Sabaton

Sabaton is a Grammis-nominated power metal band from Falun, Sweden formed in 1999. The band's main lyrical themes are those of historical wars. This is heard in albums Primo Victoria and Attero Dominatus where all of the songs, except final tracks, take inspiration from historical battles or war, such as the song "Counterstrike" which refers to the Six-Day War. Lyrical content drawn from World War II is prevalent and includes songs about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust; resistance movements in occupied Poland and Norway, the Battle of Berlin and Winter War in Finland. As of later albums, the band has started to incorporate elements of progressive metal.

Biography

Early Career

Sabaton was formed in 1999. After the first songs were recorded in Peter Tägtgren's studio, The Abyss, Sabaton were contacted by a couple of record labels. The band decided to sign up for an Italian label who internationally released the promo CD Fist for Fight—including cover artwork by the legendary Ken Kelly (Manowar)—with the intention to promote forthcoming releases.

A year after the first recordings were made Sabaton returned with a début album Metalizer, again working with Peter Tägtgren. The album was recorded 2002 but had a five year delay before release in 2007. Metalizer is counted as their first album despite being the fourth album released.

Sabaton performed across Sweden, and after two years of waiting for the label to release Metalizer, Sabaton decided to record another album. But this time they would do it on their own, without the financial support of a record label.

Primo Victoria

The band returned a second album titled Primo Victoria and found themselves in negotiations with several international record labels. They eventually signed with Black Lodge, the metal division of Sound Pollution.

Attero Dominatus

Their third album Attero Dominatus continued the war theme of Primo Victoria with songs like "Back in Control" (which focuses on the British liberation of the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War), "Attero Dominatus" (about the Battle of Berlin which brought about the end of World War II in Europe) and "Angels Calling" (about trench warfare during World War I), and was released in Europe on the 28th of July 2006.

Metalizer

In March 2007, Sabaton released Metalizer as a double disc together with Fist for Fight, along with the previously unreleased song "Birds of War".

The Art of War

As a follow up to Metalizer, in May 2008, Sabaton released its fourth album The Art of War an album inspired by the influential book by Sun Tzu. The decision to base the album upon Sun Tzu's book came from the idea that in the 2000 years since the book was written, the human race has achieved many things but apart from weapon advancements, war and tactics have remained basically the same. The album contains the singles "Cliffs of Gallipoli" and "Ghost Division". The album has received extremely positive reviews so far.

In September 2008 it was announced that Sabaton would be performing at the 2009 ProgPowerUSA X festival in Atlanta GA USA. In addition, Sabaton were the first band confirmed for the festival Bloodstock '09 in Derby, UK. Furthermore, they toured Europe in 2009 as an opening act on the Hammerfall Tour. After their Bloodstock performance, the band went on a tour with DragonForce, towards the end of 2009, for 18 shows in the UK.

Coat of Arms

The band had hoped to begin recording the next album in October but with concerts booked and the DragonForce support tour the following month, it was pushed back. On Wednesday December 23rd 2009, the band announced the name of their forthcoming album, Coat of Arms, on their official website, and posted a link to a YouTube video containing the album art and a teaser music sample. Coat of Arms was released on May 21st, 2010. The first music video, for Uprising, was released on August 1st 2010 and features Peter Stormare. A second music video, for Screaming Eagles, is also planned.

Re-Armed editions

Came out on September 24th, 2010, included new bonus tracks never seen before

Primo Victoria

Attero Dominatus

Metalizer

The Art of War

Line-up

Joakim Brodén — vocals, keyboards (on Fist for Fight, Metalizer, Primo Victoria and Coat of Arms)

Rikard Sundén — rhythm/lead guitar, backing vocals

Oskar Montelius — lead/rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Pär Sundström — bass

Daniel Mullback — drums, percussion, backing vocals

Daniel Mÿhr — keyboards, backing vocals

Discography

Fist for Fight (2001)

Primo Victoria (2005)

Attero Dominatus (2006)

Metalizer (2007)

The Art of War (2008)

Coat of Arms (2010)