{"id":41931,"date":"2014-07-05T08:19:22","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T13:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=41931"},"modified":"2014-07-07T06:59:10","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T11:59:10","slug":"sabaton-heroes-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/sabaton-heroes-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabaton | Heroes<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"SabatonSwedish power metal battalion Sabaton is back with a new album, their seventh overall, titled Heroes<\/em>. It\u2019s the band\u2019s first studio release since the lineup change that brought guitarists Chris Rorland and Thobbe Englund and drummer Hannes Van Dahl to the fold, and is the follow-up to their ambitious Swedish language album Carolus Rex.<\/p>\n

Sabaton is back on familiar territory with Heroes. Not only are the lyrics once again in English, but the subject matter is, as always, focused on war. It\u2019s not a full-on concept album like Carolus Rex, but each song on Heroes<\/em> focuses on an individual or regiment in various conflicts (though World War II is the primary theme) who have shown courage on and off the battlefield. Musically, well, it\u2019s a Sabaton album, so you know not to expect any changes. This is the same kind of galloping, martial, melodic power metal with marching rhythms and rousing choruses that they\u2019ve delivered from the very start. They continue to play this kind of music very well, so that predictability is not likely to upset many Sabaton fans.<\/p>\n

Predictability aside, Heroes<\/em> is a dynamite power metal album. The best Sabaton songs are rousing enough to make you want to go marching to battle with the band, and there are songs on Heroes that definitely accomplish that. Album opener \u201cNight Witches\u201d and \u201cSmoking Snakes\u201d have that perfect combination of melody and heaviness. The slower (but still heavy) \u201cInmate 4859\u201d and slower (though not heavy at all) \u201cThe Ballad of Bull\u201d change the pace at just the right times. The album\u2019s brightest moments come from the stirring, Audie Murphy-inspired \u201cTo Hell and Back\u201d and the fierce \u201cResist and Bite.\u201d <\/p>\n

This one is pretty easy to recommend. If you\u2019re already a Sabaton fan, you\u2019re going to enjoy this album. If you\u2019re a Sabaton hater, Heroes is not going to change your mind. And if you\u2019re new to the band, but are a fan of bands like Brainstorm, Grave Digger, Powerwolf and Iron Savior, Heroes<\/em> is as good an album as any to start with.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: There are a few different versions of Heroes<\/em> available, all of which include the bonus tracks \u201c7734\u201d (a remake of a song from Sabaton\u2019s Metalizer<\/em> album) and \u201cMan of War.\u201d The digital version features a bonus cover of Metallica\u2019s \u201cFor Whom the Bell Tolls.\u201d There are also two different cover images.<\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nChris Rorland (g) (v)
\nThobbe Englund (g) (v)
\nPar Sundstrom (b) (v)
\nHannes Van Dahl (d) (v)
\nJoakim Broden (v) (k)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\nNight Witches
\nNo Bullets Fly
\nSmoking Snakes
\nInmate 4859
\nTo Hell and Back
\nThe Ballad of Bull
\nResist and Bite
\nSoldier of 3 Armies
\nFar From the Fame
\nHearts of Iron
\n7734
\nMan of War<\/p>\n

Label: Nuclear Blast Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.sabaton.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Swedish power metal battalion Sabaton is back with a new album, their seventh overall, titled Heroes. It\u2019s the band\u2019s first studio release since the lineup change that […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,9539,3161,1097,642],"class_list":{"0":"post-41931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-heroes","10":"tag-nuclear-blast-records","11":"tag-power-metal","12":"tag-sabaton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}