World War II: The European Theatre as told by heavy metal songs

Perun

His name struck fear into hearts of men
Staff member
I like it. We should make it a project.
So when are you making the expanded list?

Quite simply, a playlist consisting of songs about the Second World War in Europe, in chronological order of events. This is work in progress, everybody is invited to participate.

Right now, this consists of the list of Sabaton songs I made last night and a few others that I included from the top of my head. Hail of Bullets (...Of Frost and War, Warsaw Rising, The Rommel Chronicles) and Vreid (Milorg) have entire albums about parts of the war, and I'll break them down later. Suggestions and additions are very welcome, and if you want to make my life easier, include information about the when and where of the song's content.

If somebody wants to make a Youtube playlist of this, they get a free smiley.

Oh, and to answer the inevitable question: Bands qualify as metal for the purpose of this playlist if they can be found here or here.

Another note: I've listened to all of this but the 2014 Eastern Front album. So I just went by the lyrics as far as I could find them.

Origins/Rise of Nazism
Sabaton - Rise of Evil (Attero Dominatus, 2006)
Sabaton - Wehrmacht (Coat of Arms, 2010)

Invasion of Poland
Sabaton - 40:1 (The Art of War, 2008)
Eastern Front - Katyn Forest (Descent into Genocide, 2014)

West Campaign/Battle of France
Vreid - Alarm (Milorg, 2009)
Vreid - Blücher (Milorg, 2009)
Sabaton - Resist and Bite (Heroes, 2014)
Sabaton - Ghost Division (The Art of War, 2008)
Hail of Bullets - DG-7 (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)
Hail of Bullets - To the Last Breath of Man and Beast (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)

Battle of Britain
Iron Maiden - Aces High (Powerslave, 1984)
Sabaton - Aces in Exile (Coat of Arms, 2010)

Balkan Campaign
Sabaton - Coat of Arms (Coat of Arms, 2010)

Winter War
Sabaton - Talvisota (The Art of War, 2008)
Sabaton - White Death (Coat of Arms, 2010)
Sabaton - Soldier of 3 Armies (Heroes, 2014)

Operation Barbarossa/Invasion of the Soviet Union
Hail of Bullets - Before the Storm (Barbarossa) (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Hail of Bullets - Ordered Eastward (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Eastern Front - Battle of Smolensk (Blood on Snow, 2010)
Hail of Bullets - The Lake Ladoga Massacre (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Blaze Bayley - City of Bones (Promise and Terror, 2010)
Eastern Front - Ghouls of Leningrad (Descent into Genocide, 2014)
Eastern Front - Unleash the Panzer Division (Blood on Snow, 2010)
Eastern Front - Motherland (Blood on Snow, 2010)
Eastern Front - At the Gates of Moscow (Blood on Snow, 2010)
Hail of Bullets - General Winter (Of Frost and War, 2008)

African Campaign
Hail of Bullets - DAK (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)
Hail of Bullets - The Desert Fox (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)
Hail of Bullets - Tobruk (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)
Hail of Bullets - Farewell to Africa (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)

Nazi Occupation
Vreid - Disciplined (Milorg, 2009)
Vreid - Heroes & Villains (Milorg, 2009)
Slayer - SS3 (Divine Intervention, 1994)

The Holocaust
Sabaton - The Final Solution (Coat of Arms, 2010)
Slayer - Angel of Death (Reign in Blood, 1986)
Sabaton - Inmate 4859 (Heroes, 2014)
Civil War - Schindler's Ark (Gods and Generals, 2015)

Eastern Front 1942/43
Eastern Front - Blood on Snow (Blood on Snow, 2010)
Hail of Bullets - Advancing Once More (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Hail of Bullets - Red Wolves of Stalin (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Hail of Bullets - Nachthexen (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Sabaton - Night Witches (Heroes, 2014)
Hail of Bullets - The Crucial Offensive (19-11-1942, 7.30 AM) (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Hail of Bullets - Stalingrad (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Sabaton - Stalingrad (Attero Dominatus, 2006)
Sabaton - Panzerkampf (The Art of War, 2008)
Sodom - Stalinorgel (Better Off Dead, 1990)
Eastern Front - Stalinorgel (Blood on Snow, 2010)
The Committee - Katherine's Chant (Power Through Unity, 2014)
Marduk - 502 (Panzer Division Marduk, 1999)

Battle of the Atlantic
Sabaton - Wolfpack (Primo Victoria, 2005)

Norwegian Resistance
Sabaton - Saboteurs (The Art of War, 2008)
Vreid - Speak Goddamnit (Milorg, 2009)
Vreid - Milorg (Milorg, 2009)

Strategic Bombing
Sabaton - Firestorm (The Art of War, 2008)
Bruce Dickinson - Silver Wings (The Best Of, 2001)
Sabaton - No Bullets Fly (Heroes, 2014)
Iron Maiden - Tailgunner (No Prayer for the Dying, 1990)
Sodom - Ausgebombt (Agent Orange, 1989)
Motörhead - Bomber (Bomber, 1979)
Hail of Bullets - Liberators (Warsaw Rising, 2009)
Blue Öyster Cult - ME262 (Secret Treaties, 1974)
Satan - Trial by Fire (Court in the Act, 1983)

Commando Operations/Resistance
Iron Maiden - Where Eagles Dare (Piece of Mind, 1983)
Hail of Bullets - Death of a Field Marshal (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)

Italian Campaign
Sabaton - To Hell and Back (Heroes, 2014)
Sabaton - Smoking Snakes (Heroes, 2014)
Sabaton - Union (Slopes of St. Benedict) (The Art of War, 2008)

Operation Overlord
Hail of Bullets - The Final Front (III: The Rommel Chronicles, 2013)
Iron Maiden - The Longest Day (A Matter of Life and Death, 2006)
Sabaton - Primo Victoria (Primo Victoria, 2005)
Megadeth - Take No Prisoners (Rust in Peace, 1990)
3 Inches of Blood - Storming Juno (Long Live Heavy Metal, 2012)
Civil War - The Mad Piper (Gods and Generals, 2015)

Post-Overlord Western Campaign
Sabaton - Screaming Eagles (Coat of Arms, 2010)

Eastern Front 1944/Warsaw Uprising
Sabaton - Uprising (Coat of Arms, 2010)
Hail of Bullets - Warsaw Rising (Warsaw Rising, 2009)
Hail of Bullets - Insanity Commands (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Hail of Bullets - Inferno at the Carpathian Mountains (Of Frost and War, 2008)

Battle of Berlin/Final Operations
Hail of Bullets - Berlin (Of Frost and War, 2008)
Sabaton - Attero Dominatus (Attero Dominatus, 2006)
Sabaton - Hearts of Iron (Heroes, 2014)
Savage - Berlin (Loose 'n Lethal, 1983)
Sabaton - The Last Battle (The Last Stand, 2016)


Aftermath/Epilogue
Eastern Front - Where Warriors Once Fell (Blood on Snow, 2010)
Eastern Front - In Memory of the Fallen (Descent into Genocide, 2014)
Sacred Reich - Sacred Reich (Ignorance, 1987)
 
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If you do this for pre-World War II:
Pre-World War I and WWI should be Arghoslent and Sacriphyx.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. WWI may be done in the future, but for now, I'd like to stick to one thing at a time.
 
Slayer, SS3 (about Reinhardt Heydrich)
Iron Maiden, Run Silent, Run Deep
Motörhead, Bomber (not very specificaly WWII in the lyrics, but the sleeve with a german Heinkel 111 leaves no doubt).

I'm surprised by the amount of songs by Sabaton. Are they just interested in WWII, or are they an extreme-right band ?

Edit : I've just given a look at some of their lyrics. On the same album, a song about german amoured forces' revenge over the Russians (Panzer Battalion), a song about Stalingrad, and a song hailing Israel for its 1967 victory :confused:. Ideological mess.
 
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Slayer, SS3 (about Reinhardt Heydrich)
Iron Maiden, Run Silent, Run Deep
Motörhead, Bomber (not very specificaly WWII in the lyrics, but the sleeve with a german Heinkel 111 leaves no doubt).

Damn, I forgot about the Slayer song. Run Silent, Run Deep is about the war in the Pacific, though.

Edit : I've just given a look at some of their lyrics. On the same album, a song about german amoured forces' revenge over the Russians (Panzer Battalion), a song about Stalingrad, and a song hailing Israel for its 1967 victory :confused:. Ideological mess.

You're giving them too much credit by assuming an ideology. They said themselves that they write party songs, and there's a few songs (The Final Solution, Price of a Mile and others) that have alibi lyrics telling us that they don't want this war stuff to be taken too seriously.
 
Have I written something offensive to anyone ? I mean, the lyrics of Panzer Battalion are quite suggestive, and I think I can safely assume that MOST people in this forum would agree that nazism was evil. I'm glad to read they are anti-war, but most of their lyrics and the way they dress give no clue about this.
Perun, you learned me something about Run Silent : I had always thought it was about the battle of the Atlantic and U-Boot.
 
The song Panzer Battalion has nothing to do with Nazis.

Are you joking ? First Panzer Battalion is a semi translation of Panzer Abteilung, the base unit for all german heavy armour during WWII.
Second, the word Panzer in itself gives an orientation.
Third, there is a several clear mentions of the East, i.e. Russia or the eastern front.

"An armoured battalion on course to the east
Has reached the end of it's march
Armoured tanks of mass destruction
Killers in the east"

Last, the lines cited below are a clear reference to nazi ideology

"An armoured battalion on course to the east
Closing the end of it's march

This time we're here to finish a job
Started a decade ago

Driving the animals out of their holes
To bury them 6 feet below
Armoured tanks of mass destruction
Killers in the east
Rats
who dares to stand before us..."

Quite afew clues I would say. But I don't mean they actually ARE nazis.
 
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