Sabaton has been in the headlines quite a bit since last year. The band released its latest album, The War to End All Wars in March and launched a tour in support of the record soon after. A companion record to that album titled The Symphony to End All Wars followed two months after the original record’s release. Later in 2022, the band also held its annual Sabaton Open Air festival, which featured the likes of Amaranthe, Hammerfall, and Nanowar of Steel this year. Not long after that sadly, the band announced the festival would be the last at least for the time being. It was also along that time the band released its first-ever EP, Weapons of the Modern Age. That six-song record was for all intents and purposes a collection of singles the band has released from its catalog, save for its opener, ‘Father,’ which was a new song. Now roughly four months after that record’s release, Sabaton has followed it up with the release of yet another EP Friday, titled Heroes of the Great War.
Heroes of the Great War, much like Weapons of the Modern Age is essentially a singles collection, save for one song, the new entry, ‘The First Soldier.’ That song will be addressed shortly. The record’s availability is actually something of a problem for its presentation and will be discussed a little later. The record’s overall body is just as much of note as the other items listed and will also be discussed later. Each item noted here is important in its own way to the whole of the EP. All things considered they make the EP an intriguing new presentation from Sabaton.
Heroes of the Great War, Sabaton’s second EP, is an intriguing new offering from the veteran power metal band. It is a presentation worth hearing at least once. That is due largely to its one new song, ‘The First Soldier.’ The EP’s opener it features the band’s trademark power metal approach as its foundation. The arrangement in this case stands out because in this case, the arrangement is more akin to works from the likes of Sabaton’s fellow power metal stalwarts Trans-Siberian Orchestra than its heavier works. That is evidenced through the balance of the keyboards and guitars alongside the vocals. Of course, the stylistic approach and sound presented here is also akin to the sound of the finale from the band’s most recent album, The War to End All Wars, so it is not an entirely unfamiliar sound and style from the band.
The lyrical theme in this song adds to the interest because it brings forward another previously untold story of World War I. In the case of this song, it centers on French soldier Albert Severin Roche. His story is the stuff of movie scripts. He was an unsuspecting hero for his nation, as he was considered too small to serve in the French army by its heads. Despite a rough start to his military career, he went on to become quite decorated, capturing nearly 2,000 prisoners at only the rank of a second class soldier by war’s end. For his work and having been injured in his battles against the enemy, he went on to become known as “The First Soldier” of France and received the Legion of Honor. It is an outstanding story that adds even more interest to the history of World War I that is otherwise not told. When this new story is considered along with the familiar and fully engaging and entertaining musical arrangement featured here, the whole makes the song another great new offering from Sabaton.
While the new single featured in this new EP is certain to engage and entertain audiences, the EP’s availability is somewhat problematic. In researching the record’s availability, it looks to only be available digitally. It is not listed through the likes of Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. It is available digitally through Amazon music, but not as a physical single. From Amazon Music to Apple Music to Spotify and YouTube, audiences can take in the collection through all of the major digital retailers, but not through any physical retailers. Not everybody wants digital media, so regardless of who made the decision to release the EP this way, the choice can only serve to limit its reach considering there is still very much an audience that prefers the physical object to the digital. Even with this in mind, this one negative is not enough to doom the EP.
Knowing the somewhat limited availability of Heroes of the Great War is not enough to doom the EP, there is still one more item not examine in its presentation. That item in question is its overall body. As noted, the only new song featured in this EP is ‘The First Soldier.’ The six remaining songs that make up the rest of the record’s body are previously released singles from the band’s three most recent albums, The Last Stand, The Great War, and The War To End All Wars. Bassist and founding member Par Sundstrom said in a recent interview about this EP and its predecessor that the intent with the EPs (and the third coming record in the trilogy) was to bring together the band’s focus on the stories of World War I. It and its current companion do exactly that, too. The thing is considering that both EPs pull so much from The Great War, the reality is that the majority of that record is spread across these two presentations. In reality it makes no sense to go that route considering all of this since the one album has all of the songs on these two EPs in one setting. The same applies to the songs pulled from The War to End All Wars for this EP and its companion. One cannot help but wonder why the band and/or label would spread the one album out into two separate EPs when it simply made more sense to have the entire album in one setting. It really is something confusing. It would have made much more sense to simply release the two new songs – ‘Father’ and ‘The First Soldier’ – with perhaps some previously unreleased b-sides from those albums’ sessions to justify both EPs.
On the other hand, in combining songs from the noted records in the presented fashions also can be argued to be giving audiences the best of both worlds so to speak. To that end, that is correct. This EP does bring together some of the biggest songs from the band’s most recent albums in one place, making for some efficiency so to speak. At the same time though, it is still undeniable that the EP, in companion with Weapons of the Modern Age, still makes little sense considering that to get the whole effect, audiences would still have to go back and forth between the records to get the two records. So in essence, it still points to the fact that there is little point to the presentation. To that end, Heroes of the Great War is not necessarily a new release per se. It is a presentation worth hearing, but once at best.
Heroes of the Great War, the new EP from Sabaton, is an intriguing new offering from the veteran power metal band. Much like its current companion in the band’s planned trilogy of EPs, Weapons of the Modern Age, it presents one new single that is fully engaging and entertaining through its musical and lyrical content alike. While that new track is a positive, the EP’s availability, which is apparently limited to digital only, is problematic. That is because there are still audiences who prefer the physical object to the digital. The rest of the songs featured in this EP pair with those in Weapons of the Modern Age to largely flesh out some of the band’s most recent albums. Bringing those records together is good because it does that. At the same time when one considers that Weapons of the Modern Age also lifts liberally from The War to End All Wars (the band’s latest album) audiences are getting in the two EPs, a large portion of two of the band’s three most recent albums in separate settings. That actually negates the positive because it requires audiences who want to take in the songs to switch back and forth between the EPs where they could otherwise just take in the songs in one setting each in their respective albums. To that end, the one new song featured in this the band’s latest EP a presentation that is worth hearing once, but leaves audiences wanting for so much more.
In other news, Sabaton recently announced new dates across its homeland of Sweden and re-scheduled dates for the European leg of its “The Tour To End All Tours,” which is in support of The War to End All Wars. The full list of dates is noted below:
Den Stora Sverigeturen 2023
27.01. SE Övertorneå, Sporthallen (A-Hallen)
28.01. SE Kiruna, Arena Arctica
31.01. SE Mora, Idre Fjäll Arena
02.02. SE Visby, ICA Maxi Arena
04.02. SE Lindesberg, Lindesberg Arena
05.02. SE Uddevalla, Agnebergshallen
06.02. SE Arvika, Parkhallen Folkets Hus
09.02. SE Nyköping, Rosvalla Arena (A-Hallen)
10.02. SE Alingsås, Estrad
11.02. SE Västerås, Västerås Arena
13.02. SE Karlskrona, Brinova Arena
14.02. SE Trelleborg, Söderslättshallen
15.02. SE Vara, Sparbanken Blackbox
17.02. SE Kungsbacka, Tjolöholms Slott
18.02. SE Motala, Lokverkstan
19.02. SE Göteborg, Gothenburg Film Studios
21.02. SE Växjö, Fortnox Arena
23.02. SE Ystad, Ystad Arena
24.02. SE Eksjö, Olsbergs Aren
25.02. SE Lund, Sparbanken Skåne Arena
The Tour To End All Tours 2023
presented by Cobra Agency
14.04. UK Leeds – First Direct Arena
15.04 UK London – OVO Arena Wembley
16.04. UK Cardiff – Motorpoint Arena
18.04. UK Glasgow – OVO Hydro
21.04. FR Paris – Zenith
22.04. DE Frankfurt – Festhalle
24.04. DE Hamburg – Barclays Arena
25.04. LU Esch / Alzette – Rockhal
28.04. SE Stockholm – Avicii Arena
29.04. NO Oslo – Spektrum
30.04. DK Copenhagen – Royal Arena
02.05. DE Hannover – ZAG Arena
03.05. NL Amsterdam – Ziggo Dome
05.05. DE Berlin – Mercedes Benz Arena
06.05. DE Leipzig – Quarterback Immobilien Arena
07.05. AT Vienna – Stadthalle
09.05. PL Lodz – Atlas Arena
10.05. CZ Ostrava – Arena Ostrava
12.05. DE Cologne – Lanxess Arena
13.05. BE Antwerp – Sportpaleis
15.05. DE Munich – Olympiahalle
18.05. EE Tallinn – Saku Arena
19.05. FI Helsinki – Ice Hall
20.05. FI Kuopio – Kuopio Hall
Heroes of the Great War is available now. More information on the EP is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
Website: https://sabaton.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sabaton
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sabaton
To keep up with the latest entertainment reviews and news, go online to https://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest entertainment reviews and news in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.
philspicks 