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Review: Sabaton - The Last Stand
Sabaton
www.sabaton.net
The Last Stand

Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Year released: 2016
Duration: 36:41
Tracks: 11
Genre: Power Metal

Rating:
3.75/5


Review online: January 23, 2017
Reviewed by: MetalMike
Readers' Rating
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Rated 2.79/5 (55.83%) (24 Votes)
Review

Sweden's Sabaton is back with album #8, The Last Stand. For those not in the know, Sabaton is a Power Metal band that sings about war from a historical point of view. They started with World War II but have expanded into many different eras. At the title suggests, The Last Stand deals with combat forces with their backs against the wall like the Spartans ("Sparta"), The Scots against the English ("Blood of Bannockburn") and Imperial Japan ("Shiroyama"). That's all well and good but what about the music? Sabaton have always played a crunchy, northern European brand of Power Metal but unlike their German counterparts, they've included supporting keyboards to round out their sound. On The Last Stand those keyboards are more front and center than they've been in the past and that definitely gives Sabaton's sound a more commercial feel than on previous albums. Songs like "Last Dying Breath" and "The Lost Battalion" are classic Sabaton – crunchy and epic with singer Joachim Broden's gravelly shout leading the charge. On the other hand, the aforementioned "Shiroyama" and "Blood of Bannockburn" are very "happy" despite the lyrics and might put long-time fans off a bit.

The Last Stand is no Carolus Rex but even fans of early albums like Primo Victoria and Attero Dominatus should find some common ground.

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