Civil War - Civil War

Published November 20 2012

*=Staff's pick	Rome Is Falling Civil War* Forevermore Custer's Last Stand* Say It Right

Genre	Heavy Metal	Nils Patrik Johansson	Vocals
Tracks	5	Rikard Sundén	Guitar
Running time	24 Min.	Oskar Montelius	Guitar
Label	Despotz Records	Stefan Eriksson	Bass
Release	13 November 2012	Daniel Mullback	Drums
Country	Sweden	Daniel Myhr	Keyboard
Producer	-
Similar artists	Astral Doors

You probably know most of the deal and I won't go much further into it, but this is the debut EP from the four men that quit Sabaton earlier this year, who have hooked up with multi bandmember and vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson and bassplayer Stefan Eriksson. A full length album is planned to hit the shelves and the digital world next spring and gigs are already being announced.

This is not bombastic Sabaton heavy metal, even if the name of the band and most of the lyrics are about topics such as war, soldiers and battles, etc. If you really try to hear similarities, I'm sure you can, but I can't say that there's much reminding me of their former band at all, other than it's heavy metal, and with Johansson behind the mic, it feels much closer to one of his other bands, Astral Doors. His distinctive voice has a heavy impact on whatever he touches. The resemblances to the late Ronnie James Dio are there for the unfamiliar listener, but after a decade of listening to him in different constellations, I assure you that he has his own game as well.

I don't know who the songwriting credits go to, but when listening to this five song EP, I can see one of the reasons for them leaving their former band, whose songs have a determined grandiose pumping sound created almost solely by Joakim Brodén and my guess is that these guys weren't even given half the chance to show their songwriting skills in any way. This is different. Straighter heavy metal, more melodic and sometimes part epic, than real heavy.

I wasn't expecting an outcome this good and to be honest, I had my doubts about what they could achieve. Many musicians before them, who aren't credited as songwriters, have quit bands to follow their own directions and the major part of them end up with nothing but failure. This is only a teaser of what's to come, so I won't spread my prayers too loud this early into their new career, but I believe this is a fresh start and with Sabaton's increasing success around the globe, these guys can at least ride the wave for a while and get the name out.

See also review of: The Last Full Measure , Gods And Generals , The Killer Angels

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	4	5	7	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Tobbe