Every time a well renowned band release a new album, there is a divergence of opinions in two polar opposites. One of those goes “don’t fix what isn’t broke” while the other wants some form of expansion of the band’s sound. Enter Sabaton. One of Sweden’s greatest metal acts since the past two decades, they can be considered of falling into the former of the two aforementioned categories. With every album sounding the same yet uniquely Sabaton, they’ve managed to carve a niche sound that sits in between heavy and power metal while writing songs about the valor of brave individuals or about great wars that went down in history. Their tenth album. “The War To End All Wars” is a follow up to “The Great War”, both being about the events of the first world war. While sonically, “The War To End All Wars”retains much of the signature Sabaton sound accompanied by vocalist Joakim Broden’s distinctive baritone vocals, it lacks a major punch of what made Sabaton enjoyable.
Intro “Sarajevo” while being aptly used as an intro, it leans heavily on narrating the historical events that transpired the start of the war, so much so that it takes away from the musical enjoyment which is the bare minimum on it, having only a gang vocal type chorus with riffs thrown in. The second track “Stormtroopers” is what feels like the true intro to the album. Right off the bat, the pumped up riffs pick up along with a proper song structure. Being reminiscent of “Heroes” and taking a pause halfway through the song amidst the riff chaos, it makes Sabaton fans feel right at home. “Dreadnought” sounds a lot like “Bismarck” and not because they’re both about battleships. The songs themselves feel too similar for their own good. You can easily interchange them and it would make little difference. “The Unkillable Solider” features a faster vocal delivery interspersed with the norm that are Broden’s vocals. It does a great job of picking the pace of the album. While relying a tad bit more on gang vocals, “The Unkillable Soldier” still manages to be fresh after multiple listens.
Starting off with a slow droning of a synth that persists throughout and eventually building up into a chorus “Soldier of Heaven” breath of fresh sound for Sabaton as much as possible while still retaining most if not all of their sound. “Hellfighters” easily has the best drum and guitar work “The War To End All Wars” has to offer. Punchy and energetic, this is the type of sound Sabaton excel and at their most enjoyable. “Race To The Sea” feels a lot like a ballad owing to the slow paced riff while being far from one. This is a consistent pattern across the album where a lot of the enjoyment is held back due to the lack of a more faster paced songs as have been predominant on their older albums. Thankfully, “Lady of the Dark” and “The Valley of Death” shy away from this trope, featuring a relatively faster paced momentum across the board which gets your fist pumping in the air.
“Christmas Truce” is one of the most grand songs Sabaton have ever written. Broden’s vocals accompanied by gentle piano strings and orchestral bits nearing the end that explode into a full blown chorus akin to Nightwish. Closer “Versailles” is super similar to the opening track “Sarajevo”. Sacrificing musical real estate for spoken word theatrics for storytelling purposes, it offers nothing different from the opener and leaves a rather bad aftertaste in your head.
In the end, I feel conflicted between the two spectrums of changing the sound or sticking to it. Sabaton have their own unique sound which no other band has been able to emulate. That along with the theme they go for has led to them carving out their own space in the industry. While “The War To End All Wars” is a bit lacking on the heavy and faster vibes as compared to its predecessors, it is still Sabaton doing what they do best: intertwining history with catchy metal music.
7.5/10