Early last year I wrote a very positive review about Heaven Shall Burn’s latest record Iconoclast (Part One: The Final Resistance). I also was very impressed by a gig of them in support of this album on their European tour. Now they’ve returned with the second part of the Iconoclast concept. This time they didn’t release a studio album though, but a 2DVD-package with footage from their set at the Summer Breeze festival, footage from a sold out show in Vienna and more. When talking about movies the sequel is in most cases of less quality than its predecessor. Just think about films like Terminator and The Matrix to name just a few. Let’s see if this is also the case when it comes to music.

 

The first DVD of this package contains HSB’s show at the 2008 edition of Summer Breeze as main feature. The show gives you a good impression of what it’s like if you’re watching HSB at a festival for yourself. Their energetic performance is captured very professional and also the sound is good. It’s nice to see them perform, but when ‘Voice Of The Voiceless’ kicks in it’s a shame you’re just watching the show on your television instead of joining the moshers in the wall of death. Furthermore this DVD contains the documentary Leitmotiv and four video clips. Both the clips as well as the documentary are fun to watch once, but that’s it. For example: Leitmotiv is just 90% of the time one of the band members telling you why he chose to be vegan or how it is to live in the village he lives in or what he does for a living when he isn’t playing with the band. Some things are nice to know, but after hearing it once there’s no necessity whatsoever to watch it again.

 

Just as the first DVD, the second DVD also consists of a filmed gig and some bonus features. This time it isn’t at a festival, but in a club in Vienna. Just as their performance at Summer Breeze the band plays a tight set with a huge amount of energy and this is all captured perfectly. The main difference between their show at Summer Breeze is the setlist. In Vienna they have the time to do some more songs, but furthermore it’s pretty much the same. Not necessarily a really bad thing, but don’t expect any surprises. The bonus features on this disc unfortunately aren't that interesting for those who don’t understand the German language. Contrary to the Joel DVD and the show in Vienna the bonus features aren’t subtitled. The tour diaries, the backstage footage and the “metal cooking”, by far not as spectacular as it sounds, are therefore useless for this international release. The only fun thing to watch them doing is an online band rehearsal, but that’s also already implemented in the Leitmotiv documentary.

 

Two good shows with disappointing bonus features.