SABATON frontman Joakim Brodén spoke to Germany's Radio Bob! about the stage production for the upcoming tour in support of the Swedish metallers' tenth studio album, "The War To End All Wars". Due on March 4, 2022 via Nuclear Blast Records, the concept LP of 11 brand-new songs was written and recorded during the COVID-19 global pandemic and once again dives deep into the atrocities, miracles, and events tied to the early 20th century's World War I. Brodén said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I can give some hints [about the live show]. I don't wanna be secretive, but at the same time, I don't wanna spoil the surprise, because that should be something for the concertgoers to discover in a way, so they get that 'wow' effect. But yeah, we are expanding on what we already had with [2019's] 'The Great War' [album] since we're moving in the same era and time. There is, actually, a whole bunch of people in Sweden right now as we are speaking building new parts of the stage set. And I've seen some pictures and hints of what's coming. Both for the Swedish tour we have some special stuff being built, but especially, of course, the European tour. Yeah, I think there are things that are gonna be very familiar but there are also things that are gonna be — a few places where it's gonna be, 'What the…?'" In a recent interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, Brodén said about the musical direction of SABATON's new material: "It's very much a SABATON album in that way. We've been an evolutionary band always and not a revolutionary band. There's always surprises on a SABATON album but we're never gonna flip the coin and do something totally different on every song on a new album. There's gonna be surprises on every album. "It's always subjective," he continued. "I think it's pathetic when an artist goes, 'It's the best album we've ever made,' and they keep promoting the same tired line. I say it's up to the listener to decide that, but I know for a fact that everybody in the band, without even sitting in the same room together, because I sort of shipped out the pre-mixes to everyone, and everybody — this is the only time in our history this has happened — everybody came back with, 'Fuck. That sounds great.' Everybody is super happy with the production. We were always happy before, but it was, like, 'Maybe this, maybe that.' Now it was more like, 'Okay, yeah, I have some suggestions and ideas, but wow.' We're really happy with the sound." SABATON is considered to be one the most important bands to emerge from the Swedish modern metal scene, having been honored with five Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards (including "Best Live Band" three different years) and nominated several times for the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the Grammis. In 2016, SABATON's "The Last Stand" album debuted at No. 1 in three different European countries and cracked the Top 3 in four others. Joakim Brodén (vocals), Pär Sundström (bass), Chris Rörland (guitar), Hannes Van Dahl (drums) and Tommy Johansson (guitar) curate a festival of their own, Sabaton Open Air, that started back in 2008, as well as their own forward-thinking Sabaton Cruise which has been held since 2009.
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