SABATON – Legends

After celebrating the 25th anniversary of the band last year, Sabaton is back with a brand new album. For this 11th release, the band is breaking from the sort of routine established by the last two albums, which focused on World War I. With Legends, Sabaton’s storytelling expands in both time and space. Thus, this album brings more diversity in terms of melodies and atmosphere. To this reviewer, Legends already sounds more interesting than The War To End All Wars in many regards.

To give birth to Legends, Sabaton welcomed back into its ranks Thobbe Englund on guitars and, for the mastering of the album, trusted again Jonas Kjellgren, with excellent results. For the sake of comparison, this new album takes things a step further than Heroes (2014). Each song is dedicated to a historical figure whose aura is more mysterious, and where fiction blends with reality, hence the title Legends. To know a bit more about it, you can read Metal Express Radio’s interview with Hannes Van Dahl.

Legendary songs and songs about legends

Throughout this album, the leading thread is not the topic itself, so Sabaton had to find a balance between inner coherence and giving a unique atmosphere to each song. However, in 25 years of career, Sabaton has developed an unmistakable sound to the point that the risk of repetition is now more present than that of incoherence.

“Templars” offers a strong opening thanks to the presence of choirs. It may remind the listener of some passages of Carolus Rex. Joachim’s voice is slightly withdrawn compared to the choirs. While the song sounds a bit generic at first, its strength grows after several listens, something that could be said of many tracks on the album: a sign of a stronger record than it first appears. “Hordes of Khan” follows in the same old-fashioned vibe. The melodic lines once again could easily have dated from a decade ago, perhaps thanks to Thobbe’s return. “A Tiger Among Dragons” is probably one of the weaker points of the album, despite its originality and rhythmic changes.

But then, the next three songs clearly mark the strongest points of the album. First, “Crossing The Rubicon,” which, from the very first listen, shows a lot of promise and should be a killer on stage. The alternate version featuring an unexpected collaboration with Nothing More also deserves praise. Then, keeping with another ambitious figure, the anthem “I, Emperor” is another good surprise, perhaps thanks to the change in narration, using the first person instead of the third. It truly sounds like a marching song from the early 19th century. Finally, the faster-paced “Maid of Steel” concludes a trio of songs rising above the rest of the album.

The second part of the album still retains some strength. “Impaler” has a darker overtone, straying from the upbeat hits of the first half, and contains some of the best guitar parts on the record. “Lightning At The Gates,” one of the first songs released ahead of the album, is another solid title. While it does not seem very original at first, the rhythm and chorus grow on the listener and could very well become an unexpected favourite. To achieve a higher mark, this album would have needed a more epic ending. The last three songs pale a bit in comparison to the middle of the album and are not particularly memorable.

Final Thoughts

With Legends, Sabaton has the merit of once again trying its hand at a tricky exercise: creating a coherent whole out of a diversity of stories and atmospheres that, on paper, have little in common. There are many great moments on the album, and even if it runs out of steam towards the end, it remains utterly enjoyable. Without a doubt, some of these songs will become classics on stage, and the Legendary Tour promises to be an incredible live experience, doing full justice to this opus and its stories.

Legends – Tracklist

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

Sabaton – Lineup

Joakim Brodén – vocals
Pär Sundström – bass
Christ Rörland – guitar
Hannes Van Dahl – drums
Thobbe Englund – guitar