Gods and Generals

For the uninitiated, Civil War is the group formed by four Sabaton castaways who, I guess, sought to craft their own blend of melodic war-themed metal. They seemed to waste no time upon their formation to give unto their respective crown a number of recorded works further establishing what some would hope to be a path to follow all their own as opposed to giving us a "Sabaton 2.0". That said, my general lack of enjoyment in the original group has left me rather uninterested in the new act for the most part, but eventually my own spirit of inquiry became too loud to ignore...

Eschewing the overblown "Andrew W.K. Meets Finnish Metal" appeal of the original act in favor of a more symphonic take on a classic metallic sound, "Gods and Generals" has piss, vinegar and more lead than blood in its veins...where and when it counts, that is. While not as enveloping as other stylistically similar acts, Civil War are able to more than occasionally bypass a limiting creative structure by being able to construct, at best, decent tunes that neither suck you into any kind of abyss nor strike the Earth with explosive thunder. If nothing else, "Gods and Generals" is just there, doing its thing and not bothering anyone as it spreads the good word of militaristic history (Militistory...? Feel free to us this as an album title, fellas). Interestingly, as old world heavy metal is chiefly a guitar-driven affair (of which this group had, at the time of this recording, three to utilize), this new work places the synthetics and harmonic leads plentifully in the forefront and thick enough to the point where, without them, this would have ended up quite the chore to sit through. Take, for a few examples, "USS Monitor's" grandeur and damn-near raging sense of personal fury, or the dramaticism of "Tears from the North", where you could feel the chilling winds of a journey never to return from...tracks like these are enough for the eagle to shine ever more brightly in the War's favor, in what few amounts they are in, and if they were able to build primarily off these stronger aspects there wouldn't be as much of trouble as there currently is.

For you see, there's only so much you can take until it all just blur together when nothing really changes; the main bulk of the work is fun and exciting for the first few songs, but as you continue on it starts to feel more and more old hat to the point of predictability (at least, with me...), and since things don't really heat up during such time you can imagine how quickly both the album and attention span peter out. As well, there seems to be a lack of genuineness and honesty with the subject matter mixed with the musical approach, To wit, and for example: I'll admit that I wasn't a fan of the vocalist and his particular approach. While as able-bodied as he can be, hearing a gentle tone of voice speak (not yell, not declare, but simply speak) something like "It's time to invade!" with the midpaced trudging that makes up the majority of "Bay of Pigs" feels rather weak. Combined with the mostly milquetoast performance and lack of creative variance, It feels like the core founding folks still dug the war-faring subject matter of the previous act and didn't want to ditch it while crafting a soundtrack to one-a-day guerilla skirmishes versus certain death screaming from the sky. And like said skirmishes, it's interesting for a little while, but entire battles make for blah-laden marches through the fields. If you catch my drift.

At the end of the day, Civil War may not be the Second Coming of Sabaton, but part of me wonders if that could only serve for the better seeing how the latest work has a couple sparks of decency amidst a pile of dull ashes. Interesting for the first third or so, but don't expect much else down the road. And with that, I salute and bid adieu. Thanks but no thanks.