Primo Victoria

by

Sabaton

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REVIEW #1: SABATON - Primo Victoria

01. Primo Victoria

02. Reign of Terror

03. Panzer Battalion

04. Wolfpack

05. Counterstrike

06. Stalingrad

07. Into the Fire

08. Purple Heart

09. Metal Machine

Time 41:10

All you fans of bands such as Grave Digger, UDO, Running Wild, Manowar and the like should immediately grab your war helmuts and report for duty. Your new heavy metal idols have arrived!!!

Primo Victoria is apparently Sabaton's second release but the first real serious effort enlisting a big time production. This release is a concept album about world war 2. Thankfully a great backdrop for this type of music. What we have here is very polished on the one hand with humungous and extremely great sounding chorus lines but with a lead singer that is coming from the Grave Digger, UDO harsh vocal mold but not quite into the death metal realm. This is honest heavy metal played in your face and with all the freshness you do not get from the typical hords of Hammerfall/Helloween clones.

The album start off with a the stunning title track and rarely misses a beat the whole way through. Panzer Batallion, Wolfpack, Into The Fire, Metal Machine. They all smoke in a huge, heavy metal way. The album playing time is a bit short at only 40 minutes but there is no interludes or wasted space and the production is jam packed and well done.

If I have to be honest, this is an album that simply put cannot me missed by any true metal fan. Anyone claiming to be a fan of Classic Heavy Metal, True Metal or Power Metal that does not own a copy of this release, simply put, is a looser. It may not be the best album in your collection but it is one you will wield with a tremendous sense of pride.

9 of 10 Skulls

Buy Or Die!

In all real terms, this was my first official foray into Sabaton's goods, unofficially being an observer across YT and the many fan-made war videos to their songs.

That said, the execution on this disc could have been a little better in the technical department. The songs themselves are flawless, as hard or harder than any tripe you'll hear on common American radio stations. Face it, it doesn't get any better than writing ballads about beating the "nutritionally-drained biological output" out of the Wehrmacht. Of course, the songs Into The Fire and Purple Heart are an outstanding ode to the Vietnam War, of which there is a distressing percentage of the nation's population that seems to pretend said war never happened...I digress. Just to prove there is something for everyone, The #2 and #3 tracks cover Gulf 1 (Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm) and Gulf 2 (Operation Iraqi Freedom), a heavy-metal look at megalomania (Saddam) and the proper response to said mental issue (Massive firepower + blitzkrieg). The bonus tracks are also excellent add-on pieces, and the live version of Rise Of Evil makes for a clear teaser and callback to the album Attero Dominatus.

The recording of those songs, at least on the Re-Armed disc, have a few glitches. The first and loudest of those problems is the opening track, Primo Victoria, has some audio glitching (high level static / distortion). A careful ear with the stereo cranked up to the stops will also note a small amount of glitching (Distortion) in some of the later tracks, though in most instances you won't notice it. The CD functions without issue in the most discriminating of players, though lower-quality speakers will clearly display the distortion at lower volume levels than better ones. I have a high-power stereo connected to my computer and it is pretty hard to notice any distortion unless I crank it up to break-a-wineglass volume level, whereas my car stereo (crappy) will clearly distort on Primo Victoria at roughly 60% volume.

For what it is worth, I give outstanding props to Sabaton for the history lesson disguised as heavy metal. This Disc is a solid 3*, though I rate all their other works 5* or better. Your call if you want to take the gamble or not.