The gran finale – Heaven Shall Burn end the Heimat tour in Munich

I did have a feeling that this March was going to be spectacular, and boy was I right. The Chaoszine team travelled to Munich, to witness the last stop of the Heimat tour at the Zenith. So, let’s start at the beginning…

Frozen Soul

The first band to grace the stage of the Zenith was Frozen Soul. They deliver a relentless and ferocious melodic death metal, perfect to warm up the audience. Their performance is solid, and the mix was excellent. At some point they all started to headbang coordinately, which was super nice! The band has an album coming out in May, so I’m pretty curious to listen to the final result. I was super impressed by bass player Samantha Mobley, she delivered some pretty fierce bass lines! Lead singer Chad Green was aking for circle pits from the beginning of the set! He also was very sweet and told the audience that we have to take care of us, and one of the songs was written after someone close to him passed away. All in all, a solid start to the evening.

Photo: Dario De Marco.

The Black Dahlia Murder

Next up is the second and final American band of the evening, The Black Dahlia Murder. They also offer a very brutal and precise melodic death metal. Their setlist focuses on the latest release “Servitude”, but without forgetting classics like “Nightbringers” and “Everything Went Black“. I appreciated very much their lights, flickering and going to the music’s rhythm. Concerts are surely made to be heard, but visuals are very important too! They were also very nice because lead singer Brian Eschbach told us that we were beautiful. As someone with low self-esteem, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Their set concluded with “Utopia Black“, and it made me realize that I need to dig deeper into their discography, because they truly had a great performance and one can never have too many bands that they like, right?

Photo: Dario De Marco.

The Halo Effect

We’re slowly coming closer to home, with the supergroup The Halo Effect taking the stage before the headliners. They also start their set super punctual, like every other band before them. Led by Mikael Stanne (who I’ve dubbed the Marathoner because he runs on stage so much!), the band is warmly welcomed by the audience. Their setlist divides between their two full-lengths, and I’m a bit sorry it doesn’t include any song from “We Are Shadows” or the latest single “Lest We Fall”, that features The Black Dahlia Murder and Heaven Shall Burn. A little great detail I’ve noticed though is that the lights, throughout their set, are mainly green. The best part of their show was when everyone in the audience sang the final melody of “A Truth Worth Lying For“; that was so emotional! In conclusion, their show is sensational and if you like some classic but great melodic death metal in pure Swedish style, this band is for you!

Photo: Dario De Marco.

Heaven Shall Burn

And finally, the masters of mayhem take the stage of the Zenith with the most power that anyone can muster. The beautifully symphonic intro “Ad Arma” lets the band be welcomed by the audience, before starting to unleash one of the most remarkable performances with “War Is the Father of All”. The band alternates between classics like “Endzeit” and “March of Retribution” and songs from “Heimat”, and at a certain point the whole band starts throwing t-shirts and posters from the stage to the audience. Despite being the last show of the tour, the band is in top shape and delivers a fabulous set. There is simply no other band on the planet that can match the energy of Heaven Shall Burn. A sweet moment happened just before “A Whisper From Above“, where a kid named Luka went up on stage and headbanged having the time of his life. The whole audience cheered and lead singer Markus was taking good care of this impromptu guest! If there is anything certain in this world, is that the band is going to play their two staple covers during the set: “Black Tears” by Edge of Sanity and to close the gig, “Valhalla” by their friends Blind Guardian. Would we exempt from singing? Absolutely not, these tracks have to be sung and screamed from the top of our lungs. I feel both extremely happy and sad. Happy because there is nothing that gives me more motivation and joy than a show by these fabulous gentlemen, and sad because it’s going to be a little wait before I can see them again in front of me. Well, in the meantime I’ll stream “Heimat” once more, to relive the memories of a glorious tour end.

Photo: Dario De Marco.