Single Slam – Bismarck by Sabaton (Stuffed Beaver Limited)

Not part of Sabaton’s incoming new album, The Great War, we have been treated to a brand new, stand alone single, Bismarck.

The Swedish power metallers have been working hard on their new release, The Great War. The new album is due to drop on the 19th of July. It will be the band’s 9th studio album in total and of course is based around World War I. We have already had our first taster of that album with the good, not great, Fields of Verdun. Read our thoughts on that one here.

As with most Sabaton songs, they are lyrically built around a moment in history and given the full on power metal treatment. No prizes for guessing the topic of Bismarck then! The infamous German battleship, named after the Chancellor Otto Van Bismarck. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the largest battleships ever built by Germany and struck fear into allied naval forces.

Bismarck is not part of The Great War, instead being a topic Sabaton have long wanted to cover. It is also the most requested topic from fans in what they would like covered. Originally recorded around a year ago at Black Lounge Studios, a statement on Sabaton’s website says “ The fate of the ship Bismarck is a fascinating story we wanted to write about for a long time, but could not fit into any album. So we decided to make it as a single release, and as a gift from us to you for being fantastic fans for the past 20 years”. Very kind of them.

Bismarck is a little over 5 minutes long and is brilliant. Starting with dangerous building atmospherics, it jumps in with a fiery riff and punching drum beat. The verses are clean sung over a slower tempo with little guitar flair popping in. The chorus is huge and catchy with loads of layers over the vocals. The story is lyrically exciting. It’s also perfectly suited to Sabaton and their style. The second chorus ends into a nice little instrumental before fading out for a brief verse. This leads us into a cracking little solo before back into a brilliant night instrumental with crashing drum blasts and a stop start riff. We end with a few repeats of the excellent chorus before you should find yourself rapidly reaching for the replay button.

Bismarck is a fantastic track. It’s pretty typical for Sabaton and follows the same sound and structure we would expect from the band but when they are good, they are really, really good. This is them at their finest. A fascinating story, powered guitars and a cracking chorus. Exciting instrumental sections and a blazing solo. It has everything we expect from the band and more. Brilliant stuff!

Bismarck is available now on all the usual streaming platforms. Check out the video for it above and here. The historical accuracy of the ships came thanks to Wargaming and World of Warships where the Bismarck will be a playable ship.

You can preorder a copy of The Great War from Sabaton here. Keep up to date with news from the band and releases at their website, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.