Sabaton

I suggested a survivor a while back but was told it was silly because the only people who listen would never vote :P

Not quite sure how I'd rank the albums, Coat of Arms only downside to me is it's length. I'd probably have Art of War at the top, Metalizer at the bottom and then struggle for the rest.
 
Being a Swede myself, Sabaton gives me a lot of bad associations. Let me explain.

I live in a country where some schools in areas with a high percentage of immigrants have banned the national anthem at the traditional end of the school-year celebrations. Why? Because singing the anthem is associated with nationalism. We can't have that. That's the political climate here.

Then comes Sabaton. A band with lyrics about the days of the Swedish Empire. Just that fact cements them as nationalists. When we then look at what they wear - military cargo pants - Yeah, they're full blown neo-nazis for sure!

I do exaggerate for the sake of argument.

I have nothing against their music in general. It bombastic and a bit too cheaply dramatic for my taste, but otherwise it's fine. But I am not sure how political they are, which makes me feel ill at ease and therefore I stay away.
 
I think they are not political, but I'd call them a little populist. They want to appeal people who take pride of certain history.

Of course, this works a little different for Germans, because there's not much to be proud of. ;-)
This was meant as a joke, but indeed also "bad" deeds are portrayed so I don't think nationalist feelings are the only ones that play a role while listening to Sabaton's music. What they do is glorifying soldiers. Or paying tribute to the soldiers who did all those things for their countries. They don't say "Good that you beat the Russians" or "Kill those Poles". They don't take sides, they just keep paying tribute to the ones who have fallen.

On the other hand they also make songs about the plan of getting rid of the Jews. This stuff is in textbooks, and now someone sings it. That doesn't make them anti-semitic.

I am sure Perun and others know more about the lyrics, I haven't studied them well yet.

Surely they are interested in the historical subjects, but they never started out like that. They must have kept it, as soon as they knew it helped them with their popularity. I wonder how long they want to continue this. At some point they might want to do other subjects.

Maturin, can I ask a question about banning the anthem? I what way do you mean this? An anthem is done for specific occasions, e.g. football matches or other (inter)national or sport events. We don't have the anthem banned but our schools don't sing it either. It's for people at home or in stadiums who can join if they like, but why "ban an anthem at schools"? Perhaps, indeed, the nationalist climate on schools needs to be tempered in Sweden.
 
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The song that is the de facto national anthem of Sweden is traditionally sung at the end of the school-year celebrations in June. A very traditional and special occasion here. The celebrations has traditionally been taking place in churches, but since a couple of years back there's been growing criticism since it doesn't rhyme well with the fact that the law states schools should not be bound to any religion.

The reason that schools in certain places have banned the national anthem is that it could be "offensive". The climate is more like everybody is afraid of offending someone to the extremes. Everything has to be politically correct.
 
Maturin, do I understand you right that what you see in Sabaton is a radical reaction to a perceived or real loss in national identity in Sweden, or cultural identity in Europe?
 
New album title/cover:

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Huh. After the cool concept of Carolus Rex, I can't help but feel like this is pretty pedestrian (based solely on the title and cover alone). Oh well, I'm pumped to hear it.
 
Is it just me or is that image a bit .. warped. The arm doing the punching looks waaaay too long and like it has 3 joints in it, as does the neck of the guy getting hit. Upon further looking, the arm isn't that bad and probably just me.. the neck still looks odd though.

Other than that, yay album!
 
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