Picking up steam ever since their tenure supporting Trivium; German melodic death metal outfit, Heaven Shall Burn return to Manchester with a star studded bill which includes Frozen Soul and The Black Dahlia Murder. It’s a bill with something for everybody but did it stick the landing? 

First up was Frozen Soul, a modern death metal band that firmly roots their sound on the originals of the genre like Obituary and Bolt Thrower. Right from the get go, the bass was absolutely punishing but the guitars and vocals still cut through to create an absolutely stellar mix as Frozen Soul delivered a chilling set of violent beatdown riffing on tracks like Encased in Ice and Morbid Effigy. 

If you’re a fan of the modern iterations of old school death metal like Sanguisugabogg, 200 Stab Wounds and Tomb Mold then Frozen Soul should be your next venture. The absolutely ignorant heaviness and succinct crushing riffs of Absolute Zero create some variety from the slow Obituary-esque steamrollers of the brand new single, No Place for Warmth (a track that features Gerard Way of all people). There’s even time for some positivity and advocacy for mental wellbeing in the form of Arsenal of War which also saw lead singer, Chad Green, offer the mic to a fan to sing the chorus. 

If you’re done with fire for a while then consider stepping into the cold with Frozen Soul and get ready for their brand new album, No Place for Warmth, set to release May 8th. Highly recommended if you like your death metal simple but effective. 

Next up was melodic death metal legends, The Black Dahlia Murder, making their first appearances since Bloodstock 2025. The setlist featured a lot more fast paced tracks than the Bloodstock appearance and the set actually included the immortal classic, What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse, an absolutely egregious omission that was understandably cut due to technical difficulties. 

The whole set still featured a number of classics including the vicious bounciness of Nightbringers and the monolithic riffs of Everything Went Black. It was surprising to see the audience was more reserved and calm compared to Frozen Soul but Dahlia have always been a band that have favoured technical wizardry to outright savagery. There were still insane pits on tracks like Aftermath which only slowed down so the audience could watch Wes Hauch and Ryan Knight’s amazing solo chemistry and tasty leads. 

A large chunk of the set was focused on the latest album, Servitude, which makes sense considering those are the tracks that were made for new vocalist, Brian Eschbach. Brian has the connection to many of these songs through his tenure as rhythm guitarist but he still has the insurmountable task of following one of the best extreme vocalists to ever live, Trevor Strnad, but it seems like he’s coming into his own. Between the goofball antics between songs and his animated and emotive performances of tracks like Cursed Creator, it’s safe to say he’s improving and with time, will become a force to be reckoned with. 

There’s plenty to be enjoyed during this set and we even got to see an appearance of the Statutory Ape despite that song being absent from the setlist. It’s a fun time for all and a decent blending of tone as it never becomes too serious or too goofy. The set ended with some glorious neo classical shred on the modern classic that is Utopia Black and it became unfortunately clear that a significant chunk of the audience were just here for the support. 

Finally came Heaven Shall Burn and it’s unfortunate how sparse the audience was perhaps it would have been better to book smaller venues or perhaps downgrade to Club Academy but that’s a minor gripe for what ended up being a solid set of mid 2000s Melodic Death Metal. 

Heaven Shall Burn opened with the dramatic strings and pummeling drums of War is the Father of All, a particular favourite from their acclaimed new album, Heimat. The bass was incredibly high to start out but the Machine Head adjacent riffs and harmonic usage still cut through and brought some punishing brutality. 

The big comparison you can make with Heaven Shall Burn is with mid 2000s era In Flames. You can hear remnants of Reroute to Remain on tracks like Confounder and Revocation of Compliance. At no point does it sound incredibly derivative, more of a clear inspiration or a different interpretation of a similar sound. Melodic Death Metal is such a clear cut and specific sound that it becomes difficult to sound unique so you opt for a higher quality version of the same sound. 

Heaven Shall Burn are a German band and wear their heritage on their sleeve with German language tracks like the apocalyptic Endzeit and the ultra heavy Ubermacht. The biggest talking point of their set was the removal of fascists in the scene and the inherent inability to create music that isn’t political. Their song Armia embodied this beautifully and showed off a progressive side of them. The track even ended with a beautiful piano outro which made for a grand conclusion to an otherwise harrowing song about the horrors of fascism. 

The energy was perpetually high and with power metal induced tracks like Voice of the Voiceless and Counterweight, there were countless opportunities to mosh inbetween the soaring Harmonised guitar lines. There was even a bit of straight up hook filled death metal in the form of Black Tears, a cover of Edge of Sanity. The variety was certainty there and those who caught Heaven Shall Burn with Trivium will surely remember some of these moments as they experienced them once again. 

Overall, this was a strong showcase of the power of death metal across the globe and even though it wasn’t as packed as it realistically should have been, there was still a grand time to be had while revelling in all the blast beats and sweeps. The support bands here may have been the main draw for some but hopefully at least some of them walked away as brand new Heaven Shall Burn fans. 

Frozen Soul – Christopher James Ryan Photography

Black Dahlia Murder – Christopher James Ryan Photography

Heaven Shall Burn – Christopher James Ryan Photography