Invictus (Iconoclast III)

Invictus (Iconoclast III) is the sixth studio album by German extreme metal band Heaven Shall Burn and is the last part of the Iconoclast trilogy, following their previous studio album Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance) released in 2008 and the live CD/DVD Bildersturm – Iconoclast II (The Visual Resistance) released in 2009.

Invictus (Iconoclast III)
Studio album by Heaven Shall Burn
Released	May 21, 2010 (2010-05-21)
Genre	Melodic death metal[1] metalcore[2]
Length	45:08
Language	English, German
Label	Century Media
Producer	Alexander Dietz, Maik Weichert
Heaven Shall Burn chronology
Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance) (2008) Invictus (Iconoclast III) (2010) Veto (2013)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[1]
AllMusic	[2]
PopMatters	9/10[3]
Rock Hard	9.0/10[4]
Sputnikmusic	2.5/5[5]

It was released on May 21, 2010 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On June 8, 2010 it was released in the United States. The band uploaded the songs "Combat" and "The Omen" on their Myspace profile as a preview.^[6]

The album entered the German Media Control Charts at No. 9.^[7] Selling 900 copies in the first week^[8] Invictus entered the US Top Heatseekers at No. 48^[9]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"		1:10
2.	"The Omen"		3:38
3.	"Combat"		3:48
4.	"I Was I Am I Shall Be"		3:56
5.	"Buried in Forgotten Grounds"		5:33
6.	"Sevastopol"		4:04
7.	"The Lie You Bleed for"		4:41
8.	"Return to Sanity"		3:20
9.	"Against Bridge Burners"		3:29
10.	"Of Forsaken Poets"		4:32
11.	"Nowhere" (Therapy? cover, Limited Edition bonus track[10])	Andy Cairns	2:25
12.	"Given in Death"		5:12
13.	"Outro"		1:46
Total length:			47:34

Bonus DVD: "Defending Sparta" (Live in Vienna, February 21, 2010)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Forlorn Skies"
2.	"Counterweight"
3.	"Voice of the Voiceless"
4.	"Endzeit"
5.	"Buried in Forgotten Grounds"
6.	"The Disease"
7.	"Architects of the Apocalypse"
8.	"The Omen"
9.	"Unleash Enlightment"
10.	"Of no Avail"
11.	"Black Tears" (Edge of Sanity cover)	Dan Swanö
12.	"Behind a Wall of Silence"

The limited edition includes, a wristband, a sticker and a bonus DVD containing a special live performance in Vienna with the theme "Defending Sparta". Inspired by the movie 300, the band chose 300 fans, gave them special T-shirts and let them have a battle on the band's music.^[11]

Credits

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes.

Heaven Shall Burn Marcus Bischoff – vocals Alexander Dietz – guitars, producer, engineer Maik Weichert – guitars, producer Eric Bischoff – bass Matthias Voigt – drums Production Tue Madsen – mixing, mastering Patrick W. Engel – engineering, additional guitars and bass Ralf Müller – engineering Red Design – box design Joshua Andrew Belanger – digipak design Stefan Wibbeke – additional design

Additional musicians Sabine Weniger (Deadlock) – additional vocals on "Given in Death" Sebastian Reichl (Deadlock) – additional guitar on "Given in Death" Patrick Schleitzer – additional vocals Ólafur Arnalds – "Intro" and "Outro"

Production ("Defending Sparta")

• Alexander Dietz – recording, mixing
• Patrick W. Engel – mixing, mastering
• Werner Stockinger – show production
• Benjamin Mahnert – show production
• Maik Weichert – show production
• Steffen "Slayer" Jochmann – FoH sound
• Martin Kames – light design

Release history

Region	Date
Germany, Austria, Switzerland	May 21, 2010
United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Europe	May 24, 2010
Spain, Italy	May 25, 2010
Sweden, Finland, Hungary	May 26, 2010
North America	June 8, 2010

Chart performance

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12]	17
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[7]	9
Greek Albums (IFPI)[13]	14
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[14]	258
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15]	38
US Top Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)	48[9]