Sabaton are as subtle as a tank in your living room. Not only do they salute the same traditional heavy metal flag as Manowar and Judas Priest, but they make the whole thing even more bombastic by adding blaring keyboards and grand lyrics about warfare. Their costumes, sound and stage production are all impossible to ignore, so it’s no surprise that this Swedish militia now conquer arenas on every tour they do.
During their near-30-year-long campaign to siege the metal mainstream, the band have unloaded 11 studio albums. Almost all of them are packed with armour-plated anthems about guns, battles and dudes shooting other dudes – but which is the most bulletproof of the bunch? Here’s Metal Hammer’s ranking of every record Sabaton have shot out.
11. Metalizer (2007)
Sabaton recorded Metalizer as their debut in 2002, before their music started putting the “bomb” in “bombastic”, but issues with their label postponed its release for five years. By the time it was unearthed post-Primo Victoria and Attero Dominatus, it lacked the militaristic purpose of its predecessors, replacing tales of battlefield bravery with grunts about Lord Of The Rings and motorbikes.
Factor in a lack of powerhouse hooks and Metalizer does little to elevate Sabaton above the countless other bands out to emulate metal’s 80s idols. You can’t blame them for omitting its songs from their setlists or, from the second they properly debuted, saying they never wanted it released.
10. Primo Victoria (2005)
‘Through the gates of Hell! As we make our way to Heaven! Through the Nazi lines! Primo victoria!’ With those four baritone bellows at the start of their debut album, Sabaton instantly announced themselves as a grittier alternative to the sword-and-sorcery power metal landscape. The opening title track was such a muscular statement that it still forces its way into the band’s encores to this day.
The remainder of Primo Victoria hasn’t endured through time. Sometimes, in the case of thrash metal barrage Panzer Battalion and Into The Fire’s callus-shredding guitars, that’s a shame. No one’s nostalgic for the plodding Purple Heart or the awkward chugging of Stalingrad, though.
9. The Last Stand (2016)
The concept driving Sabaton’s eighth album is often more fascinating than its music. As the title suggests, The Last Stand is a tribute to, well, historical last stands, from the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae to the Swiss Guards that died during the Sack Of Rome.
That against-all-odds drama translates into metal that’ll empower you to bench-press a continent during songs like Sparta and The Last Stand. Yet, often overwhelming the odes to ancient valour is the sound of Sabaton’s wheels spinning. Although there’s nothing wrong with Last Dying Breath, Hill 3234 and The Last Battle by themselves, none of them raise the bar when it comes to the band’s melodicism, heaviness or big, synthy silliness.
8. Attero Dominatus (2006)
Much like Primo Victoria before it, Attero Dominatus is kickstarted by a title track that’s one of Sabaton’s best songs. Those Latin cries, staccato riffs and dramatic keys make everything feel aptly grandiose, given the lyrics are about about the entirety of Berlin being decimated by the Soviets in 1945.
The album never lives up to that initial blast of excitement, but it quickly becomes more daring and dynamic than the one Sabaton released the previous year. The scope of Rise Of Evil evokes Queensrÿche and Justice-era Metallica, while Angels Calling was such an early realisation of the band’s operatic potential that they recently re-recorded it with Apocalyptica.
7. Heroes (2014)
Shortly after finishing Carolus Rex, two-thirds of Sabaton’s lineup – guitarists Rikard Sundén and Oskar Montelius, drummer Daniel Mullback and keyboardist Daniel Mÿhr – were honourably discharged. Heroes was the first offering by “new” Sabaton and, although it doesn’t fully relive the glory of its forerunner, it frequently touches it.
Night Witches is an all-metal attack that proved this next-gen lineup were no softies. Then, Inmate 4859 complements one of Sabaton’s most heart-wrenching stories by building itself around a devastating keyboard melody. To Hell And Back and Resist And Bite are similarly triumphant, to the point that Heroes’ misses (The Ballad Of Bull and Far From The Fame) feel inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
6. Legends (2025)
The band left the panzers at home for album 11, writing songs about Vlad The Impaler, Julius Caesar and the other warmongers who terrorised your grandad’s grandad and his grandad before him. But, the music is still trademark Sabaton, charging out the gate with the cinematic choirs and chug-a-lug guitars of Templars. I, Emperor is a mid-paced march with snares that hit like thermonuclear detonations, and the organs on Till Seger are as noisy as any metal riff you’ve ever heard.
Legends lands mid-table by being a good but expected record. But, given the fact that the first tour after its release saw the band play their biggest tour with only a string collective supporting them, you can’t blame them for standing firm.
5. The War To End All Wars (2022)
The Great War saw Sabaton laser-focus on World War I and create their first no-filler album in years. So, there was concern that the similarly-themed The War To End All Wars would merely be a collection of last time’s b-sides. In the end, it was Aliens: not quite as special as the original, but still pretty fucking stellar.
Race To The Sea and Soldier Of Heaven are all-time top-shelf Sabaton achievements. Christmas Truce is a rare heavy metal holiday single that isn’t cringy enough to make you feliz navi-sad. Plus, Dreadnought matches the hulking size of the ships it sings about with the heaviness of its riff.
4. The Art Of War (2008)
The first Sabaton album to have a concept deeper than “songs about guys exploding”, The Art Of War is themed around a Sun Tzu text and benefits from the sharpened focus. Knowing Cliffs Of Gallipoli, Ghost Division and 40:1 inside-out is practically a requirement for being a fan. Beyond that, too, so many deep cuts shine.
Panzerkampf follows a lyrical call to arms with a twiddling guitar lead in one of the band’s most underrated moments. The title track perfected the interplay between their metal and their keyboard melodies, and Union (Slopes Of St Benedict) is an addictive, folkish jaunt. No wonder Sabaton signed with big-time metal label Nuclear Blast after this came out.
3. The Great War (2019)
Somebody must have laced Sabaton’s coffee with a lot of extra sugar as they were writing The Great War. Despite coming off two occasionally-by-the-book albums in Heroes and The Last Stand, the band somehow made this their most high-octane output in nearly a decade.
From opener The Future Of Warfare to the larger-than-life End Of The War To End All Wars, there’s no space for filler or time-wasting ballads here. Instead, Great War’s choirs explode out of the speakers and Attack Of The Dead Men layers an enjoyably complex vocal line on top of its pulsing synth beat. In between, Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, A Ghost In The Trenches and Fields Of Verdun condense classic Sabaton banger-making into its most episodic form.
2. Carolus Rex (2012)
After Coat Of Arms marked Sabaton’s major-label takeover and charted all over Europe, they found new ways to go larger-than-life. Carolus Rex remains their most ambitious concept piece, chronicling the history of the Swedish Empire. The album was also released in both English and Swedish versions, the risk of which was rewarded when it went Platinum in the band’s home country four times over.
Musically, Carolus Rex stretches from the jolly (Gott Mit Uns) to the downtrodden (Ruina Imperii). Casting 1648 against The Carolean’s Prayer reaffirmed this was a band unafraid of both speed and slowness, while the title track hammered its way to immortality with that unforgettable chorus.
1. Coat Of Arms (2010)
After The Art Of War sent Sabaton to number 5 on the Swedish charts, the band signed to the aptly militaristic-sounding Nuclear Blast. They quickly proved to be a worthwhile acquisition when Coat Of Arms rocketed to number 2 in their homeland, and charted in five other countries to boot. The war machine was at full steam.
The album deserved to be a breakthrough. From start to finish, it’s the sole Sabaton album where every song could have been an invincible live mainstay had they wished it to be. Screaming Eagles is the most dramatic they’d been by then, diving right into choirs, strings, barrelling drums and Joakim Brodén’s barks. Midway, Saboteurs and the title track are full-frontal assaults that stop as suddenly as they start. Uprising deadens to a crawl, but that cry of ‘Warsaw, rise!’ could motivate a pacifist onto the battlefield.
Before or since, no Sabaton album has been this perfect at everything the band have tried their hand at. The fact that it took almost ten years for its songs to be heard in arenas means some booking agents somewhere deserve a good court martial.
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