I don’t know anyone who just ‘sorta likes’ Sabaton. They seem to be one of those ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ bands that truly divide heavy metal fans. Personally, since I heard “Winged Hussars” back in 2016 from The Last Stand ( still my favorite Sabaton album), I have fallen on the ‘love it’ side. Unashamedly so.

I’ll admit, though, the band’s last two WWI-themed efforts, The Great War and The War to End All Wars, didn’t really do it for me. They were both decent efforts, but had a lot of filler, a signature of Sabaton albums where they either deliver absolute bangers or some forgettable duds. And while Legends, has a similar MO, it’s better than the last two efforts, but still has some absolutely fucking banging tracks with some predictable filler.

Maybe the move on from a singular topic in the grim subject matter of WWI to their more traditional, varied military and historical themes of battles and personas from The Templar Knights, The Ronin, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, and Vlad the Impaler has reenergized Joakim Broden and co., as Legends is a little more banger than filler, with tracks that deliver the band’s trademark catchy, epic choruses and choirs/synths.

“Templars” opens with a strong number and a stern, marching chorus, and is up there with one of the band’s more memorable, catchy, better tracks, as are “Crossing the Rubicon”, “I, Emperor”, “Maid of Steel”, Iron Maiden-ish “The Duelist”, and fucking brilliantly catchy, marching album closer “Til Seger”, with its classic Sabaton key change (and a pace and verse similar to “Gott Mitt Uns”), which has jumped right up there with “Winged Hussars”, “Got Mitt Uns”, “Aces in Exile”, “To Hell and Back”, “7734” and “The Last Stand” as my go to Sabaton tunes.

But as with all their albums, tracks like “A Tiger Among Dragons”, “Impaler”, “Lighting at the Gates” and balladic “The Cycle of Songs” are totally skippable, and certainly won’t convert anyone to being a Sabaton fan if they are not already a fan of the band’s distinctly divisive power metal.

“TIL SEGER!!!!!!!”

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