Military-obsessed Swedish metal crew Sabaton have always honored the historical significance of the world’s soldiers. Now, for the 500th anniversary of the Swedish Royal Guard (!), the band have dropped their first new track since 2019’s The Great War via a lush music video.
The track, “Livgardet,” certainly sets the tone for this grandiose video, which features the band playing members of the Royal Guard as they plan out an attack and feast on joints of meat. Though a little moodier than most fans are used to when it comes to Sabaton, the video none the less honors an important part of military history — those long nights around a map on a candlelit table, talking through the strategies that will hopefully save soldiers’ lives. Especially interesting is that the track is sung in the band’s native tongue.
“Since 2012 and Carolus Rex, we have been looking forward to writing more songs in Swedish, and we felt that we were not done with the history of our fatherland,” bassist and co-songwriter Pär Sundström says of the new track.
“Over the past years, we have been discussing topics until something obvious came up. One of the oldest military regiments in the world, the Swedish Royal Guard (Livgardet), was formed in Sabaton’s home region in Sweden, Dalecarlia, in 1521 by the legendary Swedish king Gustav Vasa.
“For the past 500, years they have evolved with the times and served under various kings and queens around the world, and they are still active today,” continues Sundström. “We felt that such an anniversary would be worth a song, and we aimed at writing a respectful tribute, an anthem for this Swedish regiment and its legacy. The rich 500 years of history is, needless to say, extremely hard to fit into one single song, and that is why we mainly focused on the parts and battles that happened during the age of the Swedish Empire. We aimed to write a respectful tribute, a powerful anthem, for this Swedish regiment and its remarkable legacy.”
Check out the video for “Livgardet” below:
And take a look at the single’s cover art:
Whether “Livgardet” will be on a new album from Sabaton remains to be seen.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
