SABATON Back Catalogue To Be Reissued By NUCLEAR BLAST

Available for the first time in North America as non-imports, SABATON's first four full-length albums — 2005's "Primo Victoria (Re-Armed)", 2006's "Attero Dominatus (Re-Armed)", 2007's "Metalizer (Re-Armed)" - (2 CDs) and 2008's "The Art Of War (Re-Armed)" — will be re-issued by Nuclear Blast on April 14. Exclusive bonus material and cover songs for each re-release will soon be announced.

A Swedish power metal sextet that specializes in military history, SABATON bassist Pär Sundström has this to say about the long-overdue availability of the band's discography in North America and the re-releases coinciding with their first-ever North American tour with German heavy metal legends ACCEPT: "We are thrilled about finally being able to tour North America and to be able to do so with such legends as ACCEPT is even better.

"Finally, our first four albums will be available outside of Europe right in time for this tour.

"We will be playing songs from all five albums every night and during our full-length headlining shows, we will present the music from more than ten years of SABATON for the first time on North American soil."

As previously reported, SABATON has recruited DRAGONFORCE bassist Frédéric Leclercq to play guitar on the band's upcoming European tour. He will be filling in for regular SABATON guitarist Rikard Sundén, who "has decided to multiply himself and will have his first kid at this time," according to a statement released by the band.

The group adds, "Of course, it's the highest wish of SABATON to tour with all six members, but this time Rikard wanted to pass and to ensure that the fans that come to these shows will get a good show we wanted to bring in a person with both great musical talent as well as a great stage act together with a chemistry that we know fits in SABATON. We are sure that Frédéric is that person. This is, of course, a temporary situation, Frédéric is still a full member of DRAGONFORCE and Rikard is still the guitar player of SABATON. For the American tour that starts in April, Rikard will be on stage again, ready to rock and a hopefully a bit richer in life."

SABATON's "World War Tour 2011" of Europe is scheduled to kick off on March 3 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

The band's fifth album, "Coat Of Arms", sold around 450 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 124 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Coat Of Arms" was released in Europe on May 21, 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records.