SABATON „The Art Of War Limited Edition”

Music: Power Metal
Website: http://www.sabaton.net
Country: Sweden


Cool songs: Ghost Division, Unbreakable, Cliffs of Gallipoli, Union (Slopes of St. Benedict), The Price of a Mile

Two years! Two long years did the Swedes from SABATON force everybody to wait for their next studio/author’s album. How did this happen? It does not matter now, because the time spent on writing and recording new material is priceless. Within two years they have released two quite good albums (‘Primo Victoria’ and ‘Attero Dominatus’) and now they took a two-years break, in order to crush the public with their pulverizing ideas. Was it really worth waiting for the album?

The answer to this question is surprisingly easy: YES! It was, and if SABATON had served a five-years break it would also have been worth waiting for their album. First of all, the content is damn intelligent, it is an intellectual masterpiece based on the war treatise by an Ancient China thinker and general, Sun Tzu, titled The Art of War. There are thirteen juicy compositions and each of them corresponds with one of the chapters (as the book has got thirteen of them). Also there are direct quotations from the book, read by a feminine voice, being the intros or outros to main compositions. The Limited Edition of the album differs a bit from the common version: it is prepared with great attention and excellence, the DVD box contains a CD, booklet and the book by Sun Tzu (translated into English). The rest is the same as in the common release. There are no bonus tracks or video clips, just a different box set.

The material is pure SABATON. It is just impossible to confuse the band with anyone else, and I do not have in mind the warfare lyrical theme. It is the matter of sound and atmosphere which are extravagant and very authentic. The gentlemen are extremely energetic and it is audible (also visible during their gigs). As mentioned earlier, each song tells a different story corresponding to one of the chapters embedded in The Art of War book. Brodén and Sundström did a fantastic job by writing texts closely related to the content of the book, avoiding plagiarism and pseudo-romanticism. Their performance is at the heights of writing. The album starts extremely aggressively with furious ‘Ghost Division’, being a quite simple composition embellished with a keyboard solo. The energy embedded in it smites from the beginning till its end. Later on it is just better. The drums are perfectly mastered and the fills are pretty subtle. Mullback kills with his talent and fantastic control over percussion. The drum-parts are very intelligent and it is audible that they were thought over: once they behave like an army on the march (slow beats, lazy steps of a tired battalion in ‘The Price of a Mile’ or an energetic march of enthusiastic soldiers in ‘Panzerkampf’, with great choirs building the Russian national anthem-like atmosphere), later they are the furious gunshots mowing down the soldiers caught in an ambush (‘Unbreakable’). The latter composition deserves more attention as it is a vivid bow in the direction of BLACK SABBATH. The main tide is taken from ‘A National Acrobat’ but it builds the atmosphere of the composition only till its middle. Exactly at this time appears a coup de foudre, the action takes an unexpected turn and everything goes wild. Definitely, it is an outstanding composition, reinforced by an appropriate text. Just as ‘Cliffs of Gallipoli’, a composition which takes the listener to the 1915 when during the battle thousands of lives were wasted. It is the best composition on the album. Mainly thanks to its progressiveness and very poetic-like piano parts which make the whole more dramatic. It is a bow towards the traditional rock ripping the heart with piercing solo. And ‘The Price of a Mile’ – a mile stone of the SABATON art. A perfect mourning composition describing the tragedy of Passchendaele. A very heartbreaking epitaph. The most interesting is the fact that the music is very vivid, i.e. with the music in the background the listener actually is able to see the picture or theme of the composition. Music builds an interesting picture gallery, therefore the whole is even more spellbinding.

Probably the weakest parts of ‘The Art of War’ album are the SABATON-like compositions, i.e. their stylish songs which actually do not bring anything new to the whole. ‘Talvisota’ and ‘Firestorm’ are just simple blasting triggers, furious speed-like compositions being just album fillers. They do not have a special climate or character (like the rest of the tracks) but they are there. In case of ‘Talvisota’ the idea is clear: fast pace, thrilling motifs and fantastic guitar solo. But ‘Firestorm’ is just an unsuccessful ending, without any idea how to do it. All the good content is earlier so probably something had to be given at the end. Too bad for ‘Firestorm’ as it could have been used better.

The sound of SABATON is the same, nothing has changed and it is good, because they know what should be done in these terms. The previous albums were well prepared and this one is also a technical masterpiece. In case of instruments the guitars are somewhere in the background, sometimes even over dominated by the keyboards. It is audible especially in the opening ‘Ghost Division’ where a keyboard solo appears (smaller key solos embellish the full material). Thanks to this operation the album gained more progressiveness and moved a bit higher in genre ranks. What is more, it is the most complete and teamwork album SABATON have recorded so far.

The musicians say that ‘The Art of War’ is their best album so far. And that is correct thinking, because their previous albums were not so coherent. Of course, they all are war-oriented but it is the most thought over one. It grew up to be the musicians’ opus magnum, and probably will remain this way, because such albums are recorded only once in a lifetime. It is unbelievable that SABATON gained so many titles and honours during such a short period of time. Therefore ups to them! On the other hand all of their future albums will be compared to ‘The Art of War’, thus it will be difficult to repeat its great success. All in all let’s hope they will serve an uncompromising power metal straight from their hearts.

note: 9.5/10

Tracklist

1. Sun Tzu Says: ‘Laying Plans’
2. Ghost Division – ‘Waging War’
3. The Art of War – ‘Attack by Stratagem’
4. 40:1 – ‘Tactical Dispositions’
5. Unbreakable – ‘Energy’
6. The Nature of Warfare – ‘Weak Points and Strong’
7. Cliffs of Gallipoli – ‘Manoeuvring’
8. Talvisota – ‘Variation in Tactics’
9. Panzerkampf – ‘The Army on the March’
10. Union (Slopes of St. Benedict) – ‘Terrain’
11. The Price of a Mile – ‘The Nine Situations’
12. Firestorm – ‘Attack by Fire’
13. A Secret – ‘The Use of Spies’

Total playing time 49:28

Line-up

Joakim Brodén – vocals
Rickard Sundén – guitars
Oskar Montelius – guitars
Pär Sundström – bass
Daniel Mullback – drums
Daniel M˙hr – keyboards

Extra backing vocals:
Marie-Louise Strömqvist
Mia Mullback
Ĺsa Österlund
Hannele Junkala
Thomas Nyström
Christian Ericsson
Hjalle Östman
Björn Lundqvist

Additional piano:
Calle Sandlund