SABATON

The fate of this album by Swedish heavy metal formation Sabaton is quite unusual: it was written in 2002 but for some reason was not released by the label. Only after two more albums came out was this pioneer (though a relative one — in 2000, a demo compilation was released on the Italian label Underground Symphony) remastered and released. Perhaps the fact that this was the first album played a role (remastering doesn't mean re-recording the compositions), but this review will be mostly critical. So, before us is fairly standard heavy-power metal, employing anthem-like lyrics and straightforward music with an emphasis on headbang-worthy rhythms. The secret to success in this case usually lies in how catchy the compositions are and how original or sincere the vocalist is. "Metalizer" suffers from a lack of quality across all components: the catchiness is rather average, the vocalist is terrifyingly mediocre — he didn't sing anything memorable throughout the entire album. At the same time, I won't say the album is boring to listen to — no, everything is quite lively, but... you realize it's cookie-cutter stuff. Although no, I don't want to offend the Swedes — it's simply a quality album of average caliber. I think fans of true heavy metal will quite enjoy it, but given a choice, I'd prefer something like Germany's Paragon. P.S. As a bonus, demo recordings from the aforementioned 2000 compilation are included — you can compare. I didn't notice anything that could affect the final score.