Formed in Falun, Sweden, Sabaton have been making the world a better place with their unique brand of heavy metal since 1999. As you’d expect from a band who recently celebrated their 25th anniversary, they’ve been subjected to the usual line-up changes, but what has always stayed constant is their kick-ass sound and warlike lyricism. There was always a chance that the band might have painted themselves into a corner with their tight focus, yet a litheness has ensured they deftly avoid any accusations of geneticism. Case in point is their latest album, Legends, a collection of eleven tracks that delve deep into history to explore eleven legendary stories from days of yore for a release that marks Sabaton a contemporary force.
You might expect a band in their 26th year to start slowing down, but Sabaton’s eleventh studio album is quite the opposite. In fact, there’s a sense of urgency surrounding opening track ‘Templars’ which immediately finds the band wheeling out the big guns. There’s no time to waste on elongated introductions or fancy preambles; just a chorus of operatic vocals to set the scene and then the band are off, delivering a song that booms like cannon fire and hits the solar plexus like an armoured fist. Yet, for all their brute strength and power (which is often why the band are (mis)characterised as power metal), Sabaton never lose sight of important stuff like melody and song structure and ensures that ‘Templars’ will stay with you long after the disc has stopped spinning. However, it is with the following ‘Hordes Of Khan’ that the band really hit their stride, the twin guitar attack of Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund coming to the fore to turn the track into a foot-on-the-monitor, horns-held-high, celebration of metal. But it would be unfair to single out any one band member, because the whole collective are on fire with drummer Hannes Van Dahl and bassist Pär Sundstörm giving the song that Maiden-gallop, whilst in the midst of this maelstrom stands vocalist Joakim Brodén directing the troops like a general in the heat of battle.
Writing about historical subjects is not as easy as you might think, just one wrong fact and the whole project could collapse like a house of cards. It’s Sabaton’s attention to the finer points and details that makes songs such as ‘I, Emperor’ come to life and fully three-dimensional. It’s that special kind of magic that happens when music and lyrics are combined in certain ways that illuminates Legends; the words are tailored to sounds (and vice versa) in a way that brings the songs to life and therein lies the power of this album. It makes history come to life in the way only a good teacher (or heavy metal album) can. It’s a quality that makes Legends…legendary.
- Legends is released via Better Noise Music on 17th October 2025.
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Track List:
1. Templars
2. Hordes Of Khan
3. A Tiger Among Dragons
4. Crossing The Rubicon
5. I, Emperor
6. Maid of Steel
7. Impaler
8. Lightning at the Gates
9. The Duelist
10. The Cycle of Songs
11. Till Seger
