NB: This is a review of the ‘Amarthius’ DVD of the release. The full package consists of two additional discs, the ‘Joel’ DVD (live from Summer Breeze) and the ‘Decade of Expression’ live CD.

Iconoclast was one of the strongest releases to come out of 2008 and you could say that it makes a lot of sense to document the live efforts that followed in its brutal wake.

Consider it done!

The ‘Bildersturm – Iconoclast II (The Visual Resistance)’ DVD is if anything the visual proof of a band who have reached a higher level than most metalcore bands can hope for and clearly also a popularity of sorts if the shots of the enthusiastic audience are to be trusted. From the outset, the mighty Endzeit from ‘Iconoclast’, the audience is with the band. An impressive wall of death takes place during The Voice of the Voiceless and hardly leaves anyone in the venue out of the fun. Looks like fun!

Same can be said when fronter Marcus makes the entire venue jump up and down for the intro to Fallen Skies. Amazing stuff.

There are no fancy props, no monsters, no tits, no nothing here on this evening in Vienna where the major part of the DVD’s contents are from. It’s just a pro, tight and powerful band, a bunch of solid songs and a happy crowd. The sort of footage that makes you want to have been there and indeed to look forward to this year’s Wacken Open Air where Heaven Shall Burn will adorn the halls of metal. Black Tears! Black Tears! Uuuurgh!

The bonus material is, as it is often the case, not as interesting as the live footage. It’s interesting enough to see HSB around Europe and in the States plus various backstage clips, but it’s not really what makes this DVD tick.

Oh, and mind you, everything is in German, of course. Useful words: ‘Klo’ means toilet and ‘kacken’ means ‘take a dump’…

The most interesting bonus section is the live medley from Osabrück, where we see Heaven Shall Burn in a much smaller venue which demands closer interaction with the audience. That they master too.

Also noteworthy is the online rehearsal session the band goes through. Each band member in his own location, doing his part. Slightly weird that, but, hey, brave new world – who needs to be together for rehearsals?