2019 CD Reviews - Sabaton - The Great War

Sabaton

The Great War

Nuclear Blast - 2019

http://www.sabaton.net

After being introduced to Sabaton via their album Heroes and loving it, my fandom for the band continued to grow with their next album The Last Stand. I've spent a lot of time over the last few years beating the drum for the greatness of the band.

So when I saw the news that they'd be releasing their new album The Great War and that it would be all about World War I, I was kind of excited to hear it. I bought the album when it came out but time and circumstances conspired against me listening to it until recently.

And while I still think the album is pretty good, I have to say that when stacked against their previous two releases, I think The Great War suffers by comparison.

First off, the band's penchant for well told tales of history is completely intact. I take no issue with the album in that regard. Between the lyrical content and the brief text explanation behind each song that accompanies the lyrics in the booklet, the stories that I either was or wasn't aware of are invariably of such interest that I want to learn more on my own.

No, instead I just wasn't swayed as much as I have been in the past with the songs themselves. Or perhaps I should say the delivery of the songs.

In the telling of people, places (where battles occured) and things in charting the course of World War I (aka the war to end all wars), the album does start off exceedingly well.

Starting with the introduction of tanks to the battlefield in "The Future of Warfare", Sabaton delivers a trio of killer tracks to get things off to a smashing start. And while it may seem odd to say this given the subject matter, the band has a knack with crafting some memorably rhythmic choruses. The fast charging nature of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", which is about Lawrence of Arabia has an instantly memorable chorus that I found myself actually singing along to rather quickly. As for the song "82nd All The Way", the tale of Alvin York is one of the best tracks on The Great War from the first time you hear it.

But when "The Attack of the Dead Men" starts, the adrenaline produced by the Swedish power metallers is sapped away a bit. The song is markedly slower. It didn't gel together all that well to my ears, lacking the melodic sensibility the band usually is very much at ease in displaying in their songwriting.

It may seem slightly jingoistic on my part but as Sabaton sang about the U.S. Marines in "Devil Dogs", I couldn't help feel a surge of patriotism. There's a very cool vibe that echoes throughout the songs.

Though I thought the intro to "The Red Baron" was a bit odd, the song unfolds in such a rapid fire manner that the intro is soon forgotten. If you are somehow unable to conjure up the brutality and horror of warfare on your own, the opening two lines of "Great War" will go a long way in helping you get the full knowledge.

"Where dead men lies I'm paralyzed, my brothers' eyes are gone

And he shall be buried here, nameless marks his grave"

The song is from a soldier's POV during the Battle of Passchendaele and while I think Iron Maiden's "Paschendale" is a better track (the chorus for "Great War" is a bit weak), it is still pretty decent.

Besides "82nd All The Way", the best song on the album is "A Ghost In The Trenches". The song is about Francis Pegahmagabow and from the title to the lyrical content, this track won me over from the first listen. And when you read about the man's story, you want to know more about him.

After that song, the album kind of petered out for me. The Battle of Verdun is the subject of "Fields of Verdun" and while the song is bristling with pent up energy, it just didn't strike my fancy.

Sabaton charts the end of the war with "The End of The War To End All Wars" but the song somehow left me a little unmoved. The postscript of "In Flanders Field" was interesting in that they used the actual poem as the lyrics. But the quiet nature of the chorus of voices singing the lyrics helped the album fade out in a kind of unsatisfactory way for me.

I should stress that this is just how the album struck me. Call it a bit hit and miss because there are some wonderful metallic tracks here. I just think Sabaton didn't quite hit the bullseye for me this time out.

As much as it aspires to join the band's other recent releases in terms of greatness, I just found The Great War to be missing that little something extra that would've pushed it over the top in my estimation.