[Cover photo credit to Candy Welz]

Today, Heaven Shall Burn release their album Heimat, and have also recently released the bleak video for “War Is The Father Of All” including the intro “Ad Arma”. The shoot was produced by Mirko Witzki. With the video, the band returns to a location that some fans will remember.

“Ad Arma” means “To arms” and “War Is The Father Of All,” is an epic anthem inspired by the war in Ukraine. It features a choir arranged by conductor Wilhelm Keitel and composed of Ukrainian musicians.

This theme runs throughout the album. The phrase comes from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who said over 2,500 years ago: “War is the father of all things and the king of all.” Tragically, that idea is experiencing a troubling renaissance today. The band sees in war, “destruction unleashed by despots, with no real winners.”

Guitarist Maik Weichert says about the track:

I grew up behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. For those of us who value peace, it’s a hard truth that the Cold War—with its arms race and nuclear deterrents—may have preserved peace more effectively than any international treaties. ‘If you hit me, I hit back harder’—that seems to resonate more with human nature than the wish for peace on Earth. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.