”World war live: Battle of the Baltic sea” is the first live album from Swedish Power Metal band Sabaton. Having released six studio albums, they have plenty of material to pick from, so the time certainly seems right for a live album from a band who’s live performances are always great. The album was recorded on the Sabaton cruise in 2010.
While Sabaton are naturally addressing the crowd in Swedish here given that the cruise took place in Sweden so most of the crowd will have been Swedish, it’s quite unusual to hear a live album where the talking between songs is in anything other than English, and given that a large percentage of their fans are in English speaking countries, it does seem a slightly odd choice to record a show in Swedish which means that the vast majority of their fans will be unable to understand what they say between songs.
Sabaton’s songs are mainly about World War 1 and World war 2, so its no surprise to see these songs making up the setlist here. The fans clearly got to vote on which song the band played next at a couple of points – even without understanding Swedish I could tell that singer Joakim Brodén was asking which of two songs the fans wanted to hear next – a great idea that really gets the audience involved in the show, and which ensures the fan favourites get played.
Listening to the album it sounds to have been a fantastic show, and for those of us who weren’t lucky enough to be there, this is the next best thing. Obviously all fans who were there will buy the album (there’s something special about having a live album that was recorded at a show you attended), but this album is a must for all Sabaton fans, not just the ones who were there.
Track Listing:
1. The March To War (Intro)
2. Ghost Division
3. Uprising
4. Aces in Exile
5. Cliffs of Gallipoli
6. White Death
7. Swedish Pagans
8. Wolfpack
9. 40:1
10. The Art of War
11. Attero Dominatus
12. The Price of a Mile
13. Primo Victoria
14. Metal Medley
15. Dead Soliders Waltz (Outro)
