SABATON - The Art Of War
January 6, 2009, 16 years ago
(Black Lodge)
Power metal darlings of the moment, at least in some circles (including a scheduled ’09 ProgPower USA appearance), Sabaton has been around since ‘99, releasing four CDs prior to this one. The Limited Edition comes in a DVD case (although no visuals accompany it), the extra room needed by a paperback copy of Chinese mathematician/military strategist Sun Tzu’s book/philosophy from which the Swedes stole the album’s title. Much like Toxik’s Think This and Riot’s Privilege Of Power, between the 13 musical tracks are short, interrelated spoken word interludes. In this case, the female voices periodically quote Sun Tzu’s philosophy. Lyrically, the emphasis is on historical warfare (surprise!), predominately WWII, although the Savatage-inspired ‘Cliffs Of Gallipoli’ recounts the insanity in repeatedly feeding young Brits to Turkish machine guns in the Great War. ‘The Price Of A Mile’ (Passchendaele) was inspired by the same global conflict. Elsewhere, another trio set Tzu’s tactics to music, including the concluding ‘Firestorm’ (utilizing flames, be it bombs, napalm, flame throwers, etc. in battle), while the first half of ‘Unbreakable’ plods on an almost doom tempo. Seems a little odd that such heavy moral/immoral concepts are encapsulated in the pomp and pageantry of the lively keyboard-driven power metal context. At least the oft gravel vocals of Joakim Broden avoid the stratosphere. Get a little history lesson with your listen.
