heaven shall burn was formed by guitarist maik weichert and drummer matthias voigt in the fall of 1996 under the name consense. after the first demo recording in early 1997, vocalist marcus bischoff and bassist eric bischoff joined the band. in this form they started playing shows and festivals, this led to a contract with deeds of revolution records. the ep "in battle there is no law" was released in 1998 through deeds of revolution records and a split album with fall of serenity in 1999. shortly after second guitarist patrick schleitzer joined heaven shall burn.