Civil War - Civil War EP

After the Swedish warmetallers Sabaton split up in two oddly-sized halves in the early 2012, Daniel Mullback, Oskar Montelius, Daniel Mÿhr and Rikard Sundén suddenly found themselves without a band. However, that period was short-lived and the phoenix arose in form of Civil War, who are here today to continue the warmetal path for which Sabaton paved the way. To fill the singer and drummer boots, Nils Patrik Johansson of Wuthering Heights / Astral Doors / Lion's Share fame and Stefan Eriksson (Volturyon) were recruited. Civil War's first release is their eponymous Civil War EP, released via a small label named Despotz Records.

The EP contains five tracks, one of which is a fairly curious cover of a Nelly Furtado song called Say It Right. The other four represent the style of metal Civil War are about, and if one were to describe it using traditional genres, heavy metal springs to mind first and foremost. I don't have a lot to say, negative or positive, about the cover track, so I'll focus on the actual Civil War music in this review.

The EP starts off with a track called Rome Is Falling, and I dare say right off the bat it's one of the catchiest heavy metal songs I've heard. The chorus especially is exceptionally captivating, and the incredibly talented Nils Patrik Johansson's voice has never sounded better. Considering the EP originally came out in 2012, I can't nominate Rome Is Falling as the track of 2013 even though I'd like to! Pretending I have a time machine at hand, I'll go back to late 2012 and declare Rome Is Falling as the best track in 2012.

Forevermore is a ballad-esque song where the voice of NPJ gets all the space it deserves making chills run down one's spines. However, ballads are something I don't particularly find very interesting and Forevermore isn't really an exception. Don't misinterpret me; Forevermore is not a bad track, but there are times when you'd rather listen to the roaring thunders of a civil war more than to a soft ballad! The track is saved by the magnificent rendition of vocals by NPJ once again which makes the song have such a good feeling to it despite its style.

The title track Civil War represents quite the traditional heavy metal and there are no big surprises contained within this track. A good track, but nothing spectacular. I do like the compact sounds but apart from that there are no really eyebrow-raising moments here. Just good, solid heavy metal for the fans of it.

To close down this chapter of an EP, the last track, Custer's Last Stand, tells the tale of the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 where the joint forces of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes under the lead and visions of Sitting Bull rose against the US armies who'd invaded and taken over their sacred lands. Lt. Colonel George Custer, a popular Civil War hero then, and his troop of 210 men were overwhelmed and massacred by the Indians resulting in nationwide demand for retribution, which ultimately culminated in the destruction of the Sioux tribe about a year later.

So much for the history lesson! The song starts with war-like drumming and gloomy guitars as if opening up for the thunderous events of battle to come. Yet again I must praise the vocals as it's really difficult to imagine anyone else laying the same feeling to this song than NPJ. The whole composition of the song works out great and there are no dull moments in this track. Custer's Last Stand is a fitting ending track for Civil War EP as it leaves one wanting to hear more, and more, and more. And more.

Civil War is not just another Sabaton by any means even though there are Sabaton-like moments here and there, particularly the sound environment is reminiscent of that of Sabaton's. The EP doesn't leave anyone with liking for the genre in cold; in fact, even as an avid Sabaton fan, I'm now far more interested in hearing the next Civil War album than the next Sabaton album. I for one welcome the different aspects into depths of history as provided by Civil War, not just the modern warfare era. I was skeptical what would happen after the split in Sabaton, but now I'm more than happy that it happened. Let's hope this won't be Civil War's last stand, and indeed the guys are, according to their Facebook updates, in process of producing new songs for the upcoming full album. Nine cheers for Civil War!

You can listen to Rome Is Falling on Youtube. Civil War EP is also on Spotify.
Buy the album directly at Despotz Records.

9

LIVE: Sabaton, November 23rd

Sabaton's Swedish Empire Tour had three stops in Finland in November, shows supported by Dynazty and Raubtier.

We arrived too late to see Dynazty at all, yet heard most of Raubtier's gig anyway. With little knowledge of the band beforehand, the experience was surprisingly entertaining. Raubtier was actually a very good support act for Sabaton; in spite of representing a different genre to begin with, the band does sound a bit like Sabaton and seemed to excite the audience and certainly warm them up for what they all had come to see.

The venue was at least nearly sold-out, with roughly a thousand metalheads shaking their fists along to Sabaton's war inspired metal. The gig began almost on time too, starting out with Ghost Division (after The Final Countdown and The March to War). After the Panzer Elite had set the audience on fire, it was the time for Gott Mit Uns off of their newest album Carolus Rex.

After the first two songs Joakim Brodén introduced the following song by saying it probably needed no introduction in Finland at all – as it was White Death. It was followed by Carolus Rex and then Karolinens Bön, which was actually performed in Swedish. Sabaton had asked in advance on Facebook whether their fans in Finland wished to hear their new songs in English or Swedish. English was the leading option in the poll, yet obviously comments and other requests had resulted in a compromise solution. In spite of the change in language, there were many people singing along in the audience anyway.

Songs such as 40:1, Cliffs of Gallipoli and Uprising kept the audience on fire, singing along and throwing their fists in the air until a brief, calm moment when a keyboard was brought onto the stage for Joakim and most people in the audience fell silent to concentrate on listening to The Hammer Has Fallen. Those few minutes were certainly the most peaceful during the whole gig, with some matching purple lighting to create a dramatic yet serene atmoshpere – with a couple of cigarette lighters waving among the audience to compliment the performance. The peace did not last long though since soon enough Berlin was burning with Attero Dominatus.

Although the band did leave the stage for a few minutes, encore came soon enough with The Art of War, Talvisota – to the Finns' national entertainment (or is it just pride?) and naturally, Primo Victoria, to which the audience was also jumping wildly. And last but not least, with the war theme abandoned, Metal Crüe to remind us not to take this genre too seriously.

Altogether the one-hour-and-a-half long gig was energetic and engaging. The setlist was good, yet a few magnificent tracks were missed – Coat of Arms, The Final Solution, Panzer Battalion and Wolfpack to name a few. And to keep us all excited still, Sabaton revealed they would be playing at Sauna Open Air metal festival next summer. I bet Tampere is eagerly waiting.
– cm_

* * *

For me it was the second time I got to see Sabaton's full live performance. I originally saw them in Sauna Open Air 2007 but merely from the bar area, and I only recognized Primo Victoria anyway. Tuska 2009 was my first proper show, and a damn good one at that. Unfortunately, in 2010, I missed out on the Coat of Arms tour despite really wanting to go, so it was about the time I got to see Sabaton again.

The gig was held in Pakkahuone in Tampere (Finland), which is a venue well-known in the Pirkanmaa region. As noted at the start, the venue was nearly sold-out with around 1000 infantry troops showing up. Since it was an under 18 gig, the area was split into two halves: one for the alcohol-thirsty battalion and the other one for the kids and drivers of the aforementioned battalion. That also meant the beer queues were fairly long, with only 4–5 lines to serve all the thirsty panzer corps.

As noted above, we skipped Dynazty and arrived to witness some of Raubtier's performance, and their live act indeed was pretty good, with some short speaks completely in Finnish between the songs! Musically they were somewhere along the lines of industrial metal. Pretty good live act, but probably not as tempting on a studio album.

Sabaton played a solid set with not many surprises. The set list perhaps left a bit to be desired (as always), and I'd have liked to hear Into the Fire and Coat of Arms also. Cliffs of Gallipoli is not a bad song, but in its stead the similarly-arranged The Price of a Mile would've been more to my liking.

White Death is a great tune and I was certain we'd hear it (since it's about a Finnish sniper in WW2) and I was happy about it. I can't say the same about Talvisota which as a song doesn't live up to many others, but due to its patriotic theme for Finns they just "had to" play it I suppose.

The Hammer Has Fallen was an oddity I didn't expect. While it was fun one time, I hope it's not a permanent addition to the set after the tour is over. Some people also have criticized Art of War as an encore song but I'll disagree. I thought it fit in well and I don't find it a dragging song like some people have described it.

All in all a good gig, but I'd rate the Tuska 2009 gig higher. The band seemed to have fun and it was great to see Thobbe Englund on the stage, and not to mention the one and only Snowy Shaw who filled in for the drummer boots while Robban Bäck was away due to family matters. Hopefully the set list gets a bit of a refresher for Sauna Open Air 2012, and we'll get to hear songs like Poltava or Killing Ground  (and naturally more of Coat of Arms)!
– dw_