Band Of Brothers

Both musically and lyrically, a genre as bombastic as power metal has frequently evoked images of battlefields; some pure fantasy, others rooted in real-life bloodshed. Since forming in 1999, Swedish power metallers Sabaton have stuck to the latter; grandiose, battle-ready anthems drawing direct inspiration from various conflicts throughout history. Curiously, Australia has figured into the equation in the past.

“There's one of those songs which we would never have written without inspiration from our fans and that is Cliffs Of Gallipoli, which is of course (about) the Australian involvement,” bassist Pär Sundström explains. “Some years ago we met a guy and he said, 'I have an idea, you could write a song about this', and he gave us a lot of books and stuff. We were like, 'This is a really good topic for a Sabaton song'. And some years later we wrote the song.”

Have they received much feedback from Australian fans about the track? “Well, since it was on (2008's) The Art Of War album, and that album was never released in Australia, it never really came out of Scandinavia, so very few people heard about it,” Sundström continues. “When we were signed to a small record label in Sweden, very few people got to hear our songs. Things changed when we changed to Nuclear Blast. We were actually able to reach into new territories; get some attention and distribution.”

You could imagine the bassist being the kid at school who wore Iron Maiden and Judas Priest t-shirts to class while paying undivided attention during history lessons, sketching both band logos and military insignia in his books. This is not the case, though. “It wasn't from school; it was something that we discovered later,” he reflects. “In school, we don't read so much about this type of history, especially as Sweden was never involved with any of the world wars, which we normally write about. So when it comes to the topic of the usual Sabaton songs, that's a thing that started with inspiration from movies and stuff, and has grown to a bigger thing now. We didn't know so much, but we learn over time, since we write the songs. A lot of the inspiration comes from fans around the world. When we started, we really wanted to do something that matters; that was something real, instead of doing fiction. So this is what we went for, this historical theme. For us it was a great thing because we were writing songs about something that mattered for us.”

Sundström all but confirms that Cliffs Of Gallipoli will be included in the set list when Sabaton visit Australia. They will serve as support for Finnish symphonic metal sensations Nightwish, plus their own one-off headline show in Melbourne. Road-hardened despite recent line-up changes – four members jumped ship in 2012, leaving the core of Sundström and vocalist Joakim Brodén – we're assured the band will be a well-drilled unit upon reaching these parts.

“This is the best way for us to enter Australia, instead of coming there as a headlining band for a small crowd,” the bassist enthuses. “We had a huge line-up change and in the beginning everyone was worried, but it's all been going well and people have been calmed down. The band is stronger than ever – what you can expect is a really tight band. We have done almost 120 shows in Europe since April. Now we have a little break, so usually when we have a short break we get so hungry to go out and play. When we arrive in Australia we're gonna be frustrated because we haven't played a show in two weeks,” he laughs. “I'm sure the crowd are going to notice that.” 

Sabaton will be playing the following dates:

Friday 11 January - Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW
Saturday 12 January - The Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
Monday 14 January - Palace Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Sunday 20 January - The Metropolis, Fremantle WA