SABATON: Making Of 'Bismarck' Video

Behind-the-scenes footage from the making of "Bismarck", the new video from Swedish metallers SABATON, can be seen below. The clip was directed by Matthias Hoene and produced by Wargaming.

SABATON said in a statement: "The most requested topic for a SABATON song ever!

"The fate of the ship Bismarck is a fascinating story we wanted to write about for a long time, but could not fit into any album. So we decided to make it as a single release, and as a gift from us to you for being fantastic fans for the past 20 years.

"Thanks to our friends at Wargaming and World Of Warships, we can also present it with a truly impressive video, well worthy of this song. The talented team at Wargaming could ensure the historical accuracy of the scenes thanks to the models from their award-winning game World Of Warships, and the director Matthias Hoene, who won a Golden Lion at Cannes, were able to bring the band and story together.

"The song 'Bismarck' was written over a year ago and we recorded it last summer in Black Lounge studios with Jonas Kjellgren, who has also recorded and mixed our upcoming album, 'The Great War'.

"Bismarck was a German battleship and one of the biggest ever built in Europe. Commissioned in August 1940 and sunk in May 1941 after an intense hunt in the North Atlantic. Though he now rests beneath the waves, players of World Of Warships can still take this iconic ship into virtual battles.

"For now, the song is available at YouTube so you can enjoy this great video for free. At a later stage, it will also be available on your favourite digital platform.

"You wanted us to write this song, we heard you, and here is our tribute!"

"The Great War" will be released on July 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. The band's 20th-anniversary record will be a concept effort covering stories from the First World War.

"The Great War" track listing:

01. The Future Of Warfare
02. Seven Pillars Of Wisdom
03. 82nd All The Way
04. The Attack Of The Dead Men
05. Devil Dogs
06. The Red Baron
07. Great War
08. A Ghost In The Trenches
09. Fields Of Verdun
10. The End Of The War To End All Wars
11. In Flanders Fields

SABATON started recording "The Great War" exactly 100 years after the end of the First World War (November 11, 1918) and took three months of intensive work to complete the album with longtime producer and collaborator Jonas Kjellgren at Black Lounge studios. The disc was mastered by Maor Appelbaum and the artwork was once again created by Peter Sallaí.

"This is not the first time we sing about stories from this period in time, but now we felt the timing was right to make a full concept album about this war," the band said.

Side by side with the album, the Swedes have worked hard to make their 20th year anniversary a very exciting year, and also started the SABATON History Channel — a unique collaboration between the band and multimedia historians Indy Neidell and Timeghost, capturing the power of social media to tell stories about the wars, battles and heroes behind SABATON's songs.

"This is the biggest album we have taken on so far. There is so much depth and story around the songs that we never had before," bassist Pär Sundström states. "Expect many surprises as we have tried new things and we also went back in time to a concept we know a lot of you love. 'The Great War' has been created side by side with the SABATON History Channel to make 2019 the most exciting year in our 20-year history.”

SABATON's next disc will be the group's first with guitarist Tommy Johansson (GOLDEN RESURRECTION, REINXEED),who replaced Thobbe Englund in 2016.

SABATON's 2012 album, "Carolus Rex", was recently certified quadruple platinum in the band's home country of Sweden. The concept effort — which is the group's biggest success to date — charts the rise and fall of the Swedish Empire, in particular the life of Charles XII ("Carolus Rex") who ruled it for 21 years. In an amazing coincidence, the album's quadruple platinum certification came exactly 300 years after the king's death in 1718.

To celebrate the album's success, and to commemorate the Swedish king who inspired it, SABATON released a special 300th-anniversary edition of "Carolus Rex" on November 30, which is the date Carolus Rex was killed in Norway.