SABATON has most of the musical ingredients to be a very good metal band. Formed in 1999, the band played many gigs throughout Sweden before getting signed to Underground Symphony, an Italian record label to record their debut “Fist for Fight” in 2001. By 2002, when they recorded their follow up “Metalizer,” tensions between SABATON and Underground Symphony took it's toll and the band signed with Black Lodge to record their 2005 album “Primo Victoria”.

On “Primo Victoria,” the songs are well written, their production is sound, and their style of instrumentation flows very nicely. Unfortunately, what prevents SABATON’s latest album from hitting the mark are two extremely important elements: the vocals, and the sound production.

Joakim Broden (Vocalist) has a unique voice. It sounds like a cross between Lemmy Kilmister (MOTORHEAD) and Daniel Gildenlow (PAIN OF SALVATION) and is extremely powerful, at times more powerful than should be. Joakim does not seem to be straining, hitting notes out of his league, or failing at singing. However, it just seems a little to raw and crude for the otherwise clean and remarkably polished power metal evident on "Primo Victoria.” It is the dark, gothic-tinged, heavier cuts on the album such as "Stalingrad" that mix extremely well with Joakim’s vocal patterns. Other standout cuts include the thrashy “Reign of Terror,” “Into the Fire,” and “Metal Machine”. The guitar work of Rickard Sundren and Oscar Montelius is very good on each track, although at times comes off a bit generic sounding very similar to MANOWAR and early HELLOWEEN. The rhythm section of Daniel Mullback and Par Sundstrom brings it all together nicely, with the keyboard work of Daniel Myhr enhancing the color of the music dramatically. Unfortunately, a not so sharp sound production bogs the music down. It is overall too trebly in its tone, which prevents the full emotions and powers of the music to leave a lasting impact on the average listener.

In the end, “Primo Victoria” may be good to satisfy die-hard fans of power metal, but not quite enough to win new or casual fans. What SABATON should do in the future is have the vocals polished up, increase their heaviness, and work with a better production.