Artist: Sabaton
Title: Coat of Arms
Type: Album
Label: Nuclear Blast

Hailing from Falun, Sweden, Power Metal legends ‘Sabaton’ were first formed in 1999 and were lucky enough to be signed to well known label Nuclear Blast. ‘Sabaton’ recorded an album in 2002 titled ‘Metalizer’ on another record label but was sadly wasn’t released. In 2004 after recording the demo ‘Panzer Battalion’ the band had several offers from record labels but instead of signing, they later decided to record the album ‘Primo Victoria’ and fund it out of their own pocket. They eventually signed to Black Lodge, a Swedish label, then recording another album ’Attero Dominatus’. With 2 albums on the go they successfully managed to get a European tour with the likes of ‘Edguy’ and cheese metallers ‘Dragonforce’. Their debut album ‘Metalizer’ was later released as a double cd and got to number 1 in the Swedish Hard Rock charts. ‘The Art of War’ the 1998 album from Sabaton did extremely well and took the band in the next step to their career. Now with a new album ‘Coat of Arms,’ let’s see what these Power Metal Swedes have to offer...

All of the tracks were extremely impressive, but the ones that stood out the most were the opening track ‘Coat of Arms’ with the quite epic intro, sounding a lot like Nightwish but way better! The galloping drums and guitars with the chanting vocals of singer Joakim makes you want to jump on the nearest horse and raise a sword in the air in a ‘Manowar’ style! ‘Uprising’ with its groovy and slow yet windmill worthy rhythm, extremely catchy chorus and beautiful guitar solo in the middle section is an all round win! Another awesome intro for the track ‘The Final Solution’ is simple but effective! With heart wrenching war lyrics such as “when freedom burns the final solution, dreams fade away and all hope turns to dust,” the vocals are just perfect!. ‘Wehrmacht’ has a much darker feel to the other tracks; this is possibly one of my favourites. With the drums, you can imagine marching to this track and the clever melody that the keyboards are spitting out gives an almost spooky effect to the song. The last on the album ‘Metal Ripper’ has the cheesiest intro (in a good way; a little bit of cheese is ok) and catchy riffs with a grand chorus that is a guaranteed sing along track! Also containing what I think to be the best guitar solo on the album.

Well, what can I say - this album impressed me in so many ways! The vocalist Joakim Broden is just a genius at writing catchy lyrics and his growly vocals which fit to perfection! The guitar work is equally catchy, drumming fit for an army march and keyboards..... just perfect! I was lucky enough to see these guys live at Hammerfest in Prestatyn and they didn’t let me down. The band was full of smiles and even joining in on some banter with the crowd. Every true power metal fan will surely like these and they seem like they are definitely sticking around!

http://www.sabaton.net/
http://www.myspace.com/sabaton