While certainly a stand-alone concept album, the Swedish musical historians' latest eleven stories should be viewed as a companion piece to The Great War (2019), fleshing out the history with more tales from what is considered, in the USA, a forgotten conflict. Late to enter the war, American deaths (horrific as 117,000 is) were "light" compared to those who had been fighting for years. Some totals, regardless of Allied or Central Powers were 10, even 25 times higher. Canada lost about half the US number, but a greater number, overall, than in WWII. After the Second World War, much of Europe had to be rebuilt, but the remains of WWI: statues, major military cemeteries and uninhabited tracks of Belgium and France still off-limits due to stockpiles of deadly gas and/or unexploded munitions, survive, to the present day.
Throughout their discography, the Swedes have recounted "The Price Of A Mile" or "Cliffs Of Gallipoli", realistic anecdotes from the (not so) Great War. This time around, while not arranged chronologically, the album DOES open (courtesy of some female narration) with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which quickly spiraled out of control, into a continental conflict. The table setter is a riffing, (Russian goose-step of a) slow march, complete with orchestral strings and group chorus (a recurrent motif): "From a shot that would change the world. Tensions rise and a war is unfurled. Nothing like what had come before. It's the war that will end all war." Two-thirds of the way through, the guitars buzz, before falling back to the belabored pace. Conversely, the disc ends with "Versailles", site of the treaty that not only brought the whole affair to a close, but (unfortunately) set the stage for the global conflagration that would unfold two decades later: a fact eluded to in the final voiceover. In between, the sadly incompetent military "minds" on both sides, fed soldiers to the meat grinder of technological advances (machine guns, bombs, tanks, gas/fire, even bi-planes) using inferior/out-dated, Old World tactics. As a visual compendium, would suggest movies like 1917 and the old Mel Gibson vehicle, Gallipoli.
So, this is not some mindless, throw-away, "Sex, drugs & rock n roll" platter. Nor is it a sterile, dusty museum piece. While a few of the songs will undoubtedly survive to become setlist favorites, it should be listened to/viewed as a collective. It's a work of art, destined for the largest concert stages of Europe, littered with barb wire, period era costumes, fire cannons and pyro galore, plus military accouterments. Sabaton always attempt to imbue the historical accuracy with an emotional component. Witness "Lady Of The Dark", regarding Milunka Savic, a Serbian who initially took her brother's place in the army (disguised as a man), then, over the course of three separate conflicts, became one of the war's most decorated soldiers, ultimately receiving medals from France, Russia and Britain, as well as her own country. Drummer Hannes Van Dahl punctuates this staccato mid-tempo number.
Guitarist Chris Rörland received five co-writing credits, for the music. Rest of the lyrics/music was done by the long-running masterminds Pär Sundström & Joakim Brodén, either in unison,or solo. Experts in the use of dynamics, the all-out speedster of the batch is "Stormtroopers", #2 in the running order, about the pre-blitzkrieg German infantry, charging out of the trenches. Can't have a slow mover for the subject matter! Come the chorus, Brodén announces, "A glimpse of the future, new tactics in war. New doctrine in combat explored. As fast as lightning, no time to mourn. A glimpse of the future, a blitzkrieg is born." Hope this one's featured in the live set.
The sound of lapping waves greets "Dreadnought", a paean to the early 1900s UK's big gun battleship HMS Dreadnought. Such an imposing vessel, eventually all similar ships were simply referred to as "dreadnoughts." Get your "sea legs," as the tune rolls, like a slightly unsettled (but not violently pitching) sea. Add Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart to the list of incredible fighting men immortalized by a Sabaton song. "The Unkillable Soldier" is a rousing, gallop-shuffle (can almost hear the melody running) as it imparts the laundry list of wounds the British officer endured. Initially shot twice, in the face, losing his left eye and part of an ear, he would be hit seven more times, including through the skull and ankle in the Battle Of The Somme, in the hip, at Passchendaele, stomach, then ear, before losing his left hand in 1915. If that weren't enough (and it should have been!), he pulled off his fingers, when doctors refused to amputate them. In WWII, he survived two plane crashes and escaped from a POW camp, by tunneling out (one-handed?). Wow. Some called him the toughest SOB who ever lived. This guy doesn't deserve a song, he should get a full album (if not a movie). After that, rock/metal seems tame!
