Sabaton – Heroes on Tour

Label: Nuclear Blast, Playing Time:  74 Min (CD), Release: 04th March 2016

These days, Sabaton are releasing a big 2DVD/2BluRay+CD box-set. It contains two live Shows (from Wacken Open Air 2015 and Sabaton Open Air 2015 in Falun) as video footage and the Wacken show as additional audio part on CD. I have to point out that I only had the audio material available for review, therefore I can’t say a word about the video quality.

The first question I ask myself about live releases is whether they make any sense. Sabaton have already released 2 live albums after their previous tours (2011 and 2013) therefore most fans should already have enough of this kind in their collection. Yet a pro of this release is the setlist of the Wacken show. It consists of some well-known classics, but also a major part of the last album “Heroes” is featured (6 of 10). But there are no surprises at all. The setlist of the Falun show is totally different. However,  ‘Union’, ‘Saboteurs’ and ‘En Livstad I Krig’ are the only tracks that have not been released before. Therefore it is difficult for me to fully answer the question if this release makes sense.

Another criteria is the sound. The aim of the mix was obviously to put as much of the audience into the sound as possible. But this did not work at all because the audience appears only between the songs (‘Swedish Pagans’ is one of the positive exceptions). In return, there is too much reverb on the recordings. This does not affect the vocals and keys, but the drums sound as they were miles away and the guitars lose all of their punch.

All in all, “Heroes on Tour” is, due to its amount of content, a worthy release: It should be a must-have for every die hard supporter of the band. Those who are not, especially those who own a live release already, don’t need to feel guilty when skipping this one.

www.sabaton.net