SABATON

“THE GREAT WAR”

Album Review by Piers Renfree

8/10

My interest in the Great War of 1914-1918 (or World War One as it is known now) was started when I first saw the mid-80’s sci-fi/action film “Biggles” (or “Biggles; Adventures In Time” to give it it’s full title). The film led me into reading the books by Capt W.E. Johns (no time travel in these stories) and I also discovered Commando Comics. In 2014, I saw Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson take part in a re-enactment display of World War One air combat at Sonisphere Festival – he flew a Fokker Triplane, the same type of plane that the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, flew in that war and last year, I watched, probably the best film I’ll ever see on World War One, “They Shall Not Grow Old” – it really brought home what the lads in the trenches on the Western Front went through.

So when the opportunity to review the new Sabaton album “The Great War”, which is full of songs about the First World War, came along, I had to take it.

Sabaton are not a new group to me, I already have a couple of their albums in my music collection, “Coat Of Arms” and “The Last Stand”, so I know that I like their music going into this album. The band (which are named after a knight’s foot armour), were formed in Sweden, in December 1999. In their time they have played the UK, Europe, Japan and North America and have toured with the likes of DragonForce, HammerFall and Edguy. On 7th February this year, Sabaton launched their YouTube channel, Sabaton History, which documents the history of events behind the band’s songs. Produced, engineered and mixed by Jonas Kjellgren, this is the band’s ninth album to date – current line-up Joakim Brodén (lead vocals & keyboards), Pär Sundstrom (bass guitar & backing vocals), Chris Rörland (guitar & backing vocals), Tommy Johsson (guitar & backing vocals) & Hannes van Dahl (drums & backing vocals) and was released in July via Nuclear Blast Records. Musically this album is very much Sabaton, business as usual – if you’re already a fan, you should like it, if you’re not a fan, this won’t change your mind. Lyrically, the album includes songs about T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence Of Arabia), the aforementioned Red Baron (who has already had songs about him written and performed by Iced Earth & Iron Maiden), the battle of Paschendale (again, this topic has been previously covered by Iron Maiden) and the battle of Verdun, amongst others. I was fortunate to have received the special “History Edition”, which includes a spoken word intro to each song, a very nice touch to the album.

Ex-Sabaton guitarist, Thobbe Englund helps his former bandmates out with a guitar solo on the ninth song, “Fields of Verdun” while Antti Martikainen provides the orchestral arrangements for the song. The final song “In Flanders Fields” is a departure – at 1:57, it is sung by a choir, with no musical accompaniment.

All in all, I really enjoyed this album and like the other two in my collection, this will get plenty more airplay.

TRACKLIST

The Future Of Warfare

Seven Pillars Of Wisdom

82 nd All The Way

The Attack Of The Dead Men

Devil Dogs

The Red Baron

Great War

A Ghost In The Trenches

Fields Of Verdun

The End Of The War To End All Wars

In Flanders Fields

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