Okay, this is only slightly false, fellow Otaku & Metalheads! The 10 year anniversary for Sabaton’s first album of the 2010s was on the 21st of May, but this slight delay won’t stop me from talking about music that planted the seeds of my eventual conversion just over a decade later. Though I didn’t understand it back in 2010, I realize now that I was listening to something genuinely special. Today, Coat of Arms ranks pretty high in my personal Sabaton list of albums, so let’s take a gander at it shall we?
Background
With The Art Of War behind them in 2008, the band toured with Hammerfall as the opening act in the early parts of 2009, and had toured with Dragonforce towards the end of that year for 18 shows in the UK. They did hope to begin recording their next album in October 2009, but with the Dragonforce tour in that month they had to delay their plans, so it was pushed to December of 09. On the 23rd of December, the band announced that their 5th album would be titled Coat of Arms, and a majority of songs would be about World War II (Including the Winter War). On their official Youtube page, they posted a video that contained the album’s art as well as an audio teaser. Finally, on the 21st of May, 2010, Coat of Arms was released to wide acclaim by fans & reviewers.
Basic Description
Warfare, History, and Metal.
Sabaton is just one of those bands that, for anyone at first, will probably be baffling. Power Metal is normally about fantasy, but to hear a band have that same happy-like/over the top nature (Take your pick) and apply historical warfare from across history makes even some metal veterans do a double-take. However, once you sit down and listen to a couple songs, you find that the mix works incredibly well, and Coat of Arms is no different in that regard. Though it doesn’t share the concept album format like Art of War did (Something I’ll comment about a little later), it makes up for that with a great collection of songs from all over WW2. The band do their best to cover a variety of battles & soldiers from across time, it’s always nice to see their mastery of World War Two shine through.
Best Track
The 1st best track has to go to the ode of the 101st Airborne Division, Screaming Eagles! Singing about the Battle of the Bulge, the song is appropriately a bombastic one: the guitars & drumwork are loud and bombastic, the keyboard is there (Though I swear I can’t hear it), and Joakim’s vocal work is fantastic. I can see why this track is a hit live, as it gets pretty much everybody moving & headbanging. I should know, as the 1st time I saw them they played this.
Screaming Eagles
Screaming Eagles (From their 2017 Tour)
The 2nd best track has to go to the vision of hell that is The Final Solution. I said it back in 2017, and my sentiments haven’t changed all that much. This is the darkest song that Sabaton has ever made, and it’s pretty obvious. A solemn ode to the Holocaust, the band are incredibly respectful during the track’s playing time. There’s no over the top feel from the instrumentation, and Joakim’s voice sort of wails in a way. Even when things pickup by the end, the band still remains humble, as the serious tone never goes away. Definitely a tear-jerker, whether on this album or live.
The Final Solution
Apart from those 2, I must give some honorable mention to Metal Ripper. The 3rd entry in the “Metal” series of songs, this one is rather special in that the band decided to use pieces of actual metal (And some rock) lyrics to compose the track. Further proof that the band love the classics that came before them, Sabaton just go all out with the instrumentation & vocal work. Curiously, I find that Metal Ripper tugs on my heartstrings quite a bit, and it almost makes me cry. Not exactly sure why it does this, save for the fact that there’s a lot of respect from the band here as well for the songs they reference. Definitely a great way to end the album!
Metal Ripper
Worst Track
Nothing.....and that’s all I’m going to say!
(I realize in hindsight that my only complaint in my overview about the band not keeping up with the concept theme was incredibly nitpicky, and a small waste of time)
Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, click on the link below:
Coat of Arms
Overall Impression & Rating
Coat of Arms is just awesome! The seed planted in my brain all the way back in 2010, it took forever for the plant that was Sabaton to finally blossom into one of my most favorite bands of all time. It may have been nearly a decade in 2018 when I originally sat down to finally listen to this album, but I’m glad that I finally decided to get my hands on the record as a Christmas gift from my friend Isabelle. 3 cheers for Sabaton!
Coat of Arms gets a 10 out of 10. It earns that rating!
And that was my review of Coat of Arms. A few days off, but I hope you all liked this slightly belated decade anniversary. With that out of the way, see you in just a few short days for my 2nd anime review of May. Until then, keep your flag high!
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