SABATON
The War To End All Wars NUCLEAR BLAST
All-conquering war-chroniclers get emotional
Sabaton: big fans of cybergoth dance videos
TIM TRONCKOE/PRESS
IF YOU’RE ACCUSING Sabaton of writing the same album 10 times, you can get fu— alright, fair enough. This record is literally based on the same thing as the last one. The Swedish power metallers have carved a lucrative, ludicrous niche penning odes to military conflict, soldiers and historic events across nine full-lengths; their 10th succeeds 2019’s The Great War, recounting more valour and grief from World War I.
This won’t change your mind if you think Sabaton are daft or a bit tone-deaf. It is overblown. Melodramatic. But that doesn’t mean it’s one-note – Joakim Brodén’s metal crüe have always had a knack for conveying emotion. If you view the orchestral swells and thighslapping key changes through the lens of, say, an opera, Hollywood movie, or Iron Maiden doing Paschendale, it makes much more sense.