The Art of War is the fifth album by Swedish power metal

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 band Sabaton

Sabaton (band)

Sabaton is a Grammis-nominated power metal band from Falun, Sweden formed in 1999. The band's main lyrical themes are those of historical wars. This is heard in albums Primo Victoria, Attero Dominatus and Coat of Arms where all of the songs, except final tracks, take inspiration from historical...

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The lyrics of the songs are about famous battles or war, mostly based on the battles of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 or based on the The Art of War

The Art of War

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu , a high ranking military general and strategist during the late Spring and Autumn period...

 by Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu

Sun Wu , style name Changqing , better known as Sun Tzu or Sunzi , was an ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher who is traditionally believed, and who is most likely, to have authored The Art of War, an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy...

, for which the album is named.

Track listing

1. "Sun Tzu Says" – A short introduction to the album. – 0:24
2. "Ghost Division" – The first real song on the album, about Rommel's tank division  during the invasion of France. – 3:51
3. "The Art of War" – About defeating your enemy without fighting, based on chapter three of the Art of War ('Attack by Strategem'). – 5:09
4. "40:1" – About The Battle of Wizna
   Battle of Wizna
   The Battle of Wizna was fought between September 7 and September 10, 1939, between the forces of Poland and Germany during the initial stages of Invasion of Poland. It was arguably the most heroic battle in the campaign, in which 720 Poles defended a fortified line for three days against more than...
   
   . – 4:11
5. "Unbreakable" – About Chapter five in the Art of War ('energy') – 5:58
6. "The Nature of Warfare" – An instrumental setup track, commmenting on chapter six. – 1:19
7. "Cliffs of Gallipoli" – About the Gallipoli campaign in World War I
   World War I
   World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
   
   . – 5:52
8. "Talvisota" – About the Finnish Winter War
   Winter War
   The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
   
    during World War II. – 3:32
9. "Panzerkampf" – On the The Battle of Kursk
   Battle of Kursk
   The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...
   
   . – 5:16
10. "Union (Slopes of St. Benedict)" – About the battle of Monte Cassino
    Battle of Monte Cassino
    The Battle of Monte Cassino was a costly series of four battles during World War II, fought by the Allies against Germans and Italians with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome.In the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans...
    
     during World War II. – 4:05
11. "The Price of a Mile" – On the Battle of Passchendaele and the senseless slaughters of World War I. – 5:56
12. "Firestorm" – Strategic bombing
    Strategic bombing
    Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
    
    . This song also corresponds with the chapter of The Art of War entitled "The Attack by Fire". – 3:26
13. "A Secret" – A short outro track for the album (Also containing a humorous message to the listener, informing them that an illegal download has been detected, and spyware has been released onto their machine.) – 0:38

Re-armed edition bonus tracks

1. "Swedish Pagans" - About the Vikings - 4:13
2. "Glorious Land" - About the Battle of Warsaw
   Battle of Warsaw
   Battle of Warsaw can refer to:* Siege of Warsaw , Warsaw retaken by Poles from Swedes on June 30, 1656, during The Deluge* Battle of Warsaw , battle outside the city on July 18-July 20, 1656, during The Deluge, following which Warsaw is captured by Swedes for the second time* Battle of Warsaw ,...
   
    in 1920 - 3:19
3. "The Art of War (Pre-production demos)" - 4:48
4. "Swedish National Anthem (Live at Sweden Rock Festival)" - 2:34

Different versions

The Art of War was released in three different versions, a standard edition containing only the CD, a vinyl version and a Limited Edition. The limited contains the full-length CD and the book The Art of War

The Art of War

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu , a high ranking military general and strategist during the late Spring and Autumn period...

 by Sun Tzu. The limited edition comes in a DVD case with alternate artwork.
All preorders from the official Sabaton homepage also included the single, Cliffs of Gallipoli

Cliffs of Gallipoli

"Cliffs of Gallipoli" is a single by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton and it is also the seventh track from their album The Art of War inspired by Turkish song writer Selim Tangerli....

.

Album line-up

• Joakim Brodén – Vocals
• Rickard Sundén – Guitars
• Oskar Montelius – Guitars
• Pär Sundström – Bass
• Daniel Mullback – Drums
• Daniel Mÿhr – Keyboards

Interesting details

"40:1" became a hit in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and Sabaton was asked to perform it on the Polish Independence Day

Polish Independence Day

National Independence Day is a public holiday in Poland celebrated every year on 11 November to commemorate the anniversary of Poland's assumption of independent statehood in 1918 after 123 years of partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria....

 celebration in Gdańsk

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

 in 2008. "40:1" is also used as an entrance song by Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 mixed martial artist Damian Grabowski

Damian Grabowski

Damian Grabowski is a Polish mixed martial artist. He fights in the heavyweight division and competed for various European MMA promotions, gathering a perfect record of twelve wins in a streak, all by stoppage, with four of them earned in a one-night sixteen men heavyweight tournament, before...

.

To date, the Swedish national anthem from Sweden Rock '09 (found on the Re-Armed edition) is the only song on which bassist Pär Sundström has contributed vocals.

They used the Amazon translation of the Art of War for the spoken parts throughout the album.