The Art Of War Re-Armed

I need to start with the disclaimer that I've never liked heavy metal. I find it acoustically "flat" with every instrument (and voice) striving to be louder than the others, and I find the general themes of male teen angst and anger, drinking, and idealized warrior culture unimaginative. That said, I came upon The Art of War (title track) on a YouTube mix of clips from Girls und Panzer, and it paired very well. Intrigued, I clicked on more Sabaton in the Dreaded Right Column(tm), and while much of my opening disclaimer applies, their choice of warfare subjects fit the genre to a tee. I soon found myself mainlining their YouTube mix for several days straight. Then I went out and bought the album. I'm impressed with the songs, especially the lyrics, and was delighted that many cover the costs and downside of warfare rather than just aggrandizing it. I look forward to years of listening to this album and growing my collection of their work.

The Art of War is Sabaton's first full-on concept album. Sure, all their songs are more or less focused on war and battles, but this album looks at various battles in modern warfare through the lens of Sun Tzu's famous treatise on war. Musically, The Art of War isn't much different than the rest of the Sabaton catalog. It's upbeat, hard-hitting power metal with great melodies and martial rhythms. There are a couple of key highlights here, including "The Art of War" and "Cliffs of Gallipoli" that have become staples of Sabaton's high-energy live shows, but aside from some throwaway spoken word interludes the whole album is quite solid.

I like the type of music, but most especially, I like the subject matter. Almost everything they write pertains to some kind of battle or conflict. It matches the music quite well. I also appreciate that the lyrics are evocative without resorting to profanity. It just comes across as being far more like brain candy that way. With the exception of the Live album they've released, I've gotten them all and enjoyed them all. I'm looking forward to the next one already.

I have all of their recordings and like them. I chose this one to comment on because it is my favorite so far. They have used a classic book on the study of war and couched songs to either fit the maxim quoted or demonstrate where an army failed to use the lesson. For example, they quoted Sun Tsu maxim on "positions that must not be attacked, roads that must not be taken" etc and recorded the disaster at Gallipoli. So the whole album (mp3 in my case) is not just history it's also moral lessons. As for the music, this one has the most numerous and most memorable riffs and choruses. Panzerkampf is the .ore powerful of the bunch right from the start with "Into the Motherland, the German armies marched.". Gallipoli is another pounding, driving song. This is great metal music, and I don't think vulgarity is ever used, nor any religious bashing, I'm speaking only of this recording. I highly recommend it.

My Wife and I absolutely love this album. We have been Sabaton fans for a couple of years but just finally bought an ablum. After we got it, My newborn son had been having trouble sleeping for sometime. My wife was tired of listening to the nursery rhyme cd's to help him sleep so she tossed in The Art of War. Put him right to sleep. lol. He especially likes Price of a Mile. THANKYOU SABATON! P.S. Makes me proud that me son loves metal!

This is a great album from a superb band love the music and battle songs all great better than Carolux Rex an Coat Of Arms for music love all the albums this one being standout of three Ghost Division Superb song my favourite The Art of War Unbreakable and Cliffs of Gallipoli best songs well worth checking out great metal release ok.

Their best album by far, I love the concept of taking parts of The Art of War by Sun Tzu and applying a real life battle in the next song. The cliffs of Gallipoli is a personal favorite of mine. Though not an incredibly intense song, it really shows the loss of live on both sides of the conflict.

Classic Sabaton! Power Metal and a history lesson!