "Bleeding to Death" which is another big highlight for me, is hellishy backed by heavy, foot-stomping beats, massive, chugging, head-crushing, face-ripping riffs, and deadly, torturous, piercing screams that tear right through your speakers with absolute hellish quality. The album's final two heavy hitting cuts, "Tree of Freedom" and "The Dream is Dead" both take things to a whole new different level in terms of intensity. The former track wastes very little or no time starting off with a awesomely heavy, crushing and punishing opening riff before charging away at will with an onslaught of stomping, driving double bass charges and intense, crunching, chugging, machine-gun riffing. The song is also later highlighted by some very tasty and soaring guitar melodies around the 3 minute mark as well. And the latter track features a really catchy and crushing keyboard/guitar intro, along with more charging, driving, bludgeoning guitars and pounding drums that just charge away like an angry bull throughout, and Marcus' vocals in this song are pure metal gold throughout as well too. All in all, such an intense and awesome song.Overall, "Antigone" is a top notch and extremely cathartic piece of pure unrelenting metal intensity from front to back, and it is truly indeed a true embodiment of the term 'heavy', no doubt about it. If you're a huge fan of extreme metal like I am, then this album is definitely for you. Recommended for fans of At The Gates, Killswitch Engage, Unearth, Caliban, In Flames (old), Bolt Thrower, Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, etc. HORNS UP!!! \m/ \m/Jeremy

"Antigone" by Heaven Shall Burn is, simply put, one of the best melodic death metal CD's to be released in recent years. But don't be misled by the "melodic death" label - this CD is about as heavy as it gets. The sheer power of Heaven Shall Burn leaves their contemporaries (In Flames, Soilwork, and the rest) in the dust. While the afore-mentioned bands are trying to tone down their sound and integrate more harmonic vocalizations into their sound, Heaven Shall Burn exude raw power without the loss of amazing hooks. Think Dark Tranquillity, only less melodic and a lot heavier.Struturally, the CD "Antigone" itself is nothing special. It has the typical intros and outros as well as song interludes. And while these are good, this type of thing has been done many times. None of that really matters, though, because all of the songs on this CD are brutal and at the same time dynamic and complex. The album starts off heavy and never lets up until the very end. Most of the songs are mid-tempo with some faster moments, but Heaven Shall Burn are not a thrash band - just unrelenting metal. Standout tracks include "Architects Of The Apocalypse", "The Weapon They Fear", "The Dream is Dead". But the song "Numbing the Pain" has to be heard to be believed - simply amazing. This CD is recommended for pure metal and death metal fans. You will not be disappointed.

I have only begun listening to Heaven Shall Burn in the last few months or so, and my first purchse was the "In Battle..." disc, which I enjoyed but would not rate five stars. "Antigone", however, is another matter. On this disc, Heaven Shall Burn manage to combine a number of different metallic and non-metallic elements, yet still produce an album that hits like a ton of bricks. The band experiments with clean vocals, incorporates pianos into some of the songs, and enlists the aid of several guest artists, primarily to create an intro and two outros that are chilling and hauntingly beautiful, punctuated by melancholy violins and pianos. These instrumental pieces provide stark contrast to and give more atmosphere to the otherwise unrelenting barrage of bone-crunching metal. They also give you some time to catch your breath. This is some of the most devastating metal I have heard in a long time, forgoing so many of the niceties of modern metal and going straight for the jugular with all the subtlety of a wild elephant. Most of the songs aren't too fast, but they are full of jaw-dropping hooks, vicious dual-guitar frenzies, and hard-hitting bass drums and cymbal crashes. The singer, Marcus, does not have the stereotypical super-deep death metal voice, but rather he delivers his grim lyrics with a shrill, piercing scream that borders on the edges of human comprehension. The high points on this album for me are "Architects of the Apocalypse" and "Voice of the Voiceless", but really this album has no weaknesses. It doesn't get repetetive and the subject matter is quite varied. I love putting this disc on in my car and cranking the volume full blast and watching the more sensitive souls amongst us cringe at its sheer brutality. I cannot recommend this album highly enough for those who appreciate extreme metal. Raise those devil horns!

Tolles Album! Für wahre Fans ein Muss, für Erfolgsfans verstörend, da wohl nur die neueren Lieder bekannt sind und ältere Alben wie dieses einen etwas ursprünglicheren Stil haben.

Gute Verarbeitung, gut gestaltete CD-Box, Preis hervorragend und die Musik ist auch toll.Für alle Fans des Deutschen Metalcore eine Kaufempfehlung :)

いっつもこのバンドにはやられます。序盤よりも後半のがかっこいい！今回は10.13曲目が最高にかっこいいとおもいました。今作のHSBは主体はミドルテンポで、いきなり爆発させたりとモッシーな感じでたまりません。いつもよりも泣きの声が入ったりとメロデスだこりゃー。ミリタントファンはもちろん、メロデスやchimaira好きも好きなはず。ちょい作りがchimairaに似てるとこがあったりするかも。兎に角2004年ベスト5は確実です！

なんかもーすげー哀愁が漂ってます。まずイントロがこのアルバム全体を象徴していると言うか。ガンガン突き進む真性メタルコアなんだが、ところどころメロディアスなリフが入るって感じ。声はＩＮ　ＦＬＡＭＥＳっぽいか？もはやメロデスっていうかそれ以上のナニカを感じます。間違いなく言えるのは、日本人が絶対に好きな音である、ってこと。