Carolus Rex

Another album, another band intro: Sabaton is a Swedish power metal band known for their distinctively deep-voiced vocalist, Joakim Brodén, and their lyrics which are nearly all based on historical wars. They are especially fond of covering pretty much every side of World War II, but have also done songs on World War I, the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, and the Six-Day War. Their new album, Carolus Rex, is their first real lyrical foray outside the 20th century (and thankfully not into the 21st). It covers the history of the Swedish Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries, focusing on Gustavus Adolphus, the Thirty Years' War, and the violent (and quintessentially Metal) reign of Charles XII. In general, it's an album about the military prowess and religious piety of Sweden. What's not to like?

There are many things about Carolus Rex that grab your attention, the first being the first main song, "Lion from the North", exploding into your ears like...well, the unstoppable advance of the Swedish Empire. Written about the rise of King Gustavus Adolphus (whose name is apparently being butchered by pretty much everyone today), it starts with a pounding, almost ominous drum rhythm over choral accentuation. Oh, right, the choirs, which are used extensively and to great effect throughout the album and together with the keyboards send Sabaton into symphonic power metal territory where they are apparently quite comfortable. Overall this is a fast-paced (plenty of double-bass rhythm to like), epic, and simultaneously catchy song; I've had the all-Latin chorus stuck in my head all week, which is quite a nice alternative to "Call me Maybe" or something. It's a great song that helped get me back into Sabaton and kicks off the album extremely well.

Apart from this song, much of the strength of the album actually lies in its slower songs and the grandiose touch lent to it by its use of symphonic metal elements. "God With Us" again uses the choirs for powerful accentuation in the victorious-sounding chorus and is in general a fantastic song to fist-pump and/or headbang to. "The Carolean's Prayer" is slower still, with the rhythm of the cross-country march of an army, which in fact is what it's about. Again the choir adds considerable force to Joakim's words and does a really cool and lovely-sounding bridge that I have realized is the Lord's Prayer in Swedish. Its plodding rhythm, big sound, and martial atmosphere really remind me of a less-boneheaded (and American) version of Manowar. In a sadder and less triumphant vein, "A Lifetime of War" is a colossal ballad about the tragedy and human cost of the Thirty Years' War; "Long Live the King" is a funeral march for Charles XII.

Besides "Lion", the album has a couple of faster songs; "1648" is probably the best of the album for fans of Sabaton's older albums; it's every-syllable-accentuated chorus reminds me of "Talvisota" off The Art of War. "Killing Ground" kind of channels some New Wave of British Heavy Metal with its simpler, triplet-based riff and guitar harmony. "Poltava" sounds borderline industrial with a rhythm you can almost dance to and plenty of keyboard melodies (including a solo); it seems at least a bit informed by Nightwish's single "Bye Bye Beautiful".

But wait--there's more! As long as Sabaton was making this album a celebration of their native land, they also released a Swedish version of the album, which cuts down the number of languages to two (Swedish and Latin). Same music and band, but all the English has been replaced by Swedish. I kind of prefer being able to understand the lyrics, but at the same time Joakim seems more comfortable and passionate singing in his native tongue, so it's still pretty great.

Also of note are the covers included in various versions of the album; "In the Army Now" by Status Quo and "Feuer Frei!" by Rammstein. By far the standout for me, though, is their rendition of "Twilight of the Thunder God" by fellow Swedes Amon Amarth. This is the first cross-genre cover I've heard that does an extreme metal song in a non-extreme style, and they faced the problem of how to sing a song that was written with no vocal melodies. Joakim ends up mirroring the melody of the guitars, which still works quite well, especially in the now-anthemic chorus. They also bring in an actual death growler (whose name I can't find) for the pre-solo bridge, which is a nice touch. Musically it sounds clearer and a bit cleaner than the original as you might expect, with some truly fantastic double-bass drumming that leaves the rest of the album in the dust. This song might just steal the show form "Lion from the North" for me.

Is it possible to feel patriotic for a country you've never been to? I'm only a quarter Swedish, but boy does this album make me feel proud of that quarter. The addition of a strong unifying concept, especially one so near and dear to Sabaton's heritage, and their breaking into a whole new era of history  set this album in front of and above its predecessors. I know I say this a lot, but if you hadn't listened to or heard of Sabaton, this album is a great place to start! If you're on the fence, my highest recommendations are "Lion from the North", "The Carolean's Prayer", and "A Lifetime of War". (Links above)

New Sabaton Album

I just got Sabaton's new album Carolus Rex yesterday. I will probably be reviewing it sometime in the coming weeks. For now, here is my favorite song off it.

They did both English and Swedish versions of the album (about the Thirty Years' War and King Charles XII), with liberal amounts of Latin mixed into both.

Oh, sorry, did i say "favorite"? I meant "favorite original". They also did a cover of "Twilight of the Thunder God" that gives Amon Amarth's original a run for its money.

Dwellings

Time for another review of one of my top 25 albums of last yetop 25 albums of last yearar that has been growing on me. This is Dwellings, by Cormorant.

Basically, Cormorant is one of the most promising newer progressive, extreme metal bands I've heard. Their first album Metazoa is impressive and worthy of its own review, but this one seals the deal. Stylistically, they are generally progressive black metal but draw in a wide range of influences for a sound that manages to be pretty varied and consistently interesting. It's certainly not nice-sounding music, but worth checking out even if extreme metal isn't your thing.

Cormorant isn't a terribly technical band; they put a lot more thought into writing and structuring their songs than into what they can do on the guitar. It's a bit like Opeth's style of braininess, though they don't play on dynamic range nearly as much. Four of the album's seven songs are well over eight minutes in length and really feel like musical journeys with diverse sections and moods. Cormorant's music tends to be riff-focused, but they change things up often enough that it never really gets old.

And the vocals in this album are just incredible. Their vocalist defaults to a hoarse kind of shout that is a good deal more intelligible than average black metal vocals, and also does his share of spoken and cleanly sung vocals. He definitely sings with passion, not just like he's trying to sound "dark" or like other bands. And the lyrics are just amazing. Vocalist and lyricist Arthur von Nagel is a big fan of NPR and apparently wrote several of the songs after listening to news stories. All of them (except the instrumental) have lyrics based on historical or current events, but he makes everything from Guinean war atrocities to the Soviet space program beautiful, dramatic, and really cool if you bother to listen to the lyrics.

"The First Man" starts off with towering chords and a rolling drumbeat before heading off into the relentless, driving riff structure that characterizes much of it. Despite being one of the shorter songs at less than six minutes, it's a great summary of Cormorant's style and would be a solid single if this were that kind of music. The lyrics are about creation myths, the cultures that hold them, and their subjugation by modern settlers; the mellower, almost jazzy bridge is punctuated by a sound clip apologizing for their "past mistreatment."

"Funambulist" ("tightrope walker") begins rather quietly, almost beautifully like a Pelican song. This song is an epic retelling of Philippe Petit's famous 1974 stroll between the Twin towers, from the inception of the plan to his eventual arrest. The different segments of the song capture both the beauty and art of tightrope walking as well as the determination, hard work, even desperation that went into the performance. van Nagel's vocals get really emphatic and compliment these intense sections very well. ("I! Wage! War! On fate!") Then the section where Petit is out on the wire is quiet, almost like a ballad, with French spoken-word vocals for a bilingual bonus. Overall, an extremely impressive song.

"Confusion of Tongues" is an instrumental that suffers from its lack of amazing vocals and songwriting, but is still some seriously nice progressive metal. It's somewhat more melodic than the average of the album, kind of reminiscent of Scale the Summit in its eccentric, wandering riffs and harmonies. "Junta" is one of the darker songs, about the harsh reign of Guinean dictator Moussa Dadis Camara. It starts off almost like doom metal with a slower, militaristic rhythm before fading into another quieter bridge with spoken vocals over a radio in an unknown language conveying a dense of conflict and desperation. Again, cool lyrics that are pretty consistently complemented by the vocals, e.g. everything going crazy on "Fire!". Other black metal bands have to make up their obsessively dark lyrics; Cormorant just finds them in the world around us. It's pretty sobering.

"The Purest Land" is about the violent and deadly misadventures of Lope de Aguirre in South America. Along with "Junta" this is the other really dark-sounding song on the album. It's quintessential black metal, with dissonant, bleak-sounding riffing and plenty of blast beats. Likewise, the vocals sound impassioned, violent, and just a bit unhinged.

"A Howling Dust" starts off mellow, similarly to "Funambulist", but where the former was about a bold, showy tightrope walker, this one is about a regretful boy in a dwindling California ghost town who has swept up in a wave of racial violence. Yeah, the lyrics are pretty literal and the vocal delivery is more mournful than defiant. There is one riff that keeps getting played with, often in passing, almost like a running joke, that musically ties the song together. The last two and a half minutes are almost entirely instrumental with constant tremolo guitar picking that fades out until there is nothing but howling dust.

The last track, the twelve-minute epic "Unearthly Dreamings", flows directly out of it, joining the ambient guitars with hauntingly beautiful electronic noise that slowly morphs into human speech through heavy radio noise. This song is about Vladimir Komarov, the first man to die during a space flight. Its loud-soft dynamic is a bit reminiscent of "Funambulist", though it sounds more furious--like a rocket--than staunchly determined. Like a rocket in reentry, this album goes out with a bang.

I love albums you can listen to over and over again and find something new every time. Dwellings is definitely one of those. The amount of songwriting, thought, and detail that went into crafting this album is tremendous and will be supremely worth it if you can work past (or enjoy) the harsh musical elements.