''Antigone'' is the third full-length album of the German metal band Heaven Shall Burn. It was released on 26 April 2004 through

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

Background

The title was inspired by the female character of the play

Antigone In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & Roma ...

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

. The play is about a passionate young woman, that does what she knows is right, even though it is against the law. She makes sure that all of the town's people know what she did and she is punished by the king. The intro and the two outros were composed and recorded by Icelandic composer

Ólafur Arnalds Ólafur Arnalds (; born 3 November 1986) is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. He mixes strings and piano with loops and beats, a sound ranging from ambient/electronic to atmospheric pop. He is also the ...

. A video was made for "The Weapon They Fear", a song that commemorates

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, rang ...

. "Tree of Freedom" deals with the life of

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

. "Voice of the Voiceless" refers to the band's strong pro-

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

stance. "Bleeding to Death" deals with the economic and social problems in the former

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, from where the band originates. The song "The Dream is Dead" was featured in an episode of '' Viva la Bam'', entitled "Viva La Europe Pt. 2".

Reception

In 2005, ''Antigone'' was ranked number 474 in ''

Rock Hard "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...

'' magazine's book ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''.

Track listing

* Track 8's title is Icelandic and means "Rising Hope", but it contains a spelling mistake, as rísa is written with an í, not an ì. This error is present on all releases of the album. * Track 12' title is Icelandic and means "Dying Hope".

Credits

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes. ;Heaven Shall Burn * Marcus Bischoff –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Maik Weichert –

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Patrick Schleitzer – guitars * Eric Bischoff –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Matthias Voigt –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Additional musicians * Alexander Dietz – clean vocals on "To Harvest the Storm", "The Dream Is Dead" *

– piano, samples, keyboard on "Echoes", "Rìsandi Von", "Deyjandi Von" * Greta Salome Stefansdottir – violin on "Echoes", "Rìsandi Von", "Deyjandi Von" * Thordur Gudmundur Herrmannson – cello on "Echoes", "Rìsandi Von", "Deyjandi Von" ;Production * Patrick W. Engel –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Ralf Müller –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Kai Tenneberg – assisting engineering *

Tue Madsen Tue Madsen (born 1969) is a Danish music producer and sound engineer, who is well known in metal genre for his work with bands like Meshuggah, Dark Tranquillity, Suicide Silence, Hatesphere, The Haunted, Mnemic, Ektomorf, Cataract, Exmortem ...

– mixing, mastering *

– production, engineering on "Echoes", "Rìsandi Von", "Deyjandi Von" ;Artwork and design * Spiros Antoniou
Set<'H>dEsign
– artwork * Stefan Luedicke – layout * Stefan Wibbeke – layout * Simon Büttner – band photo

Release history

References

External links

{{Authority control 2004 albums Albums with cover art by Spiros Antoniou Century Media Records albums Heaven Shall Burn albums