Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 114: Sabaton - The War to End All Wars

(+) Yeah! (+)

ChichiriMuyo week:
Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days
vs.
Gravity Kills - Gravity Kills
vs.
KMFDM - Nihil

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, May 14 at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Sabaton - The War to End All Wars track list:
1. Sarajevo
2. Stormtroopers
3. Dreadnought
4. The Unkillable Soldier
5. Soldier of Heaven
6. Hellfighters
7. Race to the Sea
8. Lady of the Dark
9. The Valley of Death
10. Christmas Truce
11. Versailles

Current cycle:
5/14: jcgamer107 (Kero Kero Bonito - Bonito Generation)
5/21: MetalmindStats's bonus (Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain)
5/28: ChichiriMuyo
6/4: BlueCrystalTear
6/11: rwlh
6/18: NFUN
6/25: HBJDubs/firefdr/NFUN
7/2: StifledSilence
7/9: MaxGalactica

Future cycle:
7/16: MetalmindStats
7/23: HBJDubs
7/30: Raetsel_Lapin
8/6: competitive week
8/13: Steiner
8/20: Snake5555555555
8/27: Jesse_Custer
9/3: competitive week
9/10: ZaziGuado
9/17: firefdr
9/24: Johnbobb
10/1: competitive week
10/8: VeryInsane
10/15: FoolFantastic
10/22: Seanchan
10/29: competitive week
11/5: Giggsalot
11/12: RyoCaliente
11/19: darkx
11/26: competitive week
12/3: neonreaper
12/10: Great_Paul

ChichiriMuyo gave these as sample tracks

Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NZsCYOM4j0

Gravity Kills - Gravity Kills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUVheOwDM5I

KMFDM - Nihil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdmhFhxJIXQ

KMFDM - Nihil > Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days > Gravity Kills - Gravity Kills

Just a heads up, this album has two different versions. There's the regular album and the history edition. The history edition includes an exclusive track (Sarajevo), as well as short narrative intros going into the historical context of each track.

Silversun Pickups - Carnavas results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Seanchan (20)
ZaziGuado (24)
FoolFantastic (26)
neonreaper (26)
HBJDubs (28)
Johnbobb (28)
MaxGalactica (34)
MarkS2222222222 (36)
Raetsel_Lapin (42)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: I've adored Lazy Eye forever but never checked out the full album. This was all fine, but I didn't quite love anything else. There are plenty of shoegaze bands I find more compelling.

Isquen: I know I haven't participated in this topic series but I'll throw in that I love the band and have a bunch of their albums. From this album, I especially love Future Foe Scenarios, Well Thought Out Twinkles, Rusted Wheel, Melatonin, and Lazy Eye, in roughly that order.

To dabblers in the topic, I definitely wanna recommend their next few albums too. Swoon and Neck of the Woods are just... great for me.

I still need to listen through Widow's Weeds, come to think of it.

Seanchan: No idea what to think of this one yet. That was certainly 56 minutes of rock music though.

ZaziGuado: I used to listen to this album quite a bit back in like 2009-10 or something. However, it's still really hard to remember the melodies just by looking at the song titles. I do enjoy it, but more on a background noise level. I might be able to throw a ranking out at some point. Lazy Eye will be number one with a bullet. Fantastic song.

MarkS2222222222: This was a fun one to rediscover. Thanks to whoever nominated

ZaziGuado: The top 3 tracks are on a tier separate from the rest of the album for me. Everything below us fairly malleable in terms of ranking, though I think Checkered Floor would generally always end up on the bottom.

This album was better than I remember, believe it or not. However, it will always just be a tad to fuzzy and distorted for me and the lead singer's voice doesn't do enough to cut through it. I've never been able to get into other albums or even singles by the band.

neonreaper: My wife introduced me to SSP properly - I had heard Lazy Eye through Rock Band, but that was it. I almost made this nomination round "albums my wife introduced me to". I think Better Nature is SSP's best album, but I think Carnavas is probably their most significant album with at least one song (Lazy Eye) that people have probably heard.

I'd say that SSP's best songs have creative arrangements and cascading soundwalls. There is a droning shoegaze element to the album cuts, and if you're in the mood, it's really awesome stuff. If you're just dipping in, I imagine the low vocals just get lost.

I listened to the album a bunch of times to try and re-order the bottom half of the songs and found myself surprised that Dream at Tempo 119 ended up at the bottom, as I like the song.

MaxGalactica: Top 3 were the only ones that really stood out to me in this one, especially Lazy Eye. The rest were serviceable, but pretty par-for-the-course as far as shoegaze goes. Decent-to-good album.

HBJDubs: Very good album. No bad track on this one, though Lazy Eye definitely stands above the rest.

Seanchan: This one grew on me a bit with subsequent listens. Some of this is a little too generic rock-ish but then there's songs where it comes together and I really enjoyed the sound.

Carnavas track ranking

11. Waste It On (Track #6)
Score: 38 (Average Rank: 7.78/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): MarkS2222222222, Seanchan (#10)

10. Checkered Floor (Track #3)
Score: 40 (Average Rank: 7.56/11)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZaziGuado, Seanchan (#11)

9. Dream at Tempo 119 (Track #9)
Score: 42 (Average Rank: 7.67/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper, Johnbobb, MaxGalactica (#11)

ZaziGuado: I love that fake ending followed by a lyric saying "I couldn't end it there"

8. Rusted Wheel (Track #8)
Score: 46 (Average Rank: 6.89/11)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica, HBJDubs, Seanchan (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#11)

7. Well Thought Out Twinkles (Track #2)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 6.67/11)
Biggest Fan(s): MarkS2222222222 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZaziGuado, HBJDubs (#10)

MarkS2222222222: I forgot how much I liked this one. I'm putting it back in rotation

ZaziGuado: I thought it was Twinkies for the longest time and could never take the song seriously because of it

6. Three Seed (Track #10)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 6.33/11)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#10)

5. Melatonin (Track #1)
Score: 58 (Average Rank: 5.89/11)
Biggest Fan(s): ZaziGuado, MaxGalactica, HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): MarkS2222222222 (#11)

MarkS2222222222: I listened to this album a lot when it came out but I haven't really listened to it in the last 10 years, and I bet in part it's because each time I put it on I start with this track and then change my mind. It's not like it's terrible, I just doesn't sound like something I want to listen to keep listening to

neonreaper: This can drone a bit but with a good speaker setup, this song really comes alive. Great part of their live set.

4. Common Reactor (Track #11)
Score: 64 (Average Rank: 5.89/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, HBJDubs (#11)

ZaziGuado: I'm a sucker for whatever type of bouncey melody the chorus is

3. Little Lover's So Polite (Track #4)
Score: 75 (Average Rank: 4.56/11)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, MarkS2222222222, HBJDubs, Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#10)

MarkS2222222222: also slaps

2. Future Foe Scenarios (Track #5)
Score: 81 (Average Rank: 4.11/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, neonreaper (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#8)

MarkS2222222222: maybe my favorite instrumentally neonreaper: Up tempo and feisty, and keeps building in new elements

1. Lazy Eye (Track #7)
Score: 106 (Average Rank: 2.67/11)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, ZaziGuado, MaxGalactica, HBJDubs, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#8)

MarkS2222222222: I was 90% sure this was a female vocalist when it came out

I'm intrigued to listen to this album as my dealings with Sabaton involve me and my friends asking 'who are all these people who love sabaton?!' any time we go to mainland europe and find them headlining festivals - for whatever reason they're pretty low profile in the UK but when I went to France or Germany these were enormous. I see that in the time since I fell off power metal, Sabaton became the stalwarts, and are respected for the depths of historical knowledge they bring to their lyrics

Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days > Gravity Kills - Gravity Kills > KMFDM - Nihil

Great_Paul posted...

Just a heads up, this album has two different versions. There's the regular album and the history edition. The history edition includes an exclusive track (Sarajevo), as well as short narrative intros going into the historical context of each track.

Thanks for the heads-up. Since Sarajevo is listed as one of the tracks we're ranking, I suppose I should to be listening to the History version of each track?

listened to this album three times today, it rocks

1. Christmas Truce - this is my new go-to for any christmas playlist
2. Soldier of Heaven
3. Lady of the Dark
4. The Unkillable Soldier
5. Dreadnought
6. Versailles
7. The Valley of Death
8. Race to the Sea
9. Sarajevo
10. Stormtroopers
11. Hellfighters

Sometimes you know 15 seconds in that an album is going to be for you. I heard the instrumentation and I was intrigued, then the vocals kicked in and I knew. I was very much enjoying my first listen, though I noticed something that annoyed me a bit. Almost every song, with minor variation is: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus, chorus. Now I'm sure a lot of albums are formulaic in structure but even I noticed it here, and it kind of brought the album down a bit I think.

Also, Stormtroopers isn't the first song?!? Well shit...

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

Thanks for the heads-up. Since Sarajevo is listed as one of the tracks we're ranking, I suppose I should to be listening to the History version of each track?

History edition is good to do first, but after you've heard Sarajevo & the narrations you could switch to the regular version for future listens.

Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days > KMFDM - Nihil > Gravity Kills - Gravity Kills

1: Lady of the Dark
2: The Valley of Death
3: Dreadnaught
4: Sarajevo
5: Soldier of Heaven
6: Stormtroopers
7: Race to the Sea
8: Christmas Truce
9: The Unkillable Soldier
10: Hellfighters
11: Versailles

I like this album, but I found it to be one of the hardest to rank. There's no really strong tracks that I love, but a lot of tracks that I like which results in my top 7 feeling a bit arbitrary... I could throw on any of those tracks and be equally happy, so I'm not as confident about the order as I'd like even after five listens.

Lady of the Dark: I think this is the only track where I strongly prefer the History version over the standard. I just really like the story.

Yeah, so I've been off for a minute for things need not said. I am glad that I just proposed a question with no easy answer, and I will not put my finger on the scale anymore than the ranked order. Yall vote how you feel. But I don't know how the vote is going because of post #7. Anyone want to just fill me in?

Oh, also, I've found two version of this week's album that seem different. A bit of help would really be appreciated. Like, links for what I should listen to, massive help.

One version has a narrator and an extra song at the beginning. You should listen to the historical version for the first track. And then switch to the regular version otherwise you have to deal with the narrator.

So "historical version" for track one, cool. After track one, narration is not cool? And the extra song? This is the first time I'm thinking about dipping out because I'm not at all sure of what I'm supposed to listen to.

If you want to make it simple you could just do the historical version. It includes all the tracks listed in the first post.

Okay, treat me like a child.

How is that simple, when I don't know what the historical version is?

I don't even know how there are two versions of this album.

How do I even know which one I am listening to?

Literally, please help with something more than "well just go do it."

The History Edition is a special version of the album that kicks off each song with an introduction to the subject matter. For whatever reason, there is a song only on that version. This will be marked (History Edition) if you are using Spotify. If you don't want to bother with the narrative introductions beyond the opening track, you can then switch to the version not marked (History Edition). The other ten tracks are on both editions.

I wasn't entirely sure if "Sarajevo" was supposed to be included in this - I knew nothing about this band or album going into this week, so I just went off what is listed on Wikipedia.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1eqs10JFr7mUWMOFRNb9mX

Johnbobb posted...

https://open.spotify.com/album/67pqeCl9w5mscvVAVRSvZG?si=JyDf5u_vQtCltL58o7pM4w&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A67pqeCl9w5mscvVAVRSvZG

Should be this album. https://open.spotify.com/album/7ABEeYg2EyWQIQaFBs6wnY?si=WdF0oAFaQkWD-uzNIsI1OA

Whoops you're right

I think this is going to be the first week I outright miss - I've been busy the last few months looking for my first house, and my closing date is tomorrow. So I've been busy packing and then will be busy moving.

Second listen I did with the History Version since I missed out on Sarajevo. Honestly, everyone should just listen to that version.

• It's got the otherwise missing first track, which gives some weight to the last song Versailles
• The narration only adds a few minutes to the total runtime, so why bother switching between versions
• I think the narration is well done and "fits" while not being overly long and giving good background for songs that are strongly rooted in historical context

1. The Valley of Death
2. Hellfighters
3. Unkillable Soldier
4. Stormtroopers
5. Race to the Sea
6. Soldier of Heaven
7. Dreadnaught
8. Christmas Truce
9. Lady of the Dark
10. Versailles
11. Sarajevo

Christmas Truce
The Unkillable Soldier
The Valley of Death
Lady of the Dark
Stormtroopers
Versailles
Sarajevo
Race to the Sea
Dreadnought
Soldier of Heaven
Hellfighters

Really close call between my top 2.

1. Christmas Truce
2. The Unkillable Soldier
3. Stormtroopers
4. Sarajevo
5. Versailles
6. Hellfighters
7. Soldier of Heaven
8. The Valley of Death
9. Dreadnought
10. Race to the Sea
11. Lady of the Dark

A very solid album with no bad songs...but also no super strong songs either. It all kind of just blends all together after a while and so this is a pretty arbitrary ranking of songs.

Dreadnought
Lady Of The Dark
Race To The Sea
The Valley Of Death
Stormtroopers
Christmas Truce
Hellfighters
Sarajevo
The Unkillable Soldier
Soldier Of Heaven
Versailles

I love Sabaton. This album doesn't have a standout track like most of their albums but everything here is great so I'm not complaining.

Darkest Days > Nihil > Gravity Kills

Industrial rock is great. Loved all three of these picks.

The War to End All Wars

1. The Unkillable Soldier
2. Soldier of Heaven
3. Lady of the Dark
4. The Valley of Death
5. Stormtroopers
6. Versailles
7. Dreadnought
8. Sarajevo
9. Christmas Truce
10. Race to the Sea
11. Hellfighters

I did enjoy this album for the most part. Great instrumentals, great melodies, and great guitar solos. The vocals were a bit difficult to take seriously though, because they made me think of pirates. Versailles suddenly being in a major key after all the songs in minor was pretty odd, but it makes sense considering the context. Top 3 on my ranking are songs I'd go back to. Good album

Gravity Kills > KMFDM > Darkest Days

loved GK back in the day

Race to the Sea
Dreadnought -
Lady of the Dark
Christmas Truce - I assume this will be the winner, it's fairly accessible and stands apart from much of the album.
Soldier of Heaven
Hellfighters
The Unkillable Soldier
The Valley of Death
Sarajevo
Stormtroopers
Versailles

I like other Sabaton albums a bit more but I have a soft spot in my heart for their stuff. There's nothing here that really stands out as "this is the song everyone is gonna like" so I'm curious to see what the rankings are. In a vacuum I would guess Christmas Truce and Lady of the Dark are the top 2.

Narrators - I'm so glad they decided to make a version of the album without one (for the most part). I don't really get why bands spend time on this stuff aside from maybe a live version.

Still busy with the move, so bumping this to keep the results safe

Sorry - this week got doubly busy because my grandfather passed away; I'll just post these results with the other in the following topic

FoolFantastic posted...

Sorry - this week got doubly busy because my grandfather passed away; I'll just post these results with the other in the following topic

Nothing you have to apologize for. Hope you're doing ok.

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that