The Sabaton History Channel has launched Episode 012 - "Bismarck" - Battle Of The Atlantic.

A message states: "Despite restrictions that were put on the German navy after the Treaty of Versailles, the Kriegsmarine rebuilt in the 1930s with one goal: to be bigger and better than ever. Two powerful Bismarck-class battleships formed the pinnacle of the German naval warship production. When the British caught wind that the Bismarck was out in the open in May 1941, they in turn formulated a goal of their own: to take it down for once and for all. The Sabaton song 'Bismarck' sings about the chase, the battle in the Atlantic and consequent fate of the Bismarck. "

Sabaton recently released a video for "Bismarck" with the message below.

"The most requested topic for a Sabaton song ever!

"The fate of the ship Bismarck is a fascinating story we wanted to write about for a long time, but could not fit into any album. So we decided to make it as a single release, and as a gift from us to you for being fantastic fans for the past 20 years.

"Thanks to our friends at Wargaming and World Of Warships we can also present it with a truly impressive video, well worthy of this song. The talented team at Wargaming could ensure the historical accuracy of the scenes thanks to the models from their award winning game World Of Warships, and the director Matthias Hoene, who won a Golden Lion at Cannes, were able to bring the band and story together.

"The song 'Bismarck' was written over a year ago and we recorded it last summer in Black Lounge studios with Jonas Kjellgren, who has also recorded and mixed our upcoming album, The Great War.

"Bismarck was a German Battleship and one of the biggest ever built in Europe. Commissioned in August 1940 and sunk in May 1941 after an intense hunt in the North Atlantic. Though he now rests beneath the waves, players of World of Warships can still take this iconic ship into virtual battles.

"For now the song is available at Youtube so you can enjoy this great video for free. At a later stage it will also be available on your favourite digital platform. You wanted us to write this song, we heard you, and here is our tribute!"

Sabaton recently launched the pre-order for their new studio album that will be released this summer 2019. This ninth full-length record, that will see the light of day right in time for the band's 20th anniversary, will be a concept album named The Great War based on events during the First World War.

The Great War will be available in different formats:

CD-Digi (History Edition) incl. narrated parts in addition to the album tracks

CD (Album Edition)

2CD Earbook (Album + History Edition)

180g LP in various colors (History Edition)

180g LP in various colours (Album Edition)

3CD/3LP Box (The Great Box Edition) includes: Earbook incl. “The Soundtrack To The Great War” CD,  regular, History & Soundtrack LPs [180g, green], one out of 11 Great War propaganda posters [chosen at random], postcards, emblem, poem on sheet) – limited to 1000

The Great War tracklisting:

"The Future Of Warfare"
"Seven Pillars Of Wisdom"
"82nd All The Way"
"The Attack Of The Dead Men"
"Devil Dogs"
"The Red Baron"
"Great War"
"A Ghost In The Trenches"
"Fields Of Verdun"
"The End Of The War To End All Wars"
"In Flanders Fields"

The band started the recordings exactly 100 years after the end of the First World War (11/11/1918) and took three months of intensive work to complete the album together with their long term producer and partner Jonas Kjellgren at Black Lounge Studios. Furthermore, the album has been mastered by Maor Appelbaum and the artwork was once again created by Peter Sallaí.

"This is not the first time we have sung about stories from this period in time, but now we felt the timing was right to make a full concept album about this war", explain the band.

In addition, Sabaton posted this trailer revealing more details about the amazing artwork:

Alongside the album, the Swedes have worked hard to make their 20th year anniversary a very exciting year, and also started the Sabaton History Channel - a unique collaboration between the band themselves and multimedia historians Indy Neidell and Timeghost -capturing the power of social media to tell stories about the wars, battles and heroes behind Sabaton’s songs.

“This is the biggest album we have taken on so far.There is more depth and story around the songs that we have ever had before", Pär Sundström announces. "Expect many surprises as we have tried new things and we also went back in time to a concept we know a lot of you love. The Great War has been created side by side with the Sabaton History Channel to make 2019 the most exciting year in our 20 year history.”