Sabaton's New Album "Heroes" Out In May

Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton unveiled two artworks and tracklist of their new album "Heroes".
The new album will be out on 16th of May.

The album is described by the reviewers as "really well produced, arranged, energetic and melodic. Each song is different, begins with an unusual, catchy motive and gives the impression of participation on something bigger, than only another good heavy metal experience."

Tracklist:

1. Night Witches
2. No Bullets Fly
3. Smoking Snakes
4. Inmate 4859
5. To Hell And Back
6. The Ballad of Bull
7. Resist And Bite
8. Soldier of 3 Armies
9. Far From the Fame
10. Hearts of Iron

Official Trailer

Gig Review: Sabaton at The Venue in Vancouver, BC

Last night was a highly anticipated evening on my calendar.  Ever since seeing Sabaton kill it opening for Evergrey in October 2011, and being blown away by their performance, I knew I'd spend the money to see them again if they ever came to my part of the world.  And they did.  The gig was announced a few months ago and I put it on my calendar in big letters, hardly able to wait.  Last night's show in Vancouver was the only Canadian date on Sabaton's current North American headlining tour, and even though I was having a shitty day and nearly talked myself out of going, I'm so glad I pulled myself together and attended.  It was fucking brilliant.

Using local support acts throughout the tour, last night's bill included Vancouver indy band Unleash the Archers and Kelowna's Empyria, a prog band signed with Nightmare records.  Doors opened at 8:00 and there was a modest line-up.  Because I've been sick, I didn't get to Scrape Records to purchase my ticket for $15, and instead plunked down $20 at the door.  Lesson learned: go get the ticket from the local metal shop instead of winging it on show night - you'll save money and support the record store.  In the end, the cost didn't matter; I'd plunk down twice that to see Sabaton again.

That first Sabaton show in Vancouver was also held at The Venue, located on the theatre strip on Granville St.  I'm not the biggest fan of The Venue - the floors are sticky, the floor isn't raked, and there is minimal seating for when you want to get off your feet for a while.  But I like I a hell of a lot better than the Rickshaw, where most metal acts perform when they come to Vangroovy.  But one thing that is good about The Venue is that the merch stands are in a common sense place, unlike at the Rickshaw where they are too close to the pit and always a pain in the ass to get to.

Anyway, bitching about the venue aside, as soon as I got inside I visited the merch tables of Empyria and Unleash the Archers, happy to see that Brittney Slays, UtA's vocalist, was manning the table.  I knew I had to say hi; my colleague at Sonic Cathedral, Robin Stryker, would have admonished me for not doing so, since Robin is a huge UtA fan and has had the pleasure of interviewing Brittney.  Also, my colleague at Black Wind Metal, Kevin, interviewed UtA for that site, so I had to go and say hi and introduce myself just to say that I had.  Brittney was doing her vocal warm-ups at the station as she handled money, and when I had the chance to speak to her, she was very lovely to chat to and very gracious.  In the end, I'm glad I got over some of my social anxieties and approached her; she is totally approachable, as is the band's bassist, who came to assist her.

Incidentally, I didn't recognize any of the house music that was playing before the show started, but there was one familiar song: Nightwish's "Storytime."  That made me happy, and I don't care who heard me singing along!

Brittney Slayes of UtA

Taking the stage first was Uta, and they did so at about 8:45.  For about half an hour, I'd staked out a spot to the right of the stage just under the giant hanging speakers.  This is a typical strategy of mine at gigs since I like to take pix.  When UtA took the stage there was a huge whoop from the crowd.  This band definitely has a following of significance and the crowd was happy to see them.  When Brittney began to sing, I was blown away.  She is so powerful she almost outsings the band.  I have all of UtA's releases (their most recent is an EP that's now available on iTunes) and let me tell you, she sounds so much more amazing live.  She is so dynamic and charismatic when she's belting out their tunes right in front of you.  I'm not exaggerating when I say I was blown away - it was a fantastic performance, complete with tons of windmill headbanging and the whole lot.  If you ever get a chance to see UtA live, DO IT!  They certainly won me over and Brittney how has a new fangirl.

My only beef about this set is that I didn't get many good photos because some 7 foot tall schmuck decided to plant himself right in front of me, obscuring my view.  Fuck man, if you're that tall, go farther back and let the shorter people see properly!

Empyria

Next up was Kelowna's Empyria (pronounced empire-ee-ah).  Like I said, they're a prog metal band, and I thought they were OK.  Some of the members had very enthusiastic family members in the crowd, and that was fun to watch.  The music got better as they played further into their set, and I found myself getting into it more and more the farther the set went.  Overall, not exactly my cup of tea vocal-wise, but I respect this band for coming as far as it has in the time its been together, and it's definitely nothing to sneeze about to open for freaking Sabaton, so props to them.

And props to Sabaton for going the route of choosing local bands to open for them.  I think that's pretty classy. (Not to mention less expensive, which I totally realize.)

Finally, the set up and last minute sound checks for Sabaton were done, and the lights dimmed...and it was on.

As with the last Vancouver gig, the band chose fellow Swedes, Europe, to provide their intro music, and it was the same song, "The Final Countdown."  Loved it!  Then all went dark, and bursting onto the stage was Sabaton's new drummer, Robban Bäck, completely shirtless.  He took a bow then sat behind his kit, and then came the banging out of the intro to "Ghost Division."  Singer Joakim Broden jumped onto the stage and started belting out the lyrics and pounding around like he embodied the music.

Sabaton takes the stage!

If there is one thing I can say about Sabaton live, and I realize this isn't particularly creative, but it's all I can come up with because words are hard to come up with for this stuff, it's that they are larger than life.  All their movements are so full of energy that their stage presence is nothing like I have ever seen before.  They are all so into their music that they literally embody it.

For those of you who don't follow the band, they have three new members after a split a while back, and I wondered how they new members would be on stage.  And it turns out that they were just as awesome as the previous incarnation of Sabaton.  Guitars are split between Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund seemingly pretty evenly, which was nice to see because it gave each musician a chance to shine in front of the crowd with their shredding abilities.  The only band member Sabaton hasn't replaced is Daniel Myr, the keyboardist; instead, they must be using a backing tape, which was fine.  I would like to see the keys played live, though!

The set list included all the usual faves, "40-1", "Primo Victoria", and stuff from the current album, Carolus Rex.  A few times, Joakim invited the crowd to help choose the songs, giving us a choice between two and taking a vote by most noise made.  "White Death" from Coat of Arms was chosen that way, as was the "Carolean's Prayer", which was sung in Swedish, since Joakim told the crowd that they'd had lots of feedback from fans requesting a song sung in the band's native language.  Other songs were "Poltava", "The Art of War" and "Gott Mit Uns."  I can't remember everything on the set list.

As for the crowd, it was ridiculous!  I'm so glad I staked out my claim early because I kept getting pushed forward.  It was nuts, but nuts in a good way.  There were no assholes doing the stupid wall of death or running around in a circle attacking each other with inflatable swords, hammers, or axes - thank God.  Everyone was very well behaved and there just for the music and the band, and it was great.  The band was very gracious about the reception, Joakim holding his arm out to show us his goosebumps.

Another great thing about this show was the simple lighting.  Some shows over light, IMO.  Sabaton keeps it pretty simple with not too much strobe lighting and not too much oddly coloured lighting, and a the lighting is mostly from overhead, which is very important if you're trying to take photos.  The Rickshaw has the worst lighting ever and I get a lot of crappy shots just because of the lighting.  Last night I got some OK shots but it wasn't because of the lighting, it was because no one on stage stood still long enough to get a decent pic!

Sabaton wound things up with "Metal Crüe" from Attero Dominatus (they also did the title track earlier on in the show).  And that was it.  It was over after about 70 minutes.  Joakim was so sweaty during his performance that he kept ducking behind the big skull curtain to towel off and re-hydrate.

On a personal note, I was very uplifted by this show.  It was the best show by far that I've been to (not that I've been to tons but it outdoes those that I have been to) since I started going to shows in 2011 when I moved out of the boonies where no one comes to play. UtA knocked it out of the park, Empyria was entertaining, and Sabaton were just too killer for words in this language.  And oh, the hotness of Joakim Broden!  Oh, how I wanted to burnish his breastplate!  But alas - I couldn't stay to hob nob at the merch table (if they even did that); it was past midnight and I had a long commute home on transit ahead of me back to my suburban lair.

I'm so glad I went.  It totally bouyed my mood, and it was the best $20 I've ever spent.  I will go and see this band at every opportunity I get because there is no show like it at all!

Edit @ 10:10pm, Feb. 20, 2013:  OMFG!  I just found out that the drummer at this gig was not Robban Bäck, but none other than Snowy Shaw!  I can't believe I saw Snowy Shaw live and in the flesh and I didn't even realize it!  I am blown away!

Sabaton Breaks Up

Oh, man, sad news from the Sabaton front, though I was kind of expecting this since there has been a rumour circulating about this for over a week now.  But it's official: Sabaton is breaking up.  You can read the band's statement here.

Only two of the original six members, who had been together for 12 years, will remain with Sabaton, carrying the banner: vocalist Joakim Brodén and bassist Pär Sundström.  The other four are all leaving.

Lots of big shoes to fill here!  It's impressive that this band had the same line-up for as long as it did, too.  I wish Joakim & Par all the best in replacing Rikard, Daniel Mullback, Daniel Mÿhr, and Oskar.

The next album, Carolus Rex, is due out in May.

Losing My Metal Gig Virginity!

On Monday, the long-anticipated day came: Sabaton played in Vancouver.  This Swedish power metal band, which plays and sings about the both the futility and heroism of war (they are a “war metal” band), has long been on my bucket list of bands to see live, after watching tons of YouTube videos of them playing at places like Wacken, etc.  On Monday, they came through Canada’s west coast (as so few on my fave bands do) opening for Swedish power/prog metallers Evergrey.  When the dates were announced in March, I knew this was an opportunity I had to take advantage of, and living in the sticks at the time, I began to scheme about how to get from Boonieland to Vancouver for the gig.  A surprise gift from a good friend yielded tickets and someone to accompany me so I didn’t have to go alone and feel like a loser.


I had just moved to the coast on Friday, for crying out loud, and the move itself was incredibly taxing.  It was hard to look forward to this gig because I had so much going on and I was extremely stressed.  But on the day of, I felt better, my cat was in good hands for the night (my friend came from out of town for this gig and we were staying at a hotel in downtown Van, and I was able to relax and look forward to the evening.

The lineup included The Absense, whom I’d never heard of, and since I was short on time before the gig, I wasn’t able to research.  I figured it would be a better use of my time to go late to the gig and miss this band in favour of meeting up with my brother & SIL for a pre-show libation at a nearby bar.  I also wanted to miss Powerglove; video game metal is not up my alley at all.  I was mildly curious about Blackguard, a Montreal band whom I’d heard previously was excellent live, and whom I know to be a hard-working, hard-touring band worthy of checking out.  

The stage at The Venue.  The big face belongs to the Evergrey set-up.

My friend and I arrived at The Venue at 8pm and The Absence was just finishing up.  I heard enough to know I’d made a good call by showing up late.  The next to take stage was Blackguard, which irked me because I’d hoped Powerglove would be before them & I could bow out after getting my wrist stamped at the door (BTW, I was also IDed at the door, which made my day because I haven’t been IDed in nearly 17 years).  I got to see the sound mixing board up close & personal and get an idea of what The Venue was like.  It was dark.  It had 3 bars and sticky floors.  There was a cool colour-changing wall.

There was a considerable amount of debate on my part as to what to wear to this gig, and after consulting some of my co-writers at Black Wind Metal, I learned that it was kosher to wear another band’s shirt to a gig, as long as the genres weren’t terribly misaligned.   Because my Nightwish shirt was both long-sleeved and not necessarily in the same genre as anyone playing that night, I went instead with my Sonata Arctica t-shirt, purchased nearly a year ago in Calgary.  I saw a lot of other shirts that night: Behemoth, Amon Amarth, Iced Earth, Cannibal Corpse, AC/DC and others.  There was a lot of great people- watching there.  There were scene girls and girls with black tutus on, one chick with a big bow in her hair and a black and white flouncy skirt with a polka-dotted jacket, and a very straight-laced, serious-looking guy with tight jeans, a white v-neck sweater, big glasses - and a murse.  He looked very out of the place.

Anyway, here is my band-by-band run-down.

Blackguard: not my cup of tea musically because their vocals are all growly.  Live, I couldn’t understand a word that came out of the singer's mouth, but I was impressed by the synchronized windmill headbanging the singer & guitarists frequently broke into.  Their power and stage presence was excellent.  Their tiny female drummer totally rocked it.  But the vocals got lost in the overall sound of the band an that was disappointing.

Powerglove:  As they were doing their sound check, they also brought out some props, one included a large, life-sized cut-out of a green monster with gnashing teeth. As the band went onto stage in the dark, I could tell there was something coming on that was higher than the band with a bit of a wave to it.  A butterfly, perhaps? No, it was a pair of skull-capped pennants with the band’s name on them - attached to the drummer somehow.  It was very strange.  When the lights came on at the start of playing, I saw that the band members had all dressed up in costumes that reminded me of Klingon gear mixed with a bit of the caveman look (horns & shit, not to mention the scull-capped pennants) and with some WWF championship belts.  It took me a while to process this...There were a lot of Powerglove fans there - barely over the drinking age of 19, which is what you have to be in order to get to a gig like this.  During their set, out came the inflatable giant mallets and inflatable swords, which were dispersed to the crowd, who went crazy for them.  There might have been some beatdowns.  Bizarre!  They were mainly instrumental which was great, though the one guitarist looked like he was 12 and had no stage presence.  Mind you, he wore the most ridiculous costume of all: he had big tusky horns sticking out of his shoulders.  After they were done, off went the green monster & skull-capped pennants.  Their fans held fast to their inflatable props.  Oh yeah, and it was during Powerglove that the weed came out!

Joakim Broden of Sabaton

Sabaton:  Now we’re talking.  I had found a good place near the bar in a back corner, with seats, so one of us could always look after our stuff since there was no coat check.  But this was Sabaton and I wanted to get closer of course!  I took off while my friend looked after my things and got as far forward as I could without getting too close to the rowdy crowd up front.  Turned out I had a great vantage point for photographing Joakim Broden in action, as well as the fill-in bassis, Emile, I think his name was.  Before they came on stage, the place went dark and on came “The Final Countdown” by fellow Swedes, Europe.  That brought me back.  Then the lights came on, and there they were, pounding out “Ghost Division.”  Seeing them live was just such a great experience.  They are powerful, animated, and so energetic live.  Joakim is way hotter live, too.  He wore a muscle shirt, showing off ripped biceps that totally indicated this guy is a big-time weight lifter.  His thighs were huge.  It was impressive, I must say.  I used to weight lift and was married to a body builder, so big muscle-y men impress me.  His skin also quickly became covered in an attractive sheen of sweat.  I could barely keep my eyes off him.  I took about a bazillion pictures.

I can’t remember the entire set list.  “Primo Victoria” was one song, and they wrapped their set up with “Metalizer.”  The crowd was amazing.  I didn’t think there would be too many Sabaton fans there, but they by far had the biggest and most enthusiastic crowd of the evening, and Joakim remarked several times at how impressed they were that they were in a new country and a new city and they were receiving such a warm welcome.

Sabaton!

One exchange stood out, and why wouldn’t it?  Before the second to last song, Joakim said, “And now we have some very serious business to discuss: my penis.”  This elicited a bit of a roar from the crowd (which was mostly male).  When he heard that he said, “Well, I didn’t say it was big business!”  I was like, where did that come from???  It was funny, but odd!

During “Metalizer,” someone got out a big beach ball and threw it up into the crowd and everyone batted it around.  One girl behind me headbanged so hard she was nearly whipping me with her hair.  For this song, Joakim took off his ever-present sunglasses - at last!  And - there was a wall of death!  It was a very small one, and it looked completely absurd, but it was there!  

Sabaton’s time on stage was too short.  I think it was 7 - 8 songs.  But the crowd was so into it and I was so into it I just wanted it to go on and on...

And the whole time I was up there, fist pumping and horns-upping, I was so grateful that I had this opportunity.  It made the hassle of my move completely worth it.

And then I got to meet some of them!  They were at their merch table in the lobby after their set!   I hesitated about going back there because of my shyness and nerves.  But I had to take this opportunity...so I went.  I left my stuff with my friend and I went back to the merch table.  Immediately, Daniel Mÿhr was right at the door as I walked in.  He’s the keyboardist.  We had a chat!  He noted my Sonata Arctica t-shirt after I told him this was my first metal gig.  He was surprised and when I said Sabaton was on my bucket list, he said, “But you’re wearing a Sonata Arctica shirt!”  I said, “Yeah, well it was a choice between this and a longsleeved Nightwish shirt.”  He nodded and said he understood.  I asked him some questions about touring and the set list and mentioned to him that my fave Sabaton song is “Union (Slopes of St. Benedict)” and he said that they haven’t played that one live in 3 years.

And then I spotted Joakim...Immediately I became very nervous and I could feel my heart in my throat.  For me, this was like meeting a big celebrity.  I waited very patiently as he was surrounded by a crowd of different people, but eventually I stepped forward and offered my hand for him to shake.  He was shorter than I’d expected.  I said nice to meet you and thank you for the great performance, and then it got very awkward...Yep, I was tongue-tied.  Instead of mentioning the Van Canto video, I mentioned that this was my first metal gig and he seemed very surprised and asked me how I came to this one.  I gave him a garbled answer I can’t even repeat, saying something about living in the boonies and being far away from Vancouver, where not many of my favourite bands come anyway, but I don’t know if he understood me because he kind of gave me an odd look and then got distracted with other fangirls and people wanting autographs etc. and I just stood there a moment longer before realizing my time was up, so I just thanked him again and left.  I went away feeling stupid and embarrassed, but also, as a reporter and writer for a paper, I’m used to people wanting to talk to me, dammit!  He wouldn’t have known that, though.  Anyway...not an ideal interaction and the space was so crowded I was having a hard time coping with the noise, so I just went back to my place where my friend was waiting, patting myself on the back that yeah, I did go up to the guy and shake his hand, which for me took some guts (since I don’t have many), and reassured myself that he probably wouldn’t remember me or the awkward exchange anyway.  

Tom Englund of Evergrey.

Everygrey: This band I wasn’t particularly familiar with.  I listened once to their most recent album, Glorious Collision and I did enjoy it.  They were really good live, but we wound up not staying for their full performance because their lighting was driving me up the wall and making my friend dizzy.  That was disappointing because I thought they had a lot of soul and emotion on stage.  Sabaton had pretty straightforward lighting, but Evergrey had a bunch of effects with their lighting that really annoyed me.  My friend and I couldn’t stay for the whole thing, so we left about halfway through.  I felt really guilty about this because after Sabaton, the crowd thinned considerably and was decidedly less enthusiastic.


Summary: Fantastic experience.  Good call with getting ear plugs; my ears would have been bleeding after Blackguard if I hadn’t worn any. I am so glad I went and so grateful that my friend was there with me.  It wasn’t her cup of tea at all, but she was a total trooper.  If you’re a Sabaton fan, I totally recommend seeing them live because they are pure power to watch and experience, and I was so happy I had this opportunity.  And I look forward to more opportunities like this in the future now that I’m down on the coast.  In fact, I plan on attending the Arkona gig in December, where they open for Korpiklaani (whom I’m not really into).  That might even involve an interview for Sonic Cathedral’s web zine.

You can see all my photos of the gig here.

Come Cover Me: Van Canto does "Primo Victoria"

The timing of this was nice: the day before I went to see Sabaton in Vancouver, I came across this new video by German a capella metal band Van Canto.  It features Sabaton singer Joakim Broden.  You'd think I'd have used this tiny piece of news as a conversation piece when I actually met Joakim at the Sabaton merch table after the band's set, but no, I acted like a tongue-tied teenaged twit instead.  More on all that later, though...

I've always liked Van Canto, but they seem to get a lot of haters.  I think they are innovative, creative, and excellent.  I wasn't as stoked about their last album because I thought the female vocals were not playing as big a role as they had in previous releases, but I have yet to get hold of their current CD.

I like this version of Sabaton's "Primo Victoria" a lot.  Here is the original.

And here is Van Canto's version:

Sabaton's New Video: "Screaming Eagles"

Fresh off the press!  And it's a great video, too.  I thought it was very well done.



I sent this to my friend who is accompanying me to the gig in Vancouver in October just to give her a taste of what to expect...Should be interesting!

Guess Who's Going to See Sabaton???

Fuck yeah, babies!  My friend emailed me with a nice surprise this evening after I lamented I had no one to attend Sabaton with in Vancouver Oct. 3.  She bought tickets and will fly in from wherever she is in the States at that time to go to the gig with me!

Sabaton is opening for Evergrey, along with Quebec's Blackguard, and two other bands I've never heard of, The Absence and Powerglove.

I am so stoked!  This is one of my bucket list bands - and it will be my first metal gig ever!

Laugh of the Day: Sabaton Vocalist's Wardrobe Malfunction!

Going through my Blabbermouth feed this morning while waking up to my usual coffee drink, this headline caught my eye. Being a Joakim fangirl, I was of course curious, and it turns out it was quite a hilarious incident! He reacted quite hilariously, too. Here is the video, and the wardrobe malfunction happens at about the 3:00 mark.



This is one band I'd kill to see live - they are just so good. Sabaton - come to Canada!

Edit @ 8:52am: OMG! This just popped up on Blabbermouth!  Talk about "ask and you shall receive!  Sabaton, Vancouver, October 3, at the Venue.  My brother lives a block away and I was  planning a trip to Vancouver in October anyway. Yessssss!!!!

Sabaton's Uprising

Here it is! I love it!


Sabaton - Uprising (2010)

Sabaton | MySpace Music Videos

Sabaton's Upcoming Uprising!

I love love love Sabaton! Their newest album, Coat of Arms is due out here in Canada June 30. I have listened to entire album, which was streaming on their MySpace page, and I really liked what I heard, so I pre-ordered it from Amazon, even though it will be shipped at the end of August when a book I really want is published then. So there will be a long wait! But it will be worth it!

Sabaton just posted a video on their Facebook page of the making of their video "Uprising," which is about the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. Here it is:



I am totally stoked!