Archive for June, 2019

New song from Sabaton – “Great War”

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags , , on June 29, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

June 28th. Already at Metalfest I was seeing posters plastered all over the place about June 28th, and figured out Sabaton was giving out a new single. This single, “Great War” simply captures everything that was World War I. Not a specific event, just the greatness (eh) of it.

So about the song then, shall we?

This song starts off in an epic way with big drums and echoing choirs. It has the kind of opening that draws the thoughts to the Raubtier song “Sveriges Elit”, the anthem kind of hook that serves as a simple adrenaline shot to your heat. When reaching the verse, it mellows down to simply Jocke’s voice and keyboards.

The deeper tones of the voice and sturdiness in his singing combined with the lingering keyboards create an epic atmosphere, almost putting you out in the battlefield. The pre-chorus builds up, similarly to the preceeder “The Last Stand” before it culminates in the epicness anthem hymn kind of chorus that explodes inside you. The song continues on similarly, only with a more aggressive tone and some added guitars for the second verse, until it emerges into a shredding solo to again end up with the epicness of “The Last Stand”.

This song gives me chills. When I heard it the first time, and when I heard it for the tenth time, I still get the chills. I think you my true readers at this point have learned I love anthem-like songs, so it shouldn’t surprise you.

But something I wanna talk about. The lyrics.

I have reprimanded Sabaton for making generic lyrics for “Fields of Verdun”… but all of that is made up here. The story being told in the verse, from the point of view of a soldier, sharing of the brutality, grimness of the war, the honest spoken words about how there are no victors nor losers in war – we all are the losers. This is the lyrics I would have expected from “Fields of Verdun”, so Sabaton – all is forgiven. This, combined with the grime feeling Jocke puts into the voice when he sings.. makes it perfection. Wow.What a song. NOW, Now I’m most certainly feeling the excitement for the album.

Thank you.

// Sara

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Metalfest Open Air 2019 – Day 1: Friday, Part 2

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , on June 26, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

Here we go! I realized it was getting very very long, so here comes the second part of day one of Metalfest!

HammerFall

HammerFall. Old time heroes, a band I’ve loved for about 12 years now. While I’ll admit that the feelings go up and down, and that at this point I look at them more as a fond something, I still owe a lot to them. They were, give or take, my first metalband and that is not something you simply just take away, am I right?

So I was excited to sit here. And to finally see them again. Again, as with Kissin’ Dynamite, it isn’t that long since I actually saw them, but nonetheless.

Surprisingly, they opened the set with “Legion”. This is the first time I’ve heard it live in a very, very long time and it took me a bit by surprise. It was quickly followed up with “Hammer High”  The place was crowded, and it was an amazing crowd. The band start out energetically, and the crowd was with them from the start.

“Renegade” was next song on the list, oldie but Goldie I guess we can say, and then it was time for yet another – “Bloodbound”. This was quickly followed by my personal favorite – “Any Means Necessary”. It has been ten years since this album came out, and still I hold this song as my absolute favorite.

After this, it was time for the new single from the upcoming album, “(We Make) Sweden Rock” to premiere. I find it personally it a bit odd they’re premiering it here in Czech Republix when they play in Sweden just a week from now, but oh well I guess? I’m not a massive fan of the song, but it was well recieved by the audience!

“Hero’s Return” was next on the list, one other of those for me little unexpected songs to be honest, but it’s good to hear some new stuff, you know? “Riders of the Storm” was next on the list, another well executed song. I mean, these people are pros so what did I expect anyway?

“Hector’s Hymn” followed suit, and then they apparently had a live premiere of “The Sacred Vow”. It felt odd hearing this would be the first time ever played, and I want to call bullshit, but I can’t find any traces of it being played before, strangely enough, seeing this is the single. I stand corrected, I guess. Good hearing it live though!

“Last Man Standing” and “Let The Hammer Fall” wrapped up the set for now, and the band left the stage.

The intro of “Templars of Steel” started shallowly, and then more strongly, appear across the festival field, and the band returned to rip off this classic of a song. It really is, and have become more so, emotional to hear this song. I guess it comes down to what a song represented at a period in ones life, no?

“The Dragon Lies Bleeding” was next, and I’m so happy that this has come to be more of a permanent song in their list these days. Lastly, they wrapped it all up with “Hearts on Fire” before leaving the stage for Powerwolf to conquer.

Powerwolf

As clockwork, and also by fucking luck, Szilvi and Marci had left for the bathroom right after HammerFall and made it back JUST as the intro for Powerwolf started echoing. “Lupus Daemonis” was throwing and eerie feeling over the now dark and moist (it was raining) festival grounds, and as “Fire and Forgive” started, the frontdrop dropped, pyros set off, and the show was a fact.

An epic, powerful start was later followed up with “Army of the Night”. The venue, the poor little amphitheater, was full beyond capacity (if you ask me) at this point, and gave Powerwolf the most amazing reception.

Attila went across the stage, swining his incense and talking about what you need to beat down your opponnents. And anyone who has ever seen Powerwolf before knows damn well what this is – “Incense and Iron”. This one is such a crowdstarter, and the performance was yet again polished, and well executed.

Funnily enough, we noticed that Attila stumbled on the lyrics every now and then. And when “Amen and Attack” was coming, and he asked if we knew the lyrics of Powerwolf, Szi and I just looked at each other and said “Yes, because you don’t!” but, off we went with the song. Perfect, as usual.

The temp was taken down a notch as “Let There Be Night” was next song on the list. This song is seriously, one of the most perfect songs, to be performed at night time like this. The organ, the chants, it’s just. I’m sure I’ve fangirled enough over it before, but seriously.

“Demons are a Girl’s Best Friend” was next on the list, which caused a MASSIVE sing along, and then onto my personal favorite. My absolute personal favorite of “The Sacrament of Sin”, “Killers with the Crocs”. Seriously, I cannot get over how good this song is, and I can’t get over hearing it live.

Another singalong and audience favorite, “Armata Strigoi” was next on the list and continuing down the stroll of the preceeder of “The Sacrament of Sin” with “Blessed and Possessed”.

The stage got mellow and calmed down again, down to a piano, Falk and Attila only pulling through “Where the Wild Wolves have Gone”. Beautiful, serene and sweet. I will admit I’ve never been a too big fan of the song personally, but made like this? Beautiful.

From that, to the next, as “Resurrection by Erection” is next song on the list, followed by “Stossgebet”.

After this, they left the stage… And crew came out to light the stage on fire, the lights turned to red as “Agnus Dei” starts echoing over the eerie festival area, and “Sanctified with Dynamite” set off the encores for this time. Or as always, as you please I guess.

“Coleus Sanctus” was next song to be put out, before Falk and Attila had their usual battle with “Werewolves of Armenia”.

As one last thing, Attila asks us what we need, and what we drink, and for one last time, the bells chime, the “Kyrie Eleison” chants echo out and with that, the Holy Heavy Metal Mass came to an end.

And after this, we made our way back to the camp in the cold, dark and misty night… Getting ready for tomorrows adventures.

// Sara

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Metalfest Open Air 2019 – Day 1: Friday, Part 1

Posted in Concerts, Music, Travels, Uncategorized with tags , , , on June 18, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

So! The festival has officially begun! Or at least it’s about to, and that is excitement! Got up relatively early, I guess, for being a festival day and having some breakfast and chilling. Toivo had chosen campspots with morning shade, which was great, but as soon as the shade was gone it was the kind of heat that’ll seriously burn you alive. So I spent pretty much half my morning laying outside my little tent with a wet towel over me, trying to you know, not die.

First band of the day for me today was Majesty. I want to say that it’s so long since I last saw them, but I’m probably lying. Last I saw them was two years ago when they supported Battle Beast on their Bringer of Pain tour – at least as far as I can remember. So I was pretty excited actually, to see them again. I had dusted off the old albums I owned, and heck yes. I will admit defeat and tell you that I did not bring my camera to this fest. I wasn’t sure regarding the rules, and figured it was safest to leave it at home.

Majesty

So, they started off strongly with “Die Like Kings”. The crowd wasn’t huge – but still more than I perhaps would have expected. Good to see! “Hail to the Majesty” was followed next, and the energy on stage was amazing! At first, I’ll admit I didnt recognize the singer and turned to Szilvi durng the show like “Is it the same guy?” and she just nodded and said he cut his hair. Imagine, so little can change so much!

My own personal favorite, “Rebels of our Time” was third of the list, and hearing this magical song again.. Seriously. Majesty may never really have been a favorite band of mine, but this song has truly been a favorite of mine.

“Hellforces” was next on the list before it was time for a live premiere of a new song – “Wasteland Outlaw”. This is a song from their upcoming album, and I liked it sooo much! And the energy and response from the crowd was amazing!

“Thunder Rider” from the album with the same name was next, a big favorite I can tell, and yet another new song, “We are Legends” got its premiere today – how awesome isn’t that, to be honest?

At last, they wrapped up the set with “Metal Law” and left the stage. The show was so great, despite the heat and sun killing us, and I’m so glad I got to see them again after all this time! Thank you!

After this, we remained in our spots because in only 20 minutes, Kissin’ Dynamite would be gracing the stage.

Kissin’ Dynamite

Finally! While it wasn’t THAT long ago since I last saw them – only about seven or eight months, it still felt good seeing them again. I guess at a certain point all time feels long, no matter how long it actually is, right?

They opened the show with “I’ve Got The Fire”, which also happens to be the opening track on the most recent album “Ecstasy”. The crowd had grown quite a bit since last band, not surprisingly. The vibe and energy on the stage was amazing, as they continued with “Sombody’s Gotta Do It” from the same album.

“Love Me, Hate Me” followed suit before it was time for an oldie but goldie, if I may use that term. “DNA”, one of my personal favorites was fired off. Still, with an amazing chemistry on stage.

“Sex is War” and “Waging War” followed suit – not sure what to make of this selection right after each other, at least not namewise, but still, the show was so good at this point.

Hannes got up to be on the throne places on stage, full on with the cape and crown, and “I Will Be King” was performed. Always the biggest party, if you ask me.

The set was wrapped up with “You’re Not Alone” and “Flying Colors” before leaving the stage for the next band. Very average setlist, but I guess it is what to be expected of a festival gig. It was still beyond enjoyable!

After Kissin’ Dynamite, I headed out to the camp to rest a bit. This kind of heat isn’t kind on me, and I felt I wanted to lay down, eat something small and just take it easy. Something that I did, which I am pretty proud of haha, is that I invented my own little sofa, or chair.

I put my suitcase behind my matress, and thus could sit up, while resting. Loved it.

I got back toward the venue somewhere before or during Amorphis. I took company with Szilvi and Marci, and ate a small panncake to simply get SOMETHING in my system. We made our way all the way, or halfway, up the amphitheater to get some nice spots for Powerwolf, but also the next band – HammerFall.

To be continued

// Sara

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“Fallen Worlds” – New song from Art Nation

Posted in Music with tags , , on June 17, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

Well hello there again. I guess there are still some interesting things happening music-wise, despite everything with that other band. Art Nation, a band I’ve held very very fondly ever since my discovery for them in 2016, has finally released a new single from the upcoming album “Transition”.

This release makes me extremely happy on so many levels. Art Nation is a band that has gone through… A lot. Can I use those words? It’s been constant line up changes, canceled gigs and they even went mute for a while. To be perfectly frank, I wasn’t even sure if they were still a band at this point. But a while ago, they announced their new line up, and now the first single dropped.

Alexander mentioned in the statement from the band that this is what he wants Art Nation to sound like, which makes me both excited and worried, as they are the best thing I’ve heard in the AOR scene since H.E.A.T.

Wow so okay. This song starts very heavy. I get some instant flashbacks to when I first heard the Dynazty album “Renatus” for the first time – when I expect some AOR / Melodic stuff and instead end up with something closer to the genre of melodic metal than anything.

The song is, in fact, heavier than anything Art Nation has ever done before, with electronic elements ala Amaranthe. Some nice melodic lines can be found in the chorus, otherwise it’s what I would call a renewed Art Nation.

And now… Remember what I wrote earlier? That I was worried and exited from Alexanders words, and I had reasons to be so. The song isn’t bad – lyrically it feels like it’s a very typical Art Nation song.

I didn’t dislike the song. Not at all. But I’ll admit that I’m even more anxious now about the possible genre change. Not sure how to feel about it.

// Sara

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“The Red Baron” – New from Sabaton

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags , on June 15, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

And so the time has come! Another new single release from Sabaton, from their upcoming album “The Great War”. And this time, it was time for “The Red Baron” to come to show.

The song is about Manfred von Richthofen, a German pilot during World War I. He was known as one of the greatest fighter pilots of the war, credited to 80 victories and was well respected in Germany and by his enemies.

So, how about we start looking into the actual song yes?

The song itself starts off with eerie, circuslike organ, only to launch into a rather quick, and to a certain degree, swinglike kind of verse, and it keep it like this throughout the song. The organ remains in the background throughout the song as well. I can imagine the circuslike sounds to it is a kick-back to the nickname “The Flying Circus”.

While the song brings the thought back to “Night Witches” at some point, I’d love to argue that it has got a happier feeling to it, despite the eerie background organ – and it works faster without barely any fills, just all at once.

I actually.. At first listen I’ll admit I didn’t like it at first. But after giving it a few more tries, it grew very quickly on me. Now, I’m more excited than ever. And I can’t help but to get stage setting ideas, just as I did with “Bismarck”.

But yes I’ll say it – this is a dance song. This song it was will ensure Sabaton earns points on “Dance Friendliness”, and I myself, shall pick up a bit on swing dancing because of this.

// Sara

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Metalfest Open Air 2019: The Journey

Posted in Travels, Uncategorized with tags , , , on June 12, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

Oh hey here we go! A little over two weeks since this happened, but better late than never, am I right?

So, the journey began for my part on Wednesday already, and Toivo had already made it to Prague the day before or so, if I’m not mistaken. My journey started very calmly and peacefully with a three hour drive to the airport. Seeing as this festival lied so close to Sweden Rock, my travel options were limited. Normally I would have loved to take the bus down to it, but. Time management.

As I get older, I also get wiser, or in this case, I have less time optimism. So I had actually left home in a good and decent amount of time. Despite various obstacles along the road, I made it to the airport a little bit before the check in opened, so everything was chill. Except for the fact that I had acquired an illness prior to leaving, but oh well. You just gotta roll with it, you know?

So, going through the checks and everything, feeling pretty chill and then I almost fall over my feet when getting to the gates as the first thing I see is one large wall of Sabaton. There was this magazine, Sverigemagazinet, which made an interview with Sabaton about their festival, and it was all here to get. This trip was off to quite an amazing start, huh?

Flight was pretty uneventful, and I landed relatively safely in Prague in time. The flight had been changed in time prior to going, so it was rather late. I made it into the city and met up with Toivo who helped me to the hotel to drop off my stuff before heading out for dinner in the city.

We went to a restaurant called Vytopna in the central of Prague, which has your drinks delivered to you by train. It was an extremely cozy restaurant and a nice meal. After that, we took a stroll home and went to bed. Tomorrow was time for us to head over to Plzen.

Thursday

We went up.. Relatively early. Not super early, but relatively. About 8? We went downstairs to check out the breakfast at the hotel, but decided it wasn’t really worth it. So off we were, off to Prague railway station to lock up our stuff and then head off to a medieval restaurant called U Pavoka in the central of the city. Great food and great setting, and Toivo wants to emphasize he had some mead.

Once finished, we headed off to some sightseeing. Astronomical clock and the Karlsbridge was a few of our stops before FINALLY getting on the train to Plzen. Was a nice, calm train ride, and at the trainstation we met up with Alexandra, one of my good friends frm Czech Republic.

Together with her, we took the tram as close as possible to the festival and then walked what felt like forever until we found the festival and the camping and went to set up our camp. Once tents and all was set up, we headed off to an Albert to pick up the essentials for the festival. Everything is ridiculously cheap in Czech, at least for us so I guess we overshopped a bit? Our hands were hurting like hell afterwards, haha!

Once back on the camping, we chilled out for a moment, went to see some of Toivos friends before meeting up with Szilvi and Marci who were just coming in from Hungary. The rest of the evening were spent with with them, catching up on everything and anything.

Tomorrow, was the first day of the festival.

// Sara

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Listening session with Sabaton

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags , on June 11, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

So people! Another long wait for something to read, but here it is at last.

Some time ago I was invited to a “secret location” to participate in a listening session, Q&A and a meet and greet with Sabaton. For their own reason, I won’t reveal the location, but anyway.

This was kind of a last minute spontaneous kind of thing, so I just booked the bus kind of on the spot, which was no major issue… I thought.

Since I booked the bus at such short notice, I was assigned a seat. And of course, the seat assigned just HAD to be the one with a non functioning poweroutlet. And my computer, the computer I currently bring with me on tour, has a battery time of 50 minutes. Great. Just great.

On top of that, I got a bit rushed in the morning, and because of that, forgot my waterbottle. No biggie, right?

Except that I get horribly motion ill, and to top it off, I had cramps from hell. AND, becuase we aren’t even done yet, we got one of those bus drivers who drives extremly recklessly.

So here I was, in pain, being ill as hell, unable to work.. And the bus gets about 40 minutes delayed. Because why the hell not right? Gladly, I had plenty of time before the session, so it did not ruin my time plan, it was just a little bit of torture.

Once in Stockholm, I headed off to an Espresso House as per usual to have a quick lunch / dinner kind of thing and make myself ready for the evening.  I stowed away my stuff in a locker at the central station and headed off to the “secret location”. It wasn’t too hard to find, much to my pleasure although I’ve never been there before.

The first thing that happened was pretty much standing around waiting. And waiting. And after waiting some more, we were finally let in the salon for the listening session. It was a beautiful kind of old school cinema, and I loved the setting. The host spoke a bit before playing us the first five songs of the album.

So, I guess the most important part of this is this: What were my first impressions and opinions?

So, the first song, “The Future of Warfare” is a pretty lowkey but yet hitting opening song. I felt, or feel, that it might set the mood completely for the album – darker, harder, yet not leaving the Sabaton influences. It brought my thoughts back to “Primo Victoria” and “Metalizer” soundfigure, with a touch of “Coat of Arms”, if that makes any sense to anyone.

Second song of the evening, “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” made me throw my hands up in the air out of frustration. The only thing I can say about this song is that it’s “White Death”. It’s the new “Winged Hussars”, so to speak. Lyrically it’s fine, but at this point I’m still too frustrated at that to give a more proper view or insight.

As far as “82nd All The Way” goes, I can’t remember I thought anything special about it, it sort of blanded out amongst the songs, however, a song that REALLY stuck to me was the next one – “The Attack of the Dead Men”.

I had this song stuck in my brain for the rest of the weekend. And as soon as I think of the title, it starts playing in my head again. This one I really liked, a lot. And it made me excited, as it felt relatively new for being Sabaton.

Last song that got played, was “Devil Dogs” which wasn’t a bad song at all, but it brought the thoughts too much back to “Smoking Snakes” (not like ‘Seven Pillars’ though), but all in all – good.

So, I guess you can say I liked what I heard, and it did get me more excited than ever for the new album. And now, it ain’t long left. Just a month, ish.

After listening to the song, the band came into the room and we had a press-conference kind of Q&A, where we got to ask questions to the band and they’d answer. It was a pretty cozy thing to be honest, it felt very down to earth and relaxed. At least in my point of view.

Once the Q&A was done, we all lined up for the photo to be taken, and once that was over – heading home.

Thank you Warner Music and Sabaton for this evening, it was quite the pleasure. It was a spurr of the moment kind of thing for me, but I was not disappointed in doing it! Thank you!

// Sara

 

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