SABATON – “Legends” (2025)
Like it or not, SABATON are currently the leading Power Metal force in terms of commercial success, and one of the most prominent entities in the entire Metal genre. I am not talking about comparisons with any other band, music quality, or something similar, but strictly about the undoubted success of the band. They are only reaching new heights every year and they seem to have no intention of pulling any breaks. When someone of that caliber releases a new record, it is a celebratory event within the sphere of our music. I don’t want to focus on the scope of SABATON any longer, as we are here to discuss “Legends”.
By reminiscing the entire discography of the Swedes, one can see a pattern where they are surrendering some of the power they had in their early works, in favor of a more anthemic and melodic songwriting. As a result “Legends” continues and builds on that narrative, ending up as something very familiar but under a new wrapping, surprising no one. SABATON have an empire to maintain which does not leave room for experimentation, but allow for some small changes each time like the ones we are going to discuss right away, starting with a line-up change. Tommy Johansson (Guitars) has exited the band, with Thobbe Englund coming to fill the gap. Fans may remember him as he held the same position during “Heroes” and “The last stand”, so now he is taking those army clothes out of the closet one more time.
What I found very refreshing, is the distancing from the World War I lyrical themes and modern warfare in general. This time the focus is on historical figures and epic events across different eras and cultures. It is exactly what NEW HORIZON did last year with “Conquerors” and I am very onboard as I like looking at the tracklist and discovering topics that I like such as Vlad the Impaler and Julius Caesar to name a few. The whole theme calls for a less gloomy and heavy atmosphere in favor of more epic backdrop, which leads to an album that sounds more cinematic than ever before. I even found it to be heavier in the orchestration department, which was somehow hinted by the fact that they will be touring with an orchestra. They did not start playing Symphonic Metal of course all of a sudden, neither it is something they never had before, though here, those parts feel more alive and grand than before.
Now comes the serious questions. Do I like “Legends”? I will not hide that apart from “The Great War” which I adored universally, I am struggling to be enthralled by anything that came after “Carolus Rex”. I like many individual songs from those records of course but as a whole I find them somewhat bland at times. With that in mind, I view the new entry to be better than I anticipated and surely better than “The war to end all wars”. The singles released at first left me with a sour taste as I conceived them to be just good and very generic (except for ‘Templars’ – great song), though after hearing the entire thing they flow better together and the remaining tracks hide some diamonds. To be more precise, ‘Impaler’ and ‘The cycle of songs’ are among the best compositions SABATON have ever released for my taste. They are just grand, when they play I can feel the band declaring they can conquer the world, a feeling that I haven’t had from them for a long time. It is why I love this group and what I want to hear from them honestly. Since the devil hides in the details as they say, let me give one more, as the lead guitars and especially some solos are very spicy and beautiful.
The above does not mean I am totally covered by the new album. From the top band of their genre, I have huge expectations and I want to listen to something that will be non-stop majestic. “Legends” is not that, for as I said, you find many moments that will make you say ‘hey, I have heard that before’. Let’s also not ignore the fact that we are talking about chorus-driven tracks, so there are many times when I find myself waiting for the peak to arrive. Bundle this with a filler or two, and you have the whole picture of why I consider them unmatched only upon stage, but do not share the same sentiment when it comes to the studio work.
SABATON have been imprisoned by their own success, becoming trapped to repeat the same pattern again and again as anything else will be too risky. The good thing is that they do it well and when it comes to that kind of songwriting, they are still among the best representatives of a sound they created (you know, the whole anthemic, arena, sing-along stuff). “Legends” will surely send their loyal fans into a frenzy and it will sell like hot cakes. I will be stricter with them due to their status as it creates expectations, so from a perspective I believe they underdeliver compared to what I want from them. At the same time I am overjoyed that I like their new work more than their previous, it feels more fresh and free and it houses two tracks that I find astounding, so my strict attitude towards it will not stop me from enjoying it. To sum it up, mixed feelings but with a positive sign. Take the score with a grain of salt or even ignore it altogether as it is changing every 5 minutes within my head. Will the scales turn towards a quick loss of interest, or will I find one of the better SABATON albums of the last ten years? Allow me a few months as only time will tell, for now just enjoy without guilt!!!
78/100
Pavlos Pavlakis
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