Germany's
Heaven Shall Burn don't screw around. The brain-pummeling
Whatever It May Take is the band's fourth release in a three-year stretch, and like its predecessors, it unleashes a pulverizing death metal/hardcore attack of overpowering proportions. Curiously, despite the band's seemingly satanic namesake, the subject matter here is overtly political, raging against injustice with an informed intelligence rarely seen in straight-up death metal, while, at the same time, forging a torrent of hatred and violence the likes of which pure hardcore can only hope to touch. Indeed,
Heaven Shall Burn are happy to name names and spare no target in their mission for justice (see the scathing "The Martyr's Blood," which condemns the CIA's involvement in the Chilean military coup of the early '70s).
Heaven Shall Burn also avoid using blunt speed to dull the impact of their meaningful messages, choosing instead a mid-paced death metal clip similar to bands like
Bolt Thrower and
Amon Amarth. Though the album's overall quality does taper off a tad toward the end,
Whatever It May Take's entire first half is positively blinding, with standouts including "Behind a Wall of Sleep," "It Burns Within," the aforementioned "The Martyrs' Blood," and even the unnaturally melodic "Implore the Darken Sky" (later reprised in an interesting "classic" version). All told, this will prove a head-spinning effort for experienced death metal enthusiasts.