Sabaton

Though the band did not put out their debut album until 2005 they began recording as early as 1999. Sabaton’s recording sessions took place in The Abyss studio where noteworthy doom metal bands like Children of Bodom, Overkill and, Dispatched have recorded. The band’s recordings attracted a couple of record labels, one of them being the Italian label, Underground Symphony. This label issued the band’s first commercially distributed album, which was the 1999-2000 compilation, “Fist for Fight”. The album was largely seen as a promotional tool as it was released with the intent to get people excited about the band’s upcoming albums.

Sabaton’s first official LP was supposed to be their 2002 recorded album “[[]]”; however, it was shelved for 2 years and eventually discarded. The band finally put out their second album and first commercially released LP entitled “Primo Victoria”. The band signed on with the label Black Lodge for this release and would go on to put out their next album “Attero Dominatus” through this label. At this time the group recruited keyboardist Daniel Myhr for the band. This allowed the group’s previous keyboardist/singer, Joakin Broden, to take full reign over vocals.

In 2007 Sabaton released “Metalizer”, which was an accumulation of their early demo recordings and their previously unearthed debut album. The band’s follow up record was based on the book “The Art of War” by the Chinese military leader Sun Tzu. The group was increasingly getting more recognition and by 2009 they were playing festivals such as Atlanta’s ProgPowerUSA and Bloodstock ’09 in Derby. They also toured throughout Europe during this time, which included a 18 show stint in the UK supporting DragonForce. The band’s next album “Coat of Arms” came out on 2 October 2010 and peaked at No. 2 on the Swedish Albums Chart. It’s lyrics were heavily inspired by World War II and its closing track “Metal Ripper” was an instrumental piece paying tribute to a long list of the band’s musical influences.

The band experienced a crucial line-up change in 2012, with four members leaving, making singer Broden and bass player Sundström the only remaining members. The newly comprised band released “Carolus Rex” in 2012 and went on a large scale North American tour in the Spring of 2014.

Shortly afterwards Sabaton put out their commercially successful album “Heroes”, which debuted at No.1 on the Swedish Album Charts. The group has built a substantive reputation for themselves in the metal community, particularly one in their homeland in which they host their own festival. In addition to touring extensively around the globe the band also has an annual cruise called ‘Sabaton Cruise’ that embarks every November.

Mark Jansen led a group of musicians in 2002 complete with a small string section made up of three violins two violas two cellos and an upright bass to record a two-song demo entitled “Cry for the Moon” in 2002. As a result of this, they were fortunately signed to Transmission Records. “The Phantom Agony” released on June 5th 2003, was the first full-length studio album by Epica. It went to number 8 in the Dutch Album Chart. Their following album “Consign to Oblivion” which was released on April 21st 2005 made it to number 12 in the Dutch Album Chart but also charted in Belgium and France. Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman were cited as major inspirations. Following the release of this album, Epica embarked on their first tour of North America with Kamelot.

Their third album, “The Divine Conspiracy” released on September 7th 2007 saw the band do their first headline tour of North America. The first single from the album “Never Enough” was released almost a month before on August 10th 2007. The album, again earned the band more chart success with the album now charting in Germany and Switzerland. They released a live album called “The Classical Conspiracy” on May 8th 2009, which charted in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland.

They returned to the studio in 2009 to work on their album “Design Tour Universe”. Upon release, it earned very similar acclaim to the previous record, of course is still an incredible achievement to maintain such a loyal fanbase. Three years later on March 9th 2012, Epica released “Requiem for the Indifferent” which charted in nine countries. All music stated that it is a “typically elaborate and ambitious affair, incorporating copious amounts of choral work and classical arrangements into the band’s neatly established blend of goth, progressive and symphonic metal.” For this album, the band did a world tour, this time, visiting South America.

It was “The Quantum Enigma” that proves that Epica are relentlessly sticking to their art and taking the world by storm with their music as it became their most successful record yet. Released on May 2nd 2014, it made it to number four in the Dutch Album Charts this time around, charting in the US and UK too