Coat Of Arms Cd Review

Swedish Power Metal outfit Sabaton was formed in 1999 and has continued to release six albums including the band’s latest release, Coat Of Arms. The band sings mainly about historical wars and battles referring a lot to The Six-Day War, World War II, The Holocaust, The Battle Of Berlin and The Winter War in Finland...

Fist For Fight was the band's first album released in 2001 (with cover artwork done by legendary Ken Kelly from Manowar) followed by Primo Victoria in 2005. One year later saw the third album, Attero Dominatus, which continued the war theme of their second album with songs like “Back In Control” which focuses on the British liberation of the Falkland Islands during the War, “Angels Calling” and “Attero Dominatus”, which both were about the trench warfare during World War I and the battle of Berlin respectively. Previous album, The Art Of War charted at number five in Sweden and was also honoured with a Swedish Grammy nomination. The band did some extensive touring resulting in sharing stages with DragonForce, Therion, Grave Digger and Hammerfall.

Coat Of Arms is like another history lesson, but a damn cool one that you actually want to listen to. With gut-wrenchingly addicting riff melodies that are simple but catchy and songs which lead very much into the classic old-school 80s Rock in songs like “Uprising” and “Metalripper”. At times the guitars tend to veer towards Fear Factory's staccato riffs, and in certain songs sound like Dark Moor. With Daniel Mÿhr on the keyboard it gives a much more dramatic effect to the battle scene pictured when listening to their war-ballads. Expect some cool crunchy riffs in songs like “Coat Of Arms” and “Midway” where at times you feel as though you should be watching them at a metal theatre. Sabaton do however, also fall prey to some cheesy choruses like in “Aces In Exile”, Wehrmacht” and “The Final Solution”; It all starts to sound a bit too familiar after a while.

Hear the battle cry about the holocaust in “The Final Solution”, or get the story about the Norwegian heavy water sabotage that took place at Vemork in “Sabateurs”, or find out about the Nazi war machine and the effects of the Third Reich on an ordinary German Soldier in “Wehrmacht”. Songs like “Screaming Eagles” and “White Death” are about sniper legend Simo Häyhä who killed 500 plus Soviet soldiers in three months during the winter war. But a special track must be “Metal Ripper”. It is a tribute to Heavy Metal like in their songs “Metal Machine” and “Metal Crüe” from previous albums, but this time using lyrics from Heavy Metal Songs and includes lyrical tributes to bands such as AC/DC, Mötley Crue, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Hammerfall, Deep Purple, Ozzy, Rainbow, Queen and Queensrÿche. The album also includes the instrumental bonus tracks “Coat Of Arms” and “Metal Ripper” which actually sound a lot more interesting than hearing them with battle cries.

Basically, if you love Sabaton’s previous album, Art Of War you will certainly enjoy this one. Not much has changed and you will often find many similarities to their older work. If, however you are unfamiliar with the band, give Sabaton a try, be sure to be transferred into the fields of war through their mesmerising music. But if you are not into Battle Metal - skip this one completely.

Reviewed By: Tamlyn Grey

Coat Of Arms Tracklist

01. Coat Of Arms
02. Midway
03. Uprising
04. Screaming Eagles
05. The Final Solution
06. Aces In Exile
07. Saboteurs
08. Wehrmacht
09. White Death
10. Metal Ripper
11. Coat Of Arms (Instrumental Bonus Track)
12. Metal Ripper (Instrumental Bonus Track)

Sabaton Line-up

Joakim Brodén – Vocals
Rickard Sundén – Guitar
Oskar Montelius – Guitar
Pär Sundström – Bass
Daniel Mÿhr – Keyboard
Daniel Mullback - Drums

Sabaton Weblinks

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