Sabaton – Coat of Arms (2010)

With all the Power Metal bands these days trying to sound extremely technical, overly symphonic, or like space cowboys, Sabaton does their thing in a more traditional fashion. The band’s sound is bombastic but not overdone; the band saves up their musical prowess to focus on catchy rhythms and cohesive song structures.

The band’s main characteristics are Joakim Broden’s deep and powerful vocals that can easily compete with Morgan Freeman’s ability to narrate the shit out of anything he is given. We also have the brilliant bass guitar line crafted by Par Sundstrom, a very particular sound (at least for us) for a Power Metal release. Both of this things will undoubtedly make any band that posses them a far superior band than the norm.

Drawing inspiration from historic epic battles, Sabaton does a great job in creating epic songs that don’t need to sound like a soundtrack created by John Williams. The band uses choir arrangements and some keyboard orchestrations, but it’s mainly the traditional instruments that take the show away. We enjoy Metal music for its roots and not all the modern bells and whistles that bands use these days, and Sabaton caters our needs perfectly.

Some of the keyboards sound a bit out of place in the album since they have the futuristic electronic sound to them. And while the songs that feature them have a more modern theme than the historically influenced tracks, we think they don’t mix very well with them ‘older’ themes.

The guitar work on “Coat of Arms” is very solid, using powerful riffs and catchy melodies. There are a few blistering fast solos that are traditional of this genre (like on “Uprising”), and some more ethereal sounding melodic sections like on “The Final Solution. But the balance between virtuosity and melody is achieved perfectly, creating a very solid Power Metal release.

If you like your Power Metal to be a good combination of fast-paced epic songs and slower ballad-like songs with an epic feeling, then we completely recommend “Coat of Arms”. This Swedish band is very consistent when it comes to release solid albums, and while “Coat of Arms” might a bit of a step down from “The Art of War”, it still is a very good album.

Release: 2010

Country: Sweden