Sabaton-The War To End All Wars

“Sarajevo,” starts things off. A song that gets goosebumps moving on the listener’s arms, as the narration sets the scene for what’s about to unfold. The instrumentation builds the anticipation, twisting and striding through into the darkened abyss. When Joakim, Sabaton’s singer starts, a roar comes through and the band are away. There is no immediate bombast, but the song itself gets the listener’s heart pounding.

“Stormtroopers,” comes in next. It smashes through restraint, turning the tide into a growing monster that never stops. Narrating the shock troops and the growing push of the war. The band are on fire as they move and whirl through the narration of time and war.

“Dreadnought,” is suitably grand, pressing in on the side of time, alerting the whirlwind to chaotic underpinnings in the twist of time. Slowly whistling into being, portraying the growing machinery that progressed during the war.

“Then Unkillable Soldier,” is an absolute monster of a song. It gets the listener’s heart moving rapidly, the rhythm is intoxicating and the story, by God, the story. This is something that Sabaton does fantastically well. This is a song that gets into your head. ‘In A Time of Madness’ indeed.

“Soldier Of Heaven,” comes next. A song that is instantly recognisable thanks to the synths. The lyrics tell another chilling story, twisting through the pathways of time, creeping into the turning passes. White Friday gets the recognition that it never got before.

“Hellfighters,” is raw Sabaton. Unfurled through the fury of time and space, snarling into the biting tension of time. The song snaps and creaks, pressing into the turning of the stiles. A song that never lets up. God Bless The Harlem Hellfighters.

“Race To The Sea,” takes things to another realm. The race to the sea, a moment of the war that saw the combatants try and get to the sea before the other. The hope, the desire and the despair are perfectly captured in this song. The band get the melodies to reflect the situation perfectly.

“Lady of The Dark,” swaggers full of grit and taunt. A song that hints at something lurking through the pressing time of stress and creation.

“The Valley Of Death,” roars into being. A song that brings Bulgaria to the forefront hitting its stride and delivering something impressive and reliant for all to see.

“Christmas Truce,” a tear-jerker of a song. One that hints at the world lurking within the pressing bonds of time and of man. A song that never ceases to amaze. Perfectly capturing that one moment where the guns fell silent and humanity returned to the battlefield, if only for a moment, the savagery was kept at bay.

“Versailles,” finishes the album off. It presents the hopes of the combatants that the war and the fighting would end. Setting a hope that would never succeed, something that gets asks again and again. ‘Is this really the war to end all wars?’ A brilliantly executed song.

The War To End All Wars is a simply phenomenal album. It captures the spirit, the hope, the despair, the adventure and everything else that occurred in The Great War. It sums up just what may have been the most brutal conflict of history until its successor in 1939-45. A fantastic album.

Be sure to get it when it’s released on March 4th via Nuclear Blast.