The Swedish historians are back with new accounts of bravery and warfare. It's an album that will kick the collective dust off their colleagues and show just how fresh a power metal album can sound in this day and age.
The only thing I disliked about the previous
Sabaton album, The Art of War, was the dominance of the keyboard and the drawn back position the guitar had in the sound. Fortunately this has been rectified completely on Coat of Arms. The guitarists have fought themselves to the frontline of the sound and this is where they should be as
Sabaton's music benefits greatly from having the spirited guitar work driving their songs. This doesn't mean the keyboard is gone, it's still all over the place, it's just found a better place in the sound where it enhances the music to great effect instead of taking it over.
After their ambitious interpretation of the Chinese war manual Coat of Arms takes a somewhat simpler, more direct approach and it's better for it.
The album opens with a gloriously bombastic call to arms. The title track is bound to spear your head and stay there with its immediacy and overly melodic core. If the chorus doesn't tick your inner urge to raise your hands high in the air and scream loudly along, envisioning hearing the song live as it illustriously depicts the tension of an army on the verge of unleashing hell, then you might as well forfeit this album here. Part of the joy of
Sabaton is the way the music energizes the listener in a positive way.
Joakim Brodén has a special way of rolling the words off his tongue and it never ceases to impress how perfectly his deep voice fits the music and its themes. As I mentioned the production is excellent and the resulting sound is heavy, clear and sumptuous.
The album has 10 songs and runs for less than 40 minutes.
Sabaton focus on quality songs and don't throw any kind of fillers in here. That has to be commended.
Beside the title track my absolute favorites are
Screaming Eagles and
White Death.
Screaming Eagles has a brilliantly heavy drive and a monstrous chorus section. It is an explosive song that doesn't hold back in any way. A special mood is set as Joakim shouts "ALONE!" in the opening moments of the song. As Easy as it is effective.
White Death is based on a genius guitar riff which works as a perfect bridge between the different parts of the song as well as an invitation to headbang wildly. There is even a small cue back to Panzer Battalion which I find quite funny, intentional or not. Strong melody, great drive and the "
Time to die" line is delivered to perfection.
The rest of the songs are of high quality and provide just the right atmosphere for the album to work.
Midway is a to-the-point heavy beast that can't be stopped,
The Final Solution,
Aces In Excile,
Saboteurs and
Wehrmacht provide a solid base for the album and the honorable heavy metal tribute hymn is back with
Metal Ripper. Excellent album all around.
Sabaton do not glorify war in their lyrics, they honor those who fought the battle. The lyrics are engaging and work very well. Ok, so maybe they do glorify it a bit in the title track but it's done in such an invigorating and cartoonish way that you can only surrender to it. It's clear that these guys take these things seriously and are not warmongers as some may judge them by an initial cursory impression.
Sabaton proudly stand as one of the most promising and refreshing bands in the power metal scene today. Along with
Cage they are great hopes for the genre.
Written by
Steen Saturday, May 15, 2010
Show all reviews by SteenRatingsSteen: 7.5/10Members: 10/10 - Average of 1 ratings.
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