Album Review - Sabaton - Primo Victoria

Sabaton is a relatively new band from Sweden, and Primo Victoria offers plenty of fascinating melodies, blistering guitar work, and an epic and dramatic atmosphere.

Primo Victoria starts out strong with one of this years best songs so far, the amazing titletrack.
Describing the splendor of this masterpiece is difficult, this is truly spectacular. From the first time I listened to this, I was completely blown away, and I don't think I can ever grow tired of it.
Ultra heavy Black Sabbath like riffs make up the fundament and with the use of bombastic keyboards, melodic and screaming guitars and the dark, rasp voice of Joakim Brodén (quite similar to Chris Boltendahl of Grave Digger), Sabaton creates visions of victory and battle in the most ingenious way. The only question after listening to this track was, if the rest of the album could possibly live up to this track alone?

One of the album's greatest strengths are the diversity found here. Tracks like Reign Of Terror and Counterstrike mark the bone crushing onslaught of the record, while Panzer Battalion spot the slower, more simple songs, depending more on the amazing riffs and well written melodies.

The fantastic track, Wolfpack return to the more bombastic sound of the band. A slow ultra heavy rhythm section provides the solid fundament for spectacular things to happen; the wonderful melody, the raw-but-bombastic choir and the super melodic guitar harmony are all strong elements, creating a dramatic and powerful tune.

Stalingrad is the only track I find a bit weak. It just lacks the power and catchiness of the rest of the songs.

The dynamic guitar riffs of Into The Fire are just pure magic. A really heavy and well crafted tune. In fact, the extremely melodic, well timed and creative guitar playing on the album deserves a special mention. Very dynamic and never out of place, the excellent axe work binds the songs together in a great way.

Metal Machine is a fun tribute to the Metal scene of the 80's. The lyrics are made up of song titles or parts of lyrics from artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Kiss, Accept and W.A.S.P. A simple and traditional song with a sing-a-long chorus makes for a cool little homage.

The style of the band seems quite fresh and unique, I have never heard anything quite like it. Clearly rooted in traditional Heavy Metal like Black Sabbath and the epic aspects of Manowar, adding a tad of the bombastic feeling of acts like Therion or Bal-Sagoth, Sabaton manages to create a sound completely their own.

The production of Primo Victoria is nothing short of greatness, creating an impression of a huge wall of sound. Very detailed without being overproduced, the word powerful truly has a meaning here.

So, what are the bad aspects of this album? Well, my problem with this album is the theme and lyrics. Being a concept album about the wars of modern times, Primo Victoria is not the "history lesson" some fans claim it to be. The band seems too biased in their opinion, and the lyrics appear to be just a bit too war worshipping for my liking. Seriously, war is not the greatest achievement of mankind, and that's the impression I get when reading these lyrics. The album focuses on the "bright" side of war (if such a thing exists in real life), like pride, power, feeling victorious, etc. On some tracks I just feel like they go a bit too far, and that is my main problem.

On the other hand I enjoy it on some tracks, as these feelings are good to cover as well, and after all, this is just a record. Well, let's just say I would have wished for a more colorful description of the war scenery.

If you like epic, bombastic Metal, be sure to give Sabaton a listen in the near future!

Written by Nina
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Show all reviews by Nina

Ratings

Nina: 8/10

Members: 8/10 - Average of 2 ratings.

Your rating: Rate this album now

Member ratings

Steen (Staff)

Rating: 8/10
Superb power metal.... · Read more ·

Dark Lord

Rating: 8/10
No review was posted

This article has been shown 6802 times. Go to the complete list.