Sabaton - Carolus Rex (2012)

1. Dominium Maris Baltici 0:29
2. The Lion From The North 4:42
3. Gott Mit Uns 3:15		play
4. A Lifetime Of War 5:45
5. 1648 3:55		play
6. The Carolean's Prayer 6:14
7. Carolus Rex 4:53
8. Killing Ground 4:24
9. Poltava 4:03
10. Long Live The King 4:09
11. Ruina Imperii 3:24
12. In The Army Now (Bonus Track) 3:50

Line-Up:
    Joakim Brodén — vocals, keyboards
    Pär Sundström — bass, backing vocals
    Chris Rörland — guitar, backing vocals
    Thobbe Englund — guitar, backing vocals
    Robban Bäck — drums

It is now well known that Sabaton, have been basing their albums' concepts on different historic wars that took place over the ages. One of the things that I really like when they do that, is that the music changes accordingly with the era which they are describing. Carolus Rex is the brand new album from the Swedish metalers, to be released on the 25th of May via Nuclear Blast records, in two different versions. An English version and a Swedish version. Naturally, we’ll be reviewing the English version, since the only Swedish things we could ever pronounce, is probably Winberg or IKEA. Carolus Rex is the latin name of Charles XII of Sweden, who was king of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718. Interestingly enough, you can really feel through the songs that this is the era described, without even having to know anything about the concept, which is really astonishing. From the first actual song on the album, after the intro song Dominium Maris Baltici, entitled The Lion from the North which refers to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, which was the founder of the Swedish Empire, to the last song Ruina Imperii, Sabaton take us on a long journey of Swedish history. Featuring some of the most important events such as the Thirty Years War (A Lifetime of War), what I think is describing the battle of Prague (1648), the era of Charles XII and the Great Northern War (Carolus Rex, Killing Ground), and the battle of Poltava (Poltava) which was a defining battle and the beginning of Sweden’s decline as a great power, there is so much to learn from this album. Anyhow, if you want to get more info on those historical facts, I’ve added the Wiki links on the second page of this review. The big gamble for Sabaton with this new album, was on if they could continue to create and expel something as epic as what they've composed on their previous albums. In all honesty, yes they can! Musically the album is epic as fuck. Just like we got used to from the Swedes, they bring out an astonishing energy filled with aggression and combativeness. The very stigmatic sing-along choruses are once again very present, which can only help us come to the assumption that more than a few of these songs will become anthems.

For the production of the album, Sabaton hired no other than Peter Tägtgren from Hypocrisy and Pain, who is also performing on one of the tracks on this album which, I assume, is on the Swedish version of Carolus Rex, since I wasn’t able to identify it on the English version. Another thing which I am unsure of, is on the personnel of the album. I assume that the album was recorded with the old line-up, rather than the new line up so it’ll be interesting to see on how the new guys will interpret the songs live. On a finishing note, I guess it's rather nice to see Sabaton going back to their own history instead of teaching our lazy ass, about our own individual history. A move which I suppose, will be very well received by the Swedish fans!

Favourite track is The Lion From the North, which is the 2nd track on the album. I think that this particular song strikes a chord in me thanks to its chorus. Obviously, I won't mention the epicness too much, just because I think that it has become a fact by now, but what is very interesting with this song is the superbly executed middle part with the choirs singing. This really brings out a very different feel, which somehow takes you back to the 18th century. --- peekfromthepit.com

download (mp3 @VBR kbs):

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