Heroes (Sabaton album)

Heroes

Studio album by Sabaton

Released

May 6, 2014

Recorded

August 2013 - March 2014, Abyss Studios, Sweden

Genre

Power metal, Speed metal

Length

CD 36:57
Digi-pack 44:18
Earbook 50:21

Sabaton chronology

Singles from Heroes
Carolus Rex (2012)	Heroes (2014)
"To Hell and Back" Released: 28 March 2014 "Resist and Bite" Released: 2 May 2014
Limited and EARBOOK edition cover

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	^[1]
Ultimate Guitar	7.2/10^[2]

Heroes is the seventh studio album by Swedish power metal band Sabaton. It was released on 6 May 2014. It is the first album to feature the new Sabaton line-up with guitarists Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund as well as new drummer Hannes van Dahl. It was produced by Peter Tägtgren in Abyss Studios.^[3] The artwork was made by Péter Sallai^[4] and the photos were created by Ryan Garrison. The first single To Hell and Back from their album was released digitally on 14 March 2014 and available on iTunes, Nuclear Blast, Amazon and Google Play.^[5] The second single Resist And Bite was also released digitally on 2 May 2014, available on iTunes, Nuclear Blast and Amazon.^[6]

Pär Sundström said about the album's concept: "Well, I think this is a perfect concept for Sabaton. We decided to go for the idea to write about individuals instead of bigger battles. Individuals who we think basically went beyond their call of duty, put themselves into harms way for the good of others". ^[7]

In an interview to the Brazilian Army's official blog, Sundström explained that the idea for the track "Smoking Snakes" came when he was doing some researching for the album: "I tried searching for the word 'Helden', which means heroes in German. I then came across the story of the Drei Brasilianischen Helden (Three Brazilian Heroes) and, from that point on, we deepened our research and decided to write the track."^[8]

Track listing

No.	Title	Theme	Length
1.	"Night Witches"	The all female Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment called "Night Witches".	3:01
2.	"No Bullets Fly"	The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident, in which German pilot Stigler accompanied a disabled American bomber back to the English Channel.	3:37
3.	"Smoking Snakes"	Arlindo Lúcio da Silva, Geraldo Baeta da Cruz and Geraldo Rodrigues de Souza – 3 Brazilian Expeditionary Force soldiers who became separated from their unit and fought a large contingent of Germans in Italy on 14 April 1945. Refusing surrender, they fought to their deaths and were buried by the Germans, who placed a cross over their graves with the inscription 'Drei brasilianische Helden' (Three Brazilian Heroes).	3:14
4.	"Inmate 4859"	Witold Pilecki, soldier of Polish Armia Krajowa and leader of resistance movement in the Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was interned voluntarily with inmate number 4859. Produced the Witold's Report.	4:26
5.	"To Hell And Back"	Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated American veterans of World War II	3:26
6.	"The Ballad Of Bull"	Corporal Leslie "Bull" Allen, an Australian Army soldier awarded the US Silver Star for rescuing 12 wounded American soldiers during the Papua New Guinea campaign of World War II.^[9]^[10]^[11]	3:53
7.	"Resist And Bite"	Chasseurs Ardennais, an infantry formation of the Belgian Armed Forces that fought in the Battle of Belgium in World War II	3:27
8.	"Soldier Of 3 Armies"	Lauri Törni, soldier of the Finnish Army, the German Waffen-SS, and the United States Army Green Berets in Vietnam	3:38
9.	"Far From The Fame"	Hero of Czechoslovakia – Air Marshal Karel Janoušek, founder of Czechoslovakian forces in Royal Air Force. Later imprisoned by communist regime in Czechoslovakia.	3:47
10.	"Hearts Of Iron"	The German forces of the 12th and 9th Armies, who, facing defeat at the hands of the Soviets, created a corridor across the Elbe to protect fleeing refugees and soldiers to escape and surrender to the West.	4:28
Total length:			36:57

No.	Title	Theme	Length
11.	"7734"	7734 in calculator spelling means "Hell" and song lyrics devoted to soldiers in general and holy meanings. This is a remake of the song, "7734", originally released in the Metalizer album.	3:33
12.	"Man Of War"	References various songs of the classic metal band Manowar, paying them homage.	3:48
Total length:			44:18

These last two tracks are listed on every other released version of this album.

No.	Title	Length
11.	"For Whom The Bell Tolls" (Metallica cover)	5:22
12.	"En Hjältes Väg" (Raubtier cover)	4:26
13.	"Out Of Control" (Battle Beast cover)	3:36
Total length:		57:42

These last three songs are only featured on the earbook edition.^[12]^[13]

Personnel

Joakim Brodén – vocals
Pär Sundström – bass
Chris Rörland – guitar, backing vocals
Thobbe Englund – guitar, backing vocals
Hannes van Dahl – drums

Release information

The special limited earbook edition (28x28cm) is housed in a faux leather sleeve including a metal emblem, a signing card and a 5-track bonus CD (only through mailorder).^[12]^[14]
Limited 500 blue yellow splatter vinyls edition.^[15]
Black vinyl edition with six songs on the A-side and six on the B-side of which the last two are bonus tracks: "7734" and "Man Of War".^[16]
Limited Digi book edition.^[17]
Limited 300 green vinyls edition.^[18]The green vinyl edition also comes in a DLP (double LP) format.^[19]
Limited edition Clear Numbered Vinyl, LP, Album 100 hand numbered copies with gatefold cover.^[20]^[21]

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[22]	26
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)^[23]	70
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)^[24]	18
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)^[25]	35
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[26]	19
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[27]	2
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)^[28]	17
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[29]	13
Polish Albums (ZPAV)^[30]	5
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[31]	1
UK Albums (OCC)^[32]	59
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[26]	1
US Billboard 200^[33]	99

Music video

The song "To Hell And Back" was also made into a music video which was directed by Owe Lingvall and produced by Bengt Larvia. It was uploaded on Nuclear Blast Records main YouTube channel on 15 May, and currently has over a million views as of January 2015.^[34]

References

^[35]

↑ Bowar, Chad. "Sabaton Heroes Review". Retrieved 26 July 2014.
↑ "Heroes Review - Sabaton - Ultimate Guitar". 2 June 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
↑ "Sabaton – Official Headquarters NEW ALBUM “HEROES” TO BE RELEASED IN MAY 2014! - Sabaton - Official Headquarters". Sabaton - Official Headquarters. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ http://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Péter_Sallai/36765
↑ "SABATON – first single »To Hell And Back« ... - Nuclear Blast". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ "SABATON - 'Resist And Bite' – Digital ... - Nuclear Blast". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ Interview with Pär Sundström, by Grande-Rock.com retrieved on 13 June 2014.
↑ "Banda Sabaton concede entrevista onde fala sobre a canção Smoking Snakes". EBlog (in Portuguese). Brazilian Army. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
↑ "Call for World War II hero Leslie 'Bull' Allen to be posthumously awarded Victoria Cross". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ "Black and white photo of Leslie 'Bull' Allen carrying wounded soldier - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ "Biography - Leslie Charles (Clarence) Allen - Australian Dictionary of Biography". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ 12.0 12.1 http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/products/tontraeger/cd/buch-cd-cd/sabaton-heroes-earbook-deluxe.html
↑ http://www.discogs.com/Sabaton-Heroes/release/5698735
↑ http://www.discogs.com/Sabaton-Heroes/release/5695439
↑ http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/products/tontraeger/vinyl/lp/sabaton-heroes-blue-yellow-splatter-vinyl.html
↑ "SABATON". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/products/tontraeger/cd/cd-digi/sabaton-heroes.html
↑ "SABATON". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ "SABATON". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ http://www.discogs.com/Sabaton-Heroes/release/5695402
↑ http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/products/tontraeger/vinyl/lp/sabaton-heroes-clear-vinyl.html
↑ "Sabaton – Heroes" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien.
↑ "Sabaton – Heroes" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien.
↑ "Sabaton – Heroes". Danishcharts.com. Hung Medien.
↑ "Sabaton – Heroes" (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien.
↑ 26.0 26.1 "Sabaton: Heroes" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
↑ "Top 40 album-, DVD- és válogatáslemez-lista – 2014. 21. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. LightMedia.
↑ "Sabaton – Heroes". Norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien.
↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
↑ "Sabaton – Heroes". Swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien.
↑ "Sabaton | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
↑ "Sabaton Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for Sabaton. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
↑ SABATON - To Hell And Back (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO). YouTube. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
↑ "Sabaton - "Heroes" album review". Wicked Rodeo. Thorgal. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2015.

Sabaton

Joakim Brodén Pär Sundström Chris Rörland Thobbe Englund Hannes van Dahl Oskar Montelius Rikard Sundén Richard Larsson Daniel Mullback Daniel Mÿhr Robban Bäck

Studio albums	Primo Victoria (2005) Attero Dominatus (2006) Metalizer (2007) The Art of War (2008) Coat of Arms (2010) Carolus Rex (2012) Heroes (2014)

EPs	Attero Dominatus & Primo Victoria sampler (2007)

Live albums	World War Live: Battle of the Baltic Sea (Battle of the Baltic Sea World War Live) (2011) Swedish Empire Live (2013)

Compilations	Fist for Fight (2001) Metalus Hammerus Rex (2012)

Singles	"Masters of the World" (2007) "Cliffs of Gallipoli" (2008) "Coat of Arms" (2010) "Screaming Eagles" (2010) "Carolus Rex" (2012) "The Lion From the North" (2012) "40:1" (2013) "To Hell and Back" (2014) "Resist and Bite" (2014)

Videos	World War Live: Battle of the Baltic Sea (2011) Swedish Empire Live (2013)

Related articles	Sabaton Discography