Description

A small bent mark on the backside of the slipcase

Rare 2010 Swedish re-issue on Black Lodge Records with 5 bonus tracks and slipcase

On the surface, Sabaton is a power metal band. Big deal, I know. The first major departure from the anticipated ‘power metal template’ is what a friend once described as ‘a real emphasis on the word ‘power’’. Gone are the frantic riffs and slightly thin sound that so many power metal acts have. Gone, too, is the tenor voice so common in power metal, replaced by the very distinctive gruff baritone of Joakim Broden. Broden’s voice is important for the band’s overall sound, as he frequently sounds like a crazed drill sergeant. This is significant, as the band focuses almost exclusively on military themes, and having them delivered by ‘the voice of war’, as the liner notes describe him, makes the theme sound much less of a put-on than the epic battles described by so many other power metal acts. The conflicts described herein span most of the last century. We have World War 2 (‘Attero Dominatus’, ‘Nuclear Attack’, ‘Rise of Evil’), the Falklands Crisis (‘Back In Control’), general terrorism (‘In The Name of God’) and three tracks about unspecified wars (‘Angels Calling’, ‘Light in the Black’ and ‘We Burn’, the last of which could theoretically be about the Balkans). Importantly, Sabaton doesn’t choose sides most of the time. Of the opening trio about World War 2, ‘Attero Dominatus’ is from the perspective of the Soviet captors of Berlin, ‘Nuclear Attack’ retells the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with if anything a focus on the Japanese, while ‘Rise of Evil’ recounts Hitler’s rise to power before the war itself. Lest this seem like a focus on ‘the bad guys’, Broden bathes terrorists in bile on ‘In the Name of God’, shouting for them to ‘Stand up and show me your face’. But of course, this is a power metal album, regardless of subject matter, and all the usual singalong choruses are present and correct here. It might well be a bit of a challenge to sing “Start the Holocaust/The Reich will rise/To last a thousand years” in good conscience, as the chorus of “Rise of Evil” runs, but that bombastic Sabaton sound will probably override any ethical considerations.

Track list:
1. Attero Dominatus
2. Nuclear Attack
3. Rise Of Evil
4. In The Name Of God
5. We Burn
6. Angels Calling
7. Back In Control
8. A Light In The Black
9. Metal Crue
10. Fur Immer-Doro cover
11. Langa Bollar Pa Bengt-Svenne Rubins cover
12. Metal Medley-live in Falun 2008
13. Nightchild
14. Primo Victoria-demo version