Review by Felix on October 4, 2020.

The chaos theory says that smallest changes of the initial conditions can lead to very big impacts on the whole system. It is a fact that the wing-beat of a butterfly is able to cause a hurricane. The Coming of Chaos, released by Sweden’s Sacramentum in 1997, confirms the theory, but unfortunately exactly the other way round. The entire work sounds as if slight changes during the song-writing process could have resulted in a much better full-length.

Sacramentum’s album shares the destiny of a couple of outputs of Lord Belial. On one hand, it does not appeal to the mainstream. On the other hand, it cannot really suppress its weakness for melodies that take a lot of the otherwise attainable vehemence of the material. Admittedly, from time to time the more or less melodic touch of the compositions helps them to develop a powerful yet catchy appearance. 'Portal of Blood' combines the melodic side and the general force of the Scandinavians in an exciting manner. Nevertheless, it happens too often that the band stops fighting when the battle is only half won. Murderous riffs are missing and unforced errors add insult to injury. It’s actually no big deal that 'Abyss of Time' is nothing else but a useless intermezzo. But located on the fifth of nine positions, it significantly hurts the flow of The Coming of Chaos significantly. Moreover, the title track with a playtime of more than 13 minutes is rather a waste of time than a regular song. It seems as if the band wants to teach us that the chaos has arrived. Thus, the dudes pressed it into the strangest available tones. Honestly, this sound collage just sucks and generally speaking, there are no chaotic elements in Sacramentum's sound.

The vocals are raw, of course, but they lack charisma and any kind of individuality. In addition, the material is characterised by an almost complete absence of atmospheric elements. I know this is not a pure black metal work. It connects elements of the unholy trinity thrash, death and black metal. Nonetheless, I miss a spooky, infernal, nightly or whatever aura. Sacramentum’s songs appear to me like songs of a rock band that have accidentally become too harsh. There is no outburst of energy, no true devotion to the darkest side of metal and no compositional shrewdness.

Yes, the more or less conventionally designed songs (number 1 to 4 and 6 to 8) do not suffer from major defects, but they also fail to whet the appetite for more. Especially Sweden has so many bands that are able to link the sonic form of Armageddon with the most bizarre, most monumental or most morbid melodies - Dissection, Necrophobic and so on. Sacramentum follows these legends with a considerable gap. Perhaps they did so because they had remarkable clairvoyant powers and intended to avoid the Covid 19 shit already at the end of the 20th century? Who knows? The only thing I know is that Sacramentum published an under-average work in 1997. So now it’s time for my personal interpretation of the chaos theory. It does not need more than “Mirror Black”, Necrophobic’s advance track of their new album, to listen to brilliant music again.

Rating: 5.6 out of 10

Review by Felix on October 4, 2020.

The chaos theory says that smallest changes of the initial conditions can lead to very big impacts on the whole system. It is a fact that the wing-beat of a butterfly is able to cause a hurricane. The Coming of Chaos, released by Sweden’s Sacramentum in 1997, confirms the theory, but unfortunately exactly the other way round. The entire work sounds as if slight changes during the song-writing process could have resulted in a much better full-length.

Sacramentum’s album shares the destiny of a couple of outputs of Lord Belial. On one hand, it does not appeal to the mainstream. On the other hand, it cannot really suppress its weakness for melodies that take a lot of the otherwise attainable vehemence of the material. Admittedly, from time to time the more or less melodic touch of the compositions helps them to develop a powerful yet catchy appearance. 'Portal of Blood' combines the melodic side and the general force of the Scandinavians in an exciting manner. Nevertheless, it happens too often that the band stops fighting when the battle is only half won. Murderous riffs are missing and unforced errors add insult to injury. It’s actually no big deal that 'Abyss of Time' is nothing else but a useless intermezzo. But located on the fifth of nine positions, it significantly hurts the flow of The Coming of Chaos significantly. Moreover, the title track with a playtime of more than 13 minutes is rather a waste of time than a regular song. It seems as if the band wants to teach us that the chaos has arrived. Thus, the dudes pressed it into the strangest available tones. Honestly, this sound collage just sucks and generally speaking, there are no chaotic elements in Sacramentum's sound.

The vocals are raw, of course, but they lack charisma and any kind of individuality. In addition, the material is characterised by an almost complete absence of atmospheric elements. I know this is not a pure black metal work. It connects elements of the unholy trinity thrash, death and black metal. Nonetheless, I miss a spooky, infernal, nightly or whatever aura. Sacramentum’s songs appear to me like songs of a rock band that have accidentally become too harsh. There is no outburst of energy, no true devotion to the darkest side of metal and no compositional shrewdness.

Yes, the more or less conventionally designed songs (number 1 to 4 and 6 to 8) do not suffer from major defects, but they also fail to whet the appetite for more. Especially Sweden has so many bands that are able to link the sonic form of Armageddon with the most bizarre, most monumental or most morbid melodies - Dissection, Necrophobic and so on. Sacramentum follows these legends with a considerable gap. Perhaps they did so because they had remarkable clairvoyant powers and intended to avoid the Covid 19 shit already at the end of the 20th century? Who knows? The only thing I know is that Sacramentum published an under-average work in 1997. So now it’s time for my personal interpretation of the chaos theory. It does not need more than “Mirror Black”, Necrophobic’s advance track of their new album, to listen to brilliant music again.

Rating: 5.6 out of 10

Review by Felix on October 4, 2020.

The chaos theory says that smallest changes of the initial conditions can lead to very big impacts on the whole system. It is a fact that the wing-beat of a butterfly is able to cause a hurricane. The Coming of Chaos, released by Sweden’s Sacramentum in 1997, confirms the theory, but unfortunately exactly the other way round. The entire work sounds as if slight changes during the song-writing process could have resulted in a much better full-length.

Sacramentum’s album shares the destiny of a couple of outputs of Lord Belial. On one hand, it does not appeal to the mainstream. On the other hand, it cannot really suppress its weakness for melodies that take a lot of the otherwise attainable vehemence of the material. Admittedly, from time to time the more or less melodic touch of the compositions helps them to develop a powerful yet catchy appearance. 'Portal of Blood' combines the melodic side and the general force of the Scandinavians in an exciting manner. Nevertheless, it happens too often that the band stops fighting when the battle is only half won. Murderous riffs are missing and unforced errors add insult to injury. It’s actually no big deal that 'Abyss of Time' is nothing else but a useless intermezzo. But located on the fifth of nine positions, it significantly hurts the flow of The Coming of Chaos significantly. Moreover, the title track with a playtime of more than 13 minutes is rather a waste of time than a regular song. It seems as if the band wants to teach us that the chaos has arrived. Thus, the dudes pressed it into the strangest available tones. Honestly, this sound collage just sucks and generally speaking, there are no chaotic elements in Sacramentum's sound.

The vocals are raw, of course, but they lack charisma and any kind of individuality. In addition, the material is characterised by an almost complete absence of atmospheric elements. I know this is not a pure black metal work. It connects elements of the unholy trinity thrash, death and black metal. Nonetheless, I miss a spooky, infernal, nightly or whatever aura. Sacramentum’s songs appear to me like songs of a rock band that have accidentally become too harsh. There is no outburst of energy, no true devotion to the darkest side of metal and no compositional shrewdness.

Yes, the more or less conventionally designed songs (number 1 to 4 and 6 to 8) do not suffer from major defects, but they also fail to whet the appetite for more. Especially Sweden has so many bands that are able to link the sonic form of Armageddon with the most bizarre, most monumental or most morbid melodies - Dissection, Necrophobic and so on. Sacramentum follows these legends with a considerable gap. Perhaps they did so because they had remarkable clairvoyant powers and intended to avoid the Covid 19 shit already at the end of the 20th century? Who knows? The only thing I know is that Sacramentum published an under-average work in 1997. So now it’s time for my personal interpretation of the chaos theory. It does not need more than “Mirror Black”, Necrophobic’s advance track of their new album, to listen to brilliant music again.

Rating: 5.6 out of 10

Review by Felix on October 4, 2020.

The chaos theory says that smallest changes of the initial conditions can lead to very big impacts on the whole system. It is a fact that the wing-beat of a butterfly is able to cause a hurricane. The Coming of Chaos, released by Sweden’s Sacramentum in 1997, confirms the theory, but unfortunately exactly the other way round. The entire work sounds as if slight changes during the song-writing process could have resulted in a much better full-length.

Sacramentum’s album shares the destiny of a couple of outputs of Lord Belial. On one hand, it does not appeal to the mainstream. On the other hand, it cannot really suppress its weakness for melodies that take a lot of the otherwise attainable vehemence of the material. Admittedly, from time to time the more or less melodic touch of the compositions helps them to develop a powerful yet catchy appearance. 'Portal of Blood' combines the melodic side and the general force of the Scandinavians in an exciting manner. Nevertheless, it happens too often that the band stops fighting when the battle is only half won. Murderous riffs are missing and unforced errors add insult to injury. It’s actually no big deal that 'Abyss of Time' is nothing else but a useless intermezzo. But located on the fifth of nine positions, it significantly hurts the flow of The Coming of Chaos significantly. Moreover, the title track with a playtime of more than 13 minutes is rather a waste of time than a regular song. It seems as if the band wants to teach us that the chaos has arrived. Thus, the dudes pressed it into the strangest available tones. Honestly, this sound collage just sucks and generally speaking, there are no chaotic elements in Sacramentum's sound.

The vocals are raw, of course, but they lack charisma and any kind of individuality. In addition, the material is characterised by an almost complete absence of atmospheric elements. I know this is not a pure black metal work. It connects elements of the unholy trinity thrash, death and black metal. Nonetheless, I miss a spooky, infernal, nightly or whatever aura. Sacramentum’s songs appear to me like songs of a rock band that have accidentally become too harsh. There is no outburst of energy, no true devotion to the darkest side of metal and no compositional shrewdness.

Yes, the more or less conventionally designed songs (number 1 to 4 and 6 to 8) do not suffer from major defects, but they also fail to whet the appetite for more. Especially Sweden has so many bands that are able to link the sonic form of Armageddon with the most bizarre, most monumental or most morbid melodies - Dissection, Necrophobic and so on. Sacramentum follows these legends with a considerable gap. Perhaps they did so because they had remarkable clairvoyant powers and intended to avoid the Covid 19 shit already at the end of the 20th century? Who knows? The only thing I know is that Sacramentum published an under-average work in 1997. So now it’s time for my personal interpretation of the chaos theory. It does not need more than “Mirror Black”, Necrophobic’s advance track of their new album, to listen to brilliant music again.

Rating: 5.6 out of 10

Review by Brexaul on March 27, 2022.

If you can describe an album using only a famous internet meme, then Sabaton's War To End All Wars would hands down be GTA's "Oh shit, here we go again". Swedish powerhouse returns with a rehash of all their previous albums, wrapped in a sterile production that will please the majority of their fan base. That doesn't say a lot now does it?

Sabaton has become so standard that they could well be writing songs just by using the cut/paste feature in Cubase as long as the tempos match. Everything that the band is known for is here again, be it the sloppy vocal delivery, the over-the-top keyboards and orchestrations, the shredding and the anthemic war marches. The song structures and vocal lines are either getting worse on every album or I'm past the point of being mildly amused by the same ideas over and over. They are also running around in circles when it comes to their lyrics, there are only so many ways to describe heroes fighting a valiant war and dying, counting bullets, or operating a historical submarine and they have done it all, multiple times. We're talking about a Sabaton lyric generator typewriter thing here, it's that bad.

I always thought that when Sabaton eventually would get really big, they would have the artistic freedom to really kick ass and try some out of the box song writing, you know as they are pretty damn good musicians too begin with, but they seem too far gone on this plastic fantastic approach to everything. Drumkit with zero punch and daring, guitars with no soul that could well be glorified keyboards leave us with a tasteless, soulless inoffensive amalgam of all their previous albums. Every worthwhile idea is not even theirs anymore. There is a blatant rip-off ("homage" I'd suspect) on 'Dreadnought' which is a copyright offense against one of the greatest songs ever written ('In Dark Places' by the legendary US metal Gods Crimson Glory) that shadows over the rest of the offerings here.

At the peak of their fame, Sabaton released their most bland an uninspired album (queue Homer Simpson and "their most bland an uninspired album YET") which fails to generate any sort of feeling, apart from indifference and disbelief. Sure, they will sell a million copies, continue to fill those arenas and bring a fresh batch of 15-16 year old fans to what power metal has become today, but sadly this is the only slightly redeeming quality left about this band. Pity.

Rating: 4 out of 10