The Last Stand Sabaton 2016 Nuclear Blast Records Sabaton are a Power Metal band from Sweden with songs that revolve around military-history. Sabaton are very unique in their approach to Power Metal, their music is heavier and the vocals of Joakim Brodén are sung at a much lower pitch through his Swedish accent which only add to the atmosphere that Sabaton manage to lay down. The Last Stand is the 8th studio album by Sabaton and is the follow up the 2014 well received album Heroes. The Last Stand is a concept album regarding famous last stands in history and was recorded with the same line-up and has the sound of a band who are now well acquainted with each other from the heavy touring that the success of Heroes brought Sabaton. The production duties of The Last Stand has been handled by long time Sabaton producer Peter Tägtgren. Tägtgren knows the sound of Sabaton inside and out and The Last Stand is no different. The Last Stand has a sound somewhere between Heroes and The Art of War, however, The Last Stand also contains some of the chamber-choral elements that made Carolus Rex so impeccable, this can be heard clearly on The Lost Battalion and the choral sound takes centre on the title track. The title track from The Last Stand was chosen to be the lead single from the album and at first listen, The Last Stand has many similarities to the closing track from Heroes, Hearts of Iron. The melody itself, especially in the chorus is very similar with the phrasing being almost like-for-like. This sort of phrasing, is a recurring theme through The Last Stand and at times you can get the feeling that The Last Stand has been a little rushed with the heavy touring taking its toll. Rushed or not, Sabaton have once more, as they always do, come up with the goods. The stories behind the songs are interesting choices such as Hill 3234, Winged Hussars and Rorke’s Drift, stories from history that many have overlooked or completely forgotten about. Brodén doesn’t exactly have the best voice, but what he does have is power and a way of delivering the lyrics that not only tell a story, but also have you gripped wanting to know more by being fully engrossed. The remaining members of Sabaton are exceptionally talented, the long standing bassist Pär Sundström has always been dependable and an integral part of Sabaton. The more recent members of Sabaton in the shape of Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund on the guitars and Hannes van Dahl on the drums have managed to stamp their authority all over the sound of Sabaton. Sabaton always seem to subconsciously evolve their sound, the major scale tones used in The Blood of Bannockburn give a different sound to what Sabaton can offer and maybe in the future, Sabaton will explore this route more. The songs Last Dying Breath and Hill 3234 wouldn’t be out of place on The Art of War from 2008, whilst Shiroyama, Sparta and Winged Hussars would fit perfectly into 2010’s Coat of Arms. The Last Stand is a great album and fantastic follow up to 2014’s Heroes. The Last Stand has a sound which is undoubtedly 100% Sabaton, created by a band that are now well bedded into their current line-up. There are times when the album feels like Sabaton are re-treading old ground, the pure epic-grandiose feel of the album more than makes up for this. At the year end, don’t be surprised if you see The Last Stand in the upper echelons of the best albums released in 2016. 9/10 Adam Blood of Bannockburn (Sabaton)
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