The new Sabaton album is carrying a trackload of history along with it. For the first time in their career, the Swedish release an album in two versions, one in English and one in Swedish. I would like to ask you to help me on this one and remind me if there is an artist who’s done the same in the past… I would appreciate it even more if you left Julio Iglesias and Glen Medeiros out of this…
Sabaton is a Master Band! No doubt about it; nobody can deny they have done so much during their course of time in Metal music. Some peeps might not like them, some others might not even know them, however, that doesn’t mean they are not exceptional. I’ve been following them since 2006 and I must admit that the band with the Metal thematology and the Nightwish keyboards has come a long way. I’ve seen them live on stage and they are absolutely awesome!
About the new album though… Last March Joakim Broden, lead singer of the band, confirmed that his band mates, the guitarists, the drummer and the keys player, have left the band!. Only Par Sundstrom (bass) stayed behind. New musicians were recruited, the band missed the first three American shows due to visa delay for the new members. Sabaton are on tour as we speak and they’re gonna tour till the end of the year.
This one is a typical Sabaton superalbum. Epical, catchy, galloping, with Broden’s voice blasting through the speakers. First video, “A lifetime of war”, is a characteristic sample, a beautiful melody, a splendid arrangement. Yet, the real Epic here is “The Carolean’s prayer”, a six-min marching elegancy, featuring amazing backing vox and exploding themes. Trying to catch our breath? Ain’t gonna happen! “Killing ground” is throwing us back to the wall; this one could easily be the second single. Sabaton sound so Epical that even David DeFeis would love it! “Poltava” features a chorus you will adore. Theatrical, catchy… simply magnificent!
The album concept refers to the years of the Swedish Empire. Yes, we are talking about the same empire which built a mighty war vessel, Vasa, prepared it for war and the ship made a few hundred… yards and then sank! Yeah, the naval architect surely was a bad one! 333 years later the vessel was lifted up and the Swedish turned it into a museum. Twenty nine million (!!!) visitors paid entrance fee to actually see the Vasa upclose and that is the best example that you can make a fortune out of a nearly lost case, when you have the brains…
“Long live the king” is up next, following the same pattern. Big sound, baroque style, gigantic arrangements… Same goes for “Ruina Imperii”, keyboards have made a might wall around it. Reter Tagtgren’s production is just ferocious! The band has stated the best and the best only for this particular production work, I do believe it’s unique. It’s an amazing job, the very way Tuomas would dream of.
“In the army now” is the album bonus track… A GREat cover, Sabaton have literally adopted this song as theirs. Broden’s voice color has no match and his German-oriented accent is transforming the song into a living nightmare. I have also listened to a couple of tracks in Swedish, they tend to present the songs a bit more war-ry! Especially in terms of back vocals involved.
