Image: Sabaton – Official Press Photo
This year marks Sabaton’s 25th anniversary, and the band is using the occasion not only to look back but also to look ahead. To celebrate, the Swedish metal veterans have shared exclusive insights into their fifth studio album, “Coat of Arms", and invited fans to reminisce through "throwback" photos from their past. But that’s not all: on October 11, their concert film “The Tour To End All Tours” also premiered on the big screen.
While the band is celebrating their anniversary with fans, they’re also focusing on the future. In an interview with Radioactive MikeZ, frontman Joakim Brodén gives exciting details about the progress of their upcoming album.
Joakim Brodén Interview with Radioactive MikeZ
Brodén shared that the band is not taking a break and is already hard at work on new material:
“We already have quite a bit of material. So it’s not like we’re going to take a break and then start writing. We’re already in the process.”
This continuity seems to be typical for Sabaton, as Brodén further explains:
“When we finish an album, I feel like, 'Screw this. I don’t want to write music for a while.' But three months later, I’m sitting there writing new music.”
However, songwriting and producing an album is no easy task. Brodén talks openly about the challenges of the creative process:
“When an album is finished, I hate it—sorry to say. I’m not the only songwriter in the band, but I’m the one who writes the majority of the music. And I’m involved in the lyrics or most of the songs, and almost all of the songs musically. So I spend months in the studio writing, either alone or with someone else.
Then I prepare all the pre-productions, cleaning the takes, and saying what we’re going to do, putting everything together, and giving it to everyone in the band to practice. Then we go into the studio, and I’m the constant in the studio, keeping an eye on everything along with the producer. I’m there throughout the entire recording process.
After that, I take a small break, and then the sound engineer starts mixing. Then I come back in for the mix, and at that point, I’m already sick of the songs. From that point on, you’re just looking for problems and mistakes. What went wrong? What’s off here? Do we need to re-record something? Should we correct anything? Is this too loud? Do we need EQ? At that point, I’ve programmed myself to only hear the problems with the album. When the mastering is done, I absolutely hate it. I’m so sick of this music. It’ll take one or two years before I can listen to it objectively again.”
This honest insight into the creative process shows how deeply Brodén is involved in every phase of album production, from writing to final mixing.
Watch the full interview with Joakim Brodén here:
