The War to End All Wars

Sabaton

Unfortunately, war seems to be a thing that the human race will never be able […]
March 18, 2022
Sabaton - The War to End All Wars album cover

Unfortunately, war seems to be a thing that the human race will never be able to erase from its DNA. The struggles for power and money are endless, the poor and young always are sent to die in the war fields, and the leaders and riches keep eating caviar and shrimps over the blood of innocent. Yemen, Ukraine, Syria, Palestine, Somali, the conflicts never end, and as long as they last, the higher the price in human lives. The best for each one of us is to tear the tyrants from power as fast as we can, to speak our dissatisfaction with their ways, and that we all are brothers and sisters that just want to live in peace. Trying to be straightforward: wars are for those who earn money from the death of others, and no excuse is acceptable (an example: there are idiots on internet trying to justify the invasion of Ukraine saying that 'there are nazis there', as such scum couldn't be found in any other country, including Russia itself).

The horrors of wars must be a continuous debate and teaching, and SABATON is always doing its part. And on "The War to End All Wars", their latest release, they keep their preaching. This album keeps the musical trend of the band: a form of Heavy/Power Metal based on hooking melodies and choruses with a clear epic appeal. Of course they didn't change their musical work since the days they started to rise to fame, and no one expect such thing from the band. And honestly, "The War to End All Wars" seems to be a continuity of what they did on "The Great War", their past release, not only lyrically speaking, but musically, because the album shows the same genre, just using a more dramatic/grandiose appeal on moments as on title track. The haters will keep on their gospel of hate against the band, the fans will keep being fans, and the album is really excellent.

Once more, as happens since "Carolus Rex" days, the band worked on the studio with Jonas Kjellgren, that this time did the sound engineering, mixing and mastering of the album. As usual, the sonority is clean, defined and allows the fans to have the perfect taste of what they want to express. But's they are sounding heavy as well. So the sonority is perfect, simply this way. And the guests are all on the backing vocals: Hannele Junkala, Mia Mullback, Sofia Lundberg, Åsa Österlund, Anders Sandström, Pelle Hindén, Christer Gärds and Jonas Kjellgren. Musically, the band has nothing more to prove to anyone, and has a lot of to offer.

"Sarajevo" sounds like an epic and long introduction, rich in pompous keyboards parts and some excellent guitars, opening the curtain and telling about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the trigger that unleashed World War I. In the sequence, a typical Heavy/Power Metal song on the way SABATON uses that is "Stormtroopers", filled with a solid rhythmic work from bass guitar and drums and another fine chorus (the lyrics are about the Stormtroopers, the specialist soldiers of Imperial Germany). The melodramatic side on their music appears clearly on "Dreadnought", with a war-like ambience similar to that presented by the band on "Bismarck", with massive guitar riffs (maybe the similarity comes from the facts that the both songs deals with battleships on the Battle of Jutland). And "The Unkillable Soldier" is really filled with melodic hooks and excellent vocals and backing vocals (the song speaks about the British officer Adrian Carton de Wiart).

Some strange effects on the keyboards announces and permeates "Soldier of Heaven", another song that is typical from the quintet (fine accessible melodies, catchy chorus), and with a massive melodic blow on the chorus (the theme of the lyrics is the White Friday avalanches on the Italian-Austrian front). Dealing with the Harlem Hellfighters (in reality, the 369th Infantry Regiment of the USA) on the lyrics, "Hellfighters" is a song that explores a heavier side of the band's music. And "Race to the Sea" (about the Battle of Yser, focusing on Albert I of Belgium) is a song with an epic feeling and ambience that reminds songs as "Carolus Rex" (based on strong keyboards orchestrations and fine vocals).

Sounding as homage to the memory of Milunka Savić (a Serbian Soldier that fought on WWI) is "Lady of the Dark", where the balance between melodies and weight is in a fine way, allowing the band to express weighty musical ideas. Being in a vein that earns a lot of influences from 80's Hard Rock and AOR into their music, "The Valley of Death" shows excellent bass and drums parts on the rhythms (and the Battle of Doiran that happened on 1917 is the matter of the lyrics). Remembering the series of cease fires on the Western Front during the Christmas of 1914 (what means that the lyrics are related to a single concept, but not in a chronological order) "Christmas Truce" is a song with a deeper and melancholic epic sense, sounding similar to a ballad in some moments, but with crescendos full of choirs in the chorus.

And closing the album, "Versailles" is a song that has a similar epic structure to "The War to End All Wars" (and it comes back to it in the end of the song), but with a high-spirited ambience (obviously celebrating the end of WWI with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles). Maybe the album ends in such way because the general idea is that the horrors and death toll of WWI was so expressive and traumatizing that no one would think in another war in the future (what didn't happened, as WWII and following wars showed). It's not heresy to say that SABATON is a mature band that has nothing to prove anymore. And maybe "The War to End All Wars" can bring the band to a higher level, to occupy the place left by old soldiers that are going into retirement.

10 / 10

Masterpiece

Songwriting

10

Musicianship

10

Memorability

10

Production

10
"The War to End All Wars" Track-listing:

1. Sarajevo
2. Stormtroopers
3. Dreadnought
4. The Unkillable Soldier
5. Soldier of Heaven
6. Hellfighters
7. Race to the Sea
8. Lady of the Dark
9. The Valley of Death
10. Christmas Truce
11. Versailles

Sabaton Lineup:

Joakim Brodén - Vocals, Keyboards
Chris Rörland - Guitars
Tommy Johansson - Guitars
Pär Sundström - Bass
Hannes Van Dahl - Drums

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