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Unboxing – Sabaton: The Great Box

Posted in CDs, Uncategorized with tags sabaton, the great box, the great war on September 4, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

At last it arrived! Pre ordered some time in March or April, and delayed for a month and a half for whatever excuse they gave, it’s here at last. I am a bit unhappy with the delay – when the Tank from the Tank Edition was late, Nuclear Blast DID in fact ship out the rest of the content before it was done, and I feel they could have done that here as well. I do not understand nor know the obessession they have with always keeping everything until the last missing item is there, causing a huge dissatisfaction amongst their clients. We can only know, huh? They say production was late, but why didn’t they start already before they put it up for sale?

So on to the box. The box is a lot smaller than the prototype insisted originally – Originally it looked more like the History Version CD, and although we know that wasn’t the final box on the image, it still.. Is a little weird, don’t you think? That it differs that much. The box on the image was a full big box, and we got a pizza box size item.

I will however gice them cred for the details. I liked the fact that the recipients country is stamped on the box, as well as the metal hooks holding it together.

And when you open it, it looks like this

So, lets move onto the contents?

All in all, this is the content of the box, and my box more specifically. Three vinyls – regular vinyl, History Edition with a lot of blabber between every song and an instrumental “soundtrack” edition.

Earbook containing the same things as mentioned above, but on CD. With large artwork!

Five different photographs of the members of the band, not signed, but they look cool.

The poem “In Flanders Fields” together with a poppy+ Sabaton Logo pin. The Poppies are a memorial symbol for the people who lost their lives in the World War I.

And last but not least, one of the propaganda posters. Sabaton has since this tour started to spit out propaganda flyers about every song on their shows – and here we randomly get a poster depicting one of the flyers. My poster represent the song “The End of the War to End All Wars”

I must admit – something that makes me really unhappy with these posters is the need to slap the Sabaton + The Great War logo onto them. I have looked up what the others look like, and they all would really look so much better without the logo slapped everywhere, and just the quote.

So.. What can I say. I’m all in all pretty happy. At the end of the day, I knew, all of us, knew what we were getting. I guess I personally perhaps wish we could have gotten all the posters. Because why not?

As a bonus, I’ll throw in the propaganda flyers – so you can see what they all look like. Although, I suspect this is a misprint since the poppy has the quote from The Great War, and the Great War has the Flanders Fields quote.

These however, you collect during the gigs!

So, that was my few coins about that. In a few days, my review of the album shall be up as well.

// Sara

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U-Rock @ Umeå, 20/7 -19 Part 2

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags sabaton, the great war on July 20, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, with Raubtier being done, we now had a bit longer wait for our next band of the day – Sabaton. Yes. We pretty much drove this entire way simply to see Raubiter and Sabaton. Fucking come at me bro! We drove a 1000 miles for them, and we’d drive that again to be with them. Themesong of this trip really IS “1000 Miles” by H.E.A.T.

Anyway, enough with the jibberjabbish.

Next band to enter the stage was Nocturnal Rites. Interestingly enough, Raubtier was only meant to play for an hour, but wound up playing 75 minutes. I guess Nocturnal Rites gave up some of their setup time, or something, because they were still on time on stage.

Nocturnal Rites

So, this is another band that I may or may not have seen live before – after about 12 years of touring it’s hard to keep track on every single band you see at a festival or show. But, they delivered a very good set, very enjoyable, and the crowd had a good vibe to it – not an idiotic vibe, gladly. I really enjoyed their set!

So, after them, the wait for the last band before B-Band started and it was time for U.D.O

U.D.O

I always mix up if it’s U.D.O or Dirkschneider that is the Accept tour, but I worked out pretty quickly that this was not the Accept one. I’ve had the oppurtunity to review some of U.D.O’s albums in the past, but besides that, it’s not something I’ve been listening a lot to.

The band did do very good though – they delievered more than okay, and put a smile on my face.

There was one thing though that I noticed.

And it took me some time.

I was looking at one of the guitarists, seeing his guutar clad in the Swedish shield. Three crowns and a lion. And I didn’t get it. Why would a german guitarist have a Swedish shield guitar? But then again, why not? What do I know about this band, maybe they have it for all countries.

And I kept staring for a few good songs before it hit me. And perhaps it didn’t even hit me until I saw the other stringbenders with instruments clad in city camo paint. Then it hit me.

This was not their guitars. This was Sabaton’s guitars. And in case I hadn’t worked it, Udo himself would mention it a little bit later. I really am stupid, aren’t I?

But with that said, after a really good show they wrapped it up and it was time for us to wait for the main act.

And seriously. As the crew started assembling Sabaton’s stage, which is somewhat similar to trying to assemble a piece of IKEA furniture, for some reason, the people in the crowd would do nothing but scream for Sabaton. And not just scream their name, but be like “Why aren’t you starting already??” Well probably because the stage is still basically a manual and some screws? What do I know?

And this kept on. And remembering how I in my last entry about this, wrote about how things was just about to get worse? Well this was the part. Firstly, a lady comes from behind and start acting very elitist, worse than me. Proclaiming she’s been here for hours (haven’t seen her before?) and upon us telling her how far we drove and how long WE’VE been staying she calms down and instead starts talking about how she’s at least see them before. Honey, this was my 32nd Sabaton show, but please tell me more?

Second problem was a lady from the side. Her boyfriend or something had stayed next to me during U.D.O and he was fine. But her? She started talking about how she was going to push us away during Sabaton so he could stand next to her instead of behind her. Fuck that. And I figured, to myself, that it’d be the other way around. She’d be the one who is gone. It usually happens like that.

The endless screaming went on and on for a good half an hour to 45 minutes… Until the intro started rolling. At this point, no one cared. No one noticed. Except me. I remember even saying to people like “Look, it’s fucking starting now why aren’t you screaming?” Funny people, really.

Sabaton

So, the eerie new intro… haha. No. It’s not eerie, who am I kidding? The new intro is a bit silent, much like “Dominum Maris Baltici”, but eventually it picks up it’s pace. It’s a similar intro as to “Nightwitches”, just that now it’s “Ghost Division”. So there goes my long wishes about getting rid of “Ghost Division” as an opener. Oh well. Maybe another tour.

So, as you probably understood, “Ghost Division” was indeed the opener, and again, to practice some kind of dominance I might have burned out my neck at this point – and as the “Winged Hussars” arrived, all the annoying people were gone.

For the third song, Jocke wiped out a guitar and it was time for “Resist and Bite” because apparently that song is now a steady one, as opposed to a Belgian regional. Or perhaps its just for now. Somewhere here, supposedly accidently, the propaganda flyers were sent out. Well, why not?

After this, it was time for Sweden premiere of “Fields of Verdun”. Still, this really isn’t one of my favorite song, but still – I enjoyed it. “The Price of a Mile” was next on the list, and much to my dismay and almost disappointment, the choir is not joining the ranks.

And while speaking of that, a lot of other things were lacking as well. The trenches weren’t there, just the pyro thing. The grand The Great War sign was missing as well – felt like this was just a between show. And to make things worse, the screen didn’t work properly either. And you guys knows what that means, right? If you don’t, I’ll get back to that later.

And after this… it was time for a live premiere. As suspected, we beforehand suspected “Great War” and “Red Baron” would be premiered today, and it was time for “Great War.” Jocke spoke of being nervous for playing this, and evidently he should have been as he completely blanked out the lyrics.

Well, lucky Sabaton that they had us, Toivo, me, Elli and her friend. We all raised our voices and sang instead of him until he got back on track. But, it was magical nontheless! This is slowly becoming my favorite of the album.

Right after this, they fired off “Shiroyama” before embarking on “Bismarck” which was as epic as always. But due to crowd, we couldn’t start off our planned rowpit.

It got silent, and the lowkey intro for “Lion From The North” started coming out of the speakers, and the band got back on stage running out and firing off the song, launching them straight into “Carolus Rex” and later on “En Livstid i Krig”.

And there are two things I want to talk about here. Firstly, the incredibly epic singalong. It was LOUD. LOUD. And the second thing, remember how I talked about that the screen behind them not working?

This also means there was no baby bears. The baby bears is the only reason I enjoy this song live, and the only reason I accept this song live, is because of the baby bears. And if there is no baby bears, is there even a song? Is there even a point? I could almost cry. Baby bears are life.

The band left the stage and then the red blinking lights and sirens started going off alerting us that the “Nightwitches” where near, and such was the next song. “The Lost Battalion” was fired off before it was time for the next livepremiere, which was just as suspected, “Red Baron”.

They performed the song without an intro, much to my.. dislike. I guess I had an idea in my head on how you could have done this intro, but maybe for the tour? I improvied my swingdancing as well – wasn’t meant to but as Toivo asked how I thought about it we figured we would. And everyone probably hated us.

My personal favorite “The Last Stand” came next, thank god, before wrapping the set up as usual – “Primo Victoria”, “Swedish Pagans” and lastly with “To Hell and Back”

With that said, the band left the stage and we were left there. High on life, not sure what we had just witnessed. It was a very predictable set but nonetheless, they performed it very well. Thank you so much, Sabaton!

// Sara

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New song from Sabaton – “Great War”

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags great war, sabaton, the great war 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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“The Red Baron” – New from Sabaton

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags sabaton, the red baron 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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Listening session with Sabaton

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags sabaton, the great war 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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New Sabaton: “Fields of Verdun”

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags fields of verdun, sabaton, the great war on May 3, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

So the day is here. “Fields of Verdun” is finally officially released. This day couldn’t really come any sooner if you ask me, but finally atlast it’s here!

As I spoke of before, “Fields of Verdun” simply covers the battle of Verdun, the longest and probably one of the grimest battles throughout the first world war.

So here’s the video as well as the song. Where do I even begin? With the song perhaps.

The good news primarily, is the fact that at the first listen and listens, I can’t really seem to find it being similar to any other song I heard before. I might change this statement once I’ve gotten more used to it, but that is a big plus. The little breakdown reminded, and still at some points, remind me of “Poltava” but the song all in all seem to be relatively new.

The feeling of the song brings my thoughts back to “Heroes” album at first though, which isn’t all too surprising considering that ex-guitarist Thobbe Englund helped to compose the song. I guess that on some levels, this song could have fit on “Coat of Arms” as well, but I personally get a lot of “Heroes” vibes – primarily from the fact the guitars are a lot more prominent as compared to the synths, which was the case on “The Last Stand” album.

So… what is then my humble opinion. To be perfectly honest… I’m a little… disappointed. I guess I just expected more. From what I’ve read and understood, Verdun was a very very grime and brutal battle, and having them make a very… almost rushed song, with very very generic lyrics made it all fall very, very flat for me. I wish there would have been a lot more greatness put into this – perhaps the perception is somewhat ruined due to the release of “Bismarck”, who, on the other hand, was a very epic and big song.

I don’t really see this song growing on me, sadly, which is sad because there was a lot of anticipation for this one. But hey, this could very well simply be that “one bad song” on the album, am I right?

As for the video.. I’m sadly not impressed by that one either. It feels a bit.. But you know what? If the song isn’t grand and epic, how the hell can the video be? I do however wish for a bit more action, I guess. And a bit more gore. They could’ve afforded that.

Shame innit, that the first single and song of the album is outshined both song and videowise by a song not even on the album. But oh well, as strange as it may sound, the disappointment of “Fields of Verdun” does make me want to hear the whole album NOW.

// Sara

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Bismarck – New Sabaton Song

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags bismarck, sabaton on April 22, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

So here it is people! It was rumored already a while back that a new single called “Bismarck” would see the light of day, but as I’m not one to gossip on my blog and wait for the real news, I kept it low, but wasn’t surprised when that is what was indeed revealed.

So, “Bismarck”. The song tells the story about the German battleship, the first of two built for the Nazi’s “kriegsmarine”, a ship which was commisioned in 1940, but after an intensive hunt that had sunk a lot of the enemy ships, even she was sunk.

So, now that the trivia is over, lets move over to the music shall we?

First and foremost, and it tears my heart apart to have to say this over and over again – it wasn’t exactly anything new to the table. While it was no “Winged Hussars” I can feel several different songs while hearing this. BUT – with that said.

There was something I did notice, something that made me feel very much at home. The productions resembles the production of “Primo Victoria” and “The Art of War” and it sent me 12 years back in time for when I became a real die hard fan of the band and I suddenly felt very much at home. I feel a bit of “Panzer Battalion” in the pre-chorus and it just makes me shiver and gives me goose bumps. Jonas Kjellgren is the one who produces Sabatons sounds the best, if you ask me.

It’s a very epic and bombastic song, almost like “Wolfpack” but turned up – it’s something about the songs about the ships that makes ’em go like this I suppose. God, I feel like my feelings are all over the place.

Now, this song won’t end up on “The Great War”, so I can’t say I’m more stoked for the album because of this, But I am indeed looking forward to seeing this song live. And while they are at it, why not dust off “Wolfpack”?

// Sara

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Sabaton Cruise, part one

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags sabaton, sabaton cruise, the last tour on December 18, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

And so the day come! Finally time to board the beautiful ship and get going. But before that, we treated ourselves a nice and relaxing lunch at Espresso House before locking up our bags at the city station and then taking an hour or two to walk the city.

We had lunch someplace before taking a taxi out to the terminal where we met up with my friends Toivo, Jesse and Susanna. I met T and S while on Battle Beast tour, and Jesse we were standing next to on Sabaton Open Air. Not only was it nice to meet up with them, but we noticed we for some scary reason managed to have all the cabins next to each other – ours were wall in wall with Jesse’s, and Toivo and Susanna’s was across the hall from him.

After some waiting, we finally got to board… well sort of. One part of it. Then we had to wait even more. And THEN get to board. And then we had to wait at the door for our cabins. A lot of waiting, to be honest.

But finally, at last, we got to the cabin and it was the most beautiful. Well, sort of anyway, it was real cozy and real sweet. First thing we did was put on some music – while boarding we had discovered the other band playing was Brothers of Metal, so I cranked up “Prophecy of Ragnarök” while we got ourselves ready for the evening. The evening was serving us two shows by Sabaton, and some pause entertainment by Bombshell Belles.

After getting ready, we decided to roam the boat rather than get good spots for the shows and found quite some nice spots on the ship. I’ve never been on a cruise like this, so it was real nice in all honesty. I really enjoyed the view.

Time was closing in on the show, so we headed down to the arena bar and got… well okayish spots. We decided to be more in the “back” but this venue was very small and well, not made for metalshows, but still. We met up with Sebastian, a guy I had met on Sabaton Open Air who is a friend of Sjorven, so he joined us for the show. It got tightened up and the wait for the show to start felt like forever… until it finally started.

Sabaton

So, after “In The Army Now”, the “Primo Victoria” film started rolling, and they opened the show up with “Primo Victoria”. Well, I shouldn’t complain right? I mean, it’s not “Ghost Division” right? It was quickly followed by “Sparta”, which is well a little early for my personal taste but I don’t mind! It was a good vibe in the audience, despite all the drunkies.

A song I’ve missed a lot in the past, “Cliffs of Galipolli”, which was soooo long overdue, like, it isn’t even funny how overdue this is! But finally, finally it was back! It was a real good vibe in the crowd, but what else is to be expected from a Sabaton show after all?

Another long, not as long, but still long lost friend was found in “Attero Dominatus” which was the next on the list, tightly followed by “Saboteurs”, another song we haven’t heard in some time, if even at all.

The churchbells appeared, and my personal favorite from the last album – the title track “The Last Stand” was the next song on the list to appear, and you know, emotions explodes, adrenaline pumping – there is nothing quite like this.

“Far From The Fame” was next on the list – followed by “White Death” which I thought was really fun – I’m not sure if I heard it much before. “Carolus Rex” was ripped off before they wrapped up with my personal favorite all times “The Art of War”.

And by that, the first set of the evening was all set and done. As soon as they left the stage, people started to disappear which was so nice, as we decided to claim a table with chairs for ourselves for the next set – it got a bit intense with the great vibe, but we wanted a bit more calmer setting. Yes, I am indeed getting old.

Szilvi went out to get some air, but Sebastian, Susanna and me remained behind, watching the spot and just hanging out, later joined by her returning. Sofia had managed to get to the front row through the moshpit, so we didn’t really see much of her until after the show – and in the mean time we were entertained by The Bombshell Belles, 50’s kind of singing group, think The Lounge Kittens, real good.

And after some time, Sabaton finally entered the stage again with “The Final Solution”.

“Lejonet Från Norden” followed this beautiful song, only to throw us into “Panzerkampf”, which is also a song I have missed. I saw Sabaton a lot during the festival seasons, but it doesn’t change much in my opinion, I still miss the songs.

“Blood of Bannockburn” was next, then followed by “En Livstid i Krig.”

So, something that is really annoying is the constant chanting of “Swedish Pagans”. We heard the damn chant so much from before even boarding and up until now. And before every song, Sabaton said they’d play it but started another song, just like they did now when the “Winged Hussars” arrived instead. Which was amazing, I love this song so much.

“Nightwitches” and it’s amazing intro was followed by this, and at this point no joke, my neck was pretty dead. What was I supposed to do you know.

“Shiroyama” followed suit, and then, finally for all the chanters, “Swedish Pagans” was finally set off before they wrapped up the entire set with “To Hell and Back”.

After this, we hung around some more in the venue before getting back to the room for some freshen up and then spending the night at the bar, playing a baloon game and drinking til 6am in the morning when we finally made our way back to our cabin to “sleep” some… Good night, that is for sure!

// Sara

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Attero Dominatus – Sabaton the love story.

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags sabaton on June 29, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

Ten years ago, on this exact day, June 29, after further inspection, my life changed forever. This marks the exact day I became a Sabaton fan. The location was Borlänge, more to be exact – The Peace & Love festival. Jocke spoke of how it was ironic a festival called “Peace” was inviting Sweden’s only band who sung about war to play, and this was also the day I figured out they were Swedish, by the way.

While this may not have been the first time I experienced Sabaton live, it was the day I became a fan.

A few weeks later I found “Attero Dominatus” in a supermarket, and on that path – From that album, onwards to Monsters of Mora it all went down. My first show as a Sabaton fan, and it became a night to remember. Peace & Love 2008 – where I denied every single sign of Sabaton actually playing.

Over the years I’ve watched this band grow. A band I once saw in smaller clubs, as supportband for bands like Lordi and HammerFall, to now witnessing them headline festivals like Sweden Rock and Graspop Metal Meeting. Witnessing the very first Rockstad: Falun back in 2008.

Metallsvenskan 2009. What a moment. Watching Sabaton play football against other bands, and then wrapping up with a nice show… These moments, you know?

Last year I saw Sabaton be included in Eurovision Song Contests montage of Swedish music exports, and I will not deny that tears were shed. This is a band that means so truly much to me, I cannot even put into words how much I love this band, or how PROUD I am of them. PROUD to see them grow like this, and I feel blessed to have been a part of the journey.

This is a band I’d walk through fire for. This is a band I’ve traveled down to the very south of Malmö to watch, jump on a last minute plane to Luleå up in the North – I’ve seen them in and out of Sweden, and I’d walk a 1000 miles, ten times over for this band.

So far, I’ve seen this band 24 times. And trust me, there’s going to be many, many, many more. This band has become one of the most important things in my life, almost like the air I breathe.

Sabaton, I love you. Since June 29th 2007, and I’ll be always yours.

// Sara

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Tons of Rock, Halden, Norway 24/6 – 17: Part 2

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags amaranthe, carolus rex, sabaton, tons of rock on June 25, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

After she left, I headed up toward the hill again to watch the sunset and wait for Amaranthe to start. Linn and My surprisingly joined me after a while, before it was time for me to head down to the tent again.

Amaranthe

The tent was PACKED. Like, I know Amaranthe has had a lot of success, but this was crazy. I wasn’t really expecting to have the Delain kind of treatment, but perhaps Amaranthe should be on the mainstage the next time? I think so.

Right on time the intro started echoing in the speakers and they opened with “Maximize”. And of course, from the instant, my eyes are glued to Nils. I promise, I’m not a crazed fangirl, it’s just that, it’s so odd to see him perform on stage. You know he’s my favorite singer ever, so knowing I’ll be seeing him on a regular basis now is a weird thought.

“Boomerang” followed suite, and the band seemed to have a pretty good night! The energy from the crowd was… okay. I guess. I mean, I’ve seen better. Perhaps I should stop comparing nordic crowds to French or German, as they are always much more my cup of tea, but still. Better than at Delain, I guess that is something?

“Hunger” followed suit, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it, but this went from being a song I really did not like with them, to one of my favorites. It’s something special about all of a sudden realizing that yeah, it’s not so good on the album, but then you realize what kind of a headbanging song it is, and you instantly fall in love.

“1.000.000 Lightyears” and “Fury” was the next songs on the list, and “Fury” you know… you can’t get enough from that song. Really. “On The Rocks” followed, my personal favorite off “Maximalism”, “The Nexus” was ripped off before it was time for some sing along or karaoke, or whatever you wanna call it with Elize for “Amaranthine”.

“Call Out My Name”, “Digital World” and “That Song” was fired off as the set left for it’s finale and they wrapped up the entire thing with “Drop Dead Cynical”.

It wasn’t exactly the best show I’ve ever seen with them, but it is also far from the worst. Perhaps I have simply seen them too much. I don’t know. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Maximalism” either so maybe it’s just this entire era. Huh.

Right after the show, I headed off to the bathrooms and then over to Sabatons stage. For arriving like ten minutes before it was about to start, I got some really good spots. Good visually, and I had a lot of space. My hair is a bit like a windmill, so, I kind of need it.

Sabaton

But, lets talk about something for a quick second here. The beauty of the stage I was seeing in front of me. I knew this was a special show – the Carolus Rex kind of special show, Swedish Empire and all of that, but I didn’t think so much about it until I got to the stage and saw it. The three crowns banner that clad Audie, the Swedish banners place here and there, and not to talk about the throne Carolus was about to sit upon later in the show. That’s when it REALLY hit me – this is going to special. And beyond epic.

And it started already at the intro. Instead of the usual “The March To War”, “Dominium Maris Baltici” served as the intro instead. It was a little… odd, because the intro was as quiet here as it is on the album, making it a little awkward. Probably some setting or so, but I guess I shouldn’t be complaining, considering that once Hannes and the rest of the boys were on stage – “Lejonet Från Norden” was the first song to be performed. All this time, I waited for this! For not having “Ghost Division” as the opener!

It was followed by Jocke talking a little bit, the only apparently he was allowed to talk during this special set, as they continued onwards with “Gott Mit Uns”. The energy from the crowd was pretty good. COULD be better, but hey, better than Graspop so I’m shutting up. “En Livstid i Krig” followed suit, and at this time at the show, it still felt like any other Sabaton show. It was first when the next song, “1648” started as it dawned upon me that no, this is not like any other Sabaton show.

“Karolinens Bön” was next, and as I had suspected a bit due to seeing the special show from Rockstad: Falun in a live stream, the caroleans marched onto the stage and took position during this song. Could this show get any better?

Sure it could, because in “Carolus Rex” Carolus himself comes on stage, we witness his coronation and he sits upon his throne. Like, very literally to the song, but oh my god. This is the Sabaton show of my dreams! “Ett Slag Färgat Rött” followed suit, and then “Poltava”.

After “Poltava”, the caroleans exited the stage and Carolus walked down toward the front in order to, well, look out over his land I guess. And that’s when it happened. A pyro shot off as a bullet that has been fired from a gun, and Carolus fell to the ground. “Konungens Likfärd” was the song the band played next, obviously, and the Caroleans came on stage and carried the fallen king out, “back to Sweden” so to put it.

Just as last time, “Ruina Imperii” was in fact not performed live, it simply served as an outro, and as back in Falun, the Caroleans fired off their weapons after the show, and then left the stage for good, for now.

I honestly thought the show was going to be over now, so mind my surprise when the WWII intro started on the screen, with the apropriate pyro and “Primo Victoria” started echoing. At least the crowd woke up a little bit by now, haha!

“Sparta” was next on the list, sadly not with all the theatrics, but if it’s festivals it is festivals I guess – “Swedish Pagans”, of course, because apparently you can never have a show with out this one – “Shiroyama”, “Winged Hussars” and “To Hell and Back” wrapped up the set before it was over.

Jocke asked the Caroleans back out on stage and introduced everyone, including “The Norwegian that shot him” haha. I love this band.

With that said, the show was over and everyone left the stage. And I was just standing there like, what the hell did I just witness. What did I just have the privilige to witness? I have no idea. I headed up toward the stage, and I was very very lucky to get a setlist from a very very kind crew member. I like setlists, but this setlist means so much to me because it was THIS show, you know?

After this, I headed out of the area, to fix the cashless card and pick up Linn, and then we went home right after.

Seriously, this day was so worth it. For Sabaton alone, but I also thank Delain and Amaranthe, Angelina, Linn and My for making it even better! Thank you all!

// Sara

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