Tracklist
CD1 - Metalizer
1. Hellrider
2. Thundergods
3. Metalizer
4. Shadows
5. Burn Your Crosses
6. 7734
7. Endless Nights
8. Hail To The King
9. Thunderstorm
10. Speeder
11. Masters Of The World
12. Jawbreaker [Judas Priest Cover-Bonus]

CD2 - Fist For Fight
01. Introduction
02. Hellrider
03. Endless Nights
04. Metalizer
05. Burn Your Crosses
06. The Hammer Has Fallen
07. Hail To The King
08. Shadows
09. Thunderstorm
10. Masters Of The World
11. Guten Nacht
12. Birds Of War [Previously unreleased]

Line-up:
Joakim Broden - Vocals and Keyboards
Rikard Sunden - Guitars
Oskar Montelius - Guitars
Par Sundstrom - Bass
Daniel Mullback - Drums

Sabaton is known today as a heavy power metal band that writes anthemic songs with a general theme of war from all aspects of it. But this is their debut, which was never actually put out at the time due to label problems, and lo and behold, it's the best album Sabaton ever put out. The choruses are catchy as ever, and the riffage is even speedier and more traditional metal oriented then ever. While the follow up 'Primo Victoria' is more mature, this album is a helluva lot more fun and headbang-inducing, and that's what I listen to metal for in the first place.

The songs here sound like a mixture of old school Motorhead and Manowar, with a dash of Painkiller-era Judas Priest for extra flavour, plus some symphonic-sounding keyboard parts that only make the songs better. The guitars are given due respect, there is no keyboard wankery to be found here.

"Hellrider" is pure Judas Priest slayage, blasting through the speakers with heavy drums and sharp, aggressive riffage, with the rough and tuneful voice of Joakim Broden, who is actually becoming one of my favorite metal vocalists as time goes on. And "Thundergods" follows suit with a monster chorus and some great drum beats and guitar leads (that solo, too!). But then we have more Motorhead oriented tunes like the crushing "Speeder", or the very cool "Shadows" (but this song is not catchy, surprisingly, lessening it's effect...). And let us not forget the complete screaming steel assault of the title track. What a fucking great song (the chorus is where the title of this review comes from!)

The lead guitar is very good on the more melodic tracks "Burn Your Crosses" and "Endless Nights"; the latter of which also packs some killer riffage to boot. And "7734" has a chorus that's still stuck in my head even when I'm listening to something else, and I have to say the three aforementioned songs are my favorites on the disk.

Sadly, we hit a bit of a speedbump with the Manowarish filler tracks "Hail to the King" and "Thunderstorm", although the latter has some cool moments. "Masters of the World" is practically a Manowar anthem, and I like it quite a lot. Very cool chorus and some nice keyboards. The Judas Priest cover "Jawbreaker" is done well, and shows how aggressive this band can be when they want. And "Birds of War", the unreleased track, has a cool opening riff following this weird funeral piano tune, but turns into a midpaced tune with some great melodies, and Joakim's vocals are rawer and deeper then ever.

So I can't find much wrong with this, other then a few tracks that are less than stellar. But we've got a few absolute classics here, and Sabaton fans will love this, as it's the best disc they've put out so far. Also recommended to fans of balls-out, no gimmick heavy metal, the way they did it in the 80s. We're not far into 07, but this is probably the best album I have so far this year. Go. Get.