Sabaton – Heroes (2014)

Marking the return of the most epic band in the Metal universe, today we have Sabaton and their latest release “Heroes”. As the first Swedish Metal band to achieve platinum sales (in Sweden) with their previous release “Carolus Rex”, the band lives up to the expectations with ten excellent songs in this release. Characterized by their intensity and their very lively songs about war and history, Sabaton is one of those bands that immediately lights up a room with their unique music.

Jumping immediately with the intoxicating “Night Witches”, the band continues the certain heroic vibe they transmit with their music. Joakim Brodén’s charismatic vocals are perfectly crafted for such intense music filled with quality arrangements and brilliant tempo changes. With Joakim and Pär Sundström being the only remaining original members of the band, the new guys are perfectly incorporated into the Sabaton ethos and you can instantly appreciate it on songs like “No Bullets Fly”, “Smoking Snakes” and the dramatic “Inmate 4859” – one of our favorites in this release.

Crafting short and very concise songs, the band nicely transmits a very lively and effusive mood track after track, like with the magical “To Hell and Back”. For the sensitive people, the lush ballad “The Ballad of Bull” nicely changes the mood of the release and breaks up the flow of the album quite nicely. However, this does not last too long since Sabaton comes back strong with “Resist and Bite” and “Soldier of 3 Armies”. The biggest criticism that the band has face in the past, and will surely do so in this release, is that they stick to their style and play it safe. Well, if any band could be as epic sounding as Sabaton, I would not mind this at all, and so do the legions of fans they have.

Just before closing the release, we are left on a high with the excellent “Far From The Fame” and the cinematic “Hearts of Iron”. Picking a favorite song is always hard on a Sabaton release since they are all filled with epic vocal melodies and crafty arrangements. The band does a great job in keeping things simple and yet very powerful and direct. If you are a fan of any of their last few albums, then “Heroes” continues with the band’s signature intense and epic Power Metal, so be sure to pre-order this gem.

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: May 27th, 2014

Genre: Power Metal

Country: Sweden