Wasted Potential on Old Topics, Bland Songwriting and Weak Production - A Review of Sabaton's The War to End All Wars

Less than three years after the conceptual record about the First World War entitled The Great War, Swedish quintet Sabaton releases yet another conceptual album about the same topic which is similarly titled The War to End All Wars. This opening statement alone goes to show that the Swedish heavy metal band is running out of ideas and repeating itself over and over again.

To be fair however, this record shows some minor improvements in the songwriting department. The band combines catchy, epic and poignant choruses with gripping female spoken word passages introducing and concluding the context of the historical events in ''Sarajevo'' and ''Versailles''.

The band also uses majestic orchestral arrangements and powerful backing vocals in soothing ballad ''Christmas Truce'' that clocks in as the longest tune on the album at just above five minutes and does the touching topic justice. This song about friendship, hope and togetherness doesn't only work in relation to the historical events referenced here but also in connection to many things that are still going on in this world as history keeps repeating itself.

This release also includes a few decent heavy metal tunes. ''Stormtroopers'' opens with discordant guitar chords and leads into a tight mid-paced anthem that should work splendidly in concert. This song gets to the point in just four minutes and never overstays its welcome. The balance between catchy vocal lines and gripping musicianship works very well in this case.

''Dreadnought'' is another tight heavy metal stomper with a few interesting twists. The guitar riffs surprise with odd breaks that avoid the usual stereotypes. The sounds of waves in the overture as well as in the coda add some atmospheric depth as well. Sabaton proves that it still can be creative and push the boundaries.

The main issue is that all other songs are bland, exchangeable and forgettable. Simplistic drum patterns and lazy percussive elements meet boringly plodding bass guitar patterns. Generic heavy metal riffs by the numbers are combined with short guitar solos that fail to unfold any kind of magic. The fanfare keyboard sections always sound the same and fail to add any kind of atmosphere. The rough but melodic vocals seem to be on autopilot as well. The mellow production fails to give the material any energy, grit or passion. The songs just plod along unspectacularly one after another. That's a shame because the record's few highlights truly stand out and show the band's unexploited potential.

At the end of the day, I can't recommend purchasing Sabaton's The War to End All Wars despite a few sincere improvements in comparison to the abysmal predecessor The Great War. The band has to fine-tune its songwriting to make every single song stand out. The group would also benefit from a more energetic production as this record suffers from a mastering that would rather suit a pop group than a heavy metal band. Sabaton still has the potential to possibly write a decent album when combining bravery, creativity and energy but this one here has to go down as a miss.

Final Rating: 45%