Sabaton just casually dropping one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.

Pär: "We need some powerful female vocal to end credits" Hannes: "I've got one at home"

One of the best and most important pieces Sabaton ever wrote, and Floors ending is the finest cherry on the christmas cake

"the sabaton rabbit hole" is real, its a very strong drug, a single taste and you are addicted... After this react, people will ask you like crazy to react to more sabaton, and trust me, you will like it, everyone does.

Doug: *reacts to Sabaton* Sabaton-fans: "We got another one, guys!" Yes, Sabaton always have great cinematography. It comes with being one of the biggest bands out there right now, not to mention having big sponsors that make music videos for them (e.g. Wargaming for their video on Bismarck). The band tends to highlight people and events that have been largely forgotten, or are just not talked about in great detail, aside from more well-known stuff. And they take the time to thoroughly research the topics they want to sing about.

Hannes the drummer is married to Floor. Almost all of Sabaton's music is history/war related. Ghost Division live in 2012 is another great one from them

Fun fact the opening is played in reverse octave cos it was to symbolize the hopelessness of war. It's played in it's proper configuration later on to symbolize the moment of peace experienced during the Christmas Truce.

I can really recommend their song "en livstid I krig", a lifetime of war. Performed live in Göteborg (Sweden) together with the audience. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jaijZqpitdzdloE.html The lyrics is about one of the bloodiest wars the Swedish army ever participated in. It is an emotional song about those men who were forced by orders from our king Gustav II Adolf to leave their families and friends in Scandinavia to fight a war in central Europe. A war that lasted for almost 30 years and the song really tries to capture the emotions and hardships these men endured during these times.

Floor Jansen is married to the drummer. I can really recommend listening to their songs. Been a fan since the early 2000's and they are rather unique in their sound and I love their history lessons with each song they make :)

Credit to Sabaton for telling this story with their music & video. Floor’s vocal adds so much to this song. LEST WE FORGET.

It makes sense that Floor Jansen would do the vocals on the end credits. She is married to the drummer of Sabaton.

The tagline for their last album read, "The Great War: What's so fucking great about it?" I was dearly hoping you'd discover Sabaton eventually. They write about war, but they do it very respectfully and they never lose sight of the fact that it is horrible and should not happen.

Bismarck, Primo Victoria, Panzer Battalion, Ghost Division, The Red Baron, No Bullets Fly, countless others. Check out more from them please

I'm not musically inclined, but I like how you broke it down and explained the composition without talking down to us uneducated heathens. 😎

Joakim's voice is on another plane when it comes to sheer portrayal of angst and existential dread. Able to flow smoothly from hopeless foreboding to icy terror to a maddening rage. Without his voice there wouldn't be a Sabaton... just a band that performed historical music. His voice puts you into the shoes of the men that he honors.

Thank you for the review, I'm a huge Sabaton fan as I am a bit of a history nerd and a veteran. The fact that this truce happened over 100 years ago makes my hair stand up. I am an Australian veteran and I can assure you, like all veterans, we would dearly love "my war" to be the one to end wars yet here we are, being sent by old men who dislike their opposite number's politics, ideology or basically driven by greed, to send young men who don't know each other, or even necessarily dislike each other in the case of this video, to go to foreign lands to kill each other! Why are we still doing this to each other? Nothing is gained, there are no winners, only broken minds and bodies and a lifetime of dealing with the horrors we've inflicted on innocent populations who have done nothing more than live in a land that someone else decides to rape. It makes me incredibly sad knowing that my mates and I have done nothing to change this, despite our years of sacrifice :(

Hannes Van Dahl (drummer) is Floor Jansen's husband. I want a proper collaboration with Sabaton and Nightwish so bad. A symphonic power metal track, what a mix that could be as both bands already have that epic and grandness aspect to their music already.

Unironically, I feel that Christmas Truce is the best Christmas song I've ever heard. It's not a song about commercialism, there's no Santa or his reindeer, no religion. Just people. People, who are on opposite sides of the battle field in the largest war ever fought in history up to that point putting down their weapons and coming together. I truly can think of no better example of the 'magic' of Christmas than that.

Congratulations on actually watching to the end and discovering that the soprano was Floor - not all reactors have done! Most of Sabaton's songs are in a similar vein - as suggested previously try Ghost Division or 40 to 1 or Uprising all from the 2012 Polish Woodstock concert - an audience of somewhere around 500,000 people singing along. Frightening! Great reaction! For another version of Carol of the bells, you might enjoy Lindsey Stirling's violin treatment: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e7GbrcWTsb-0pX0.html

Sabaton are a big band these days. They really exploded on the scene internationally in the last several years, though I've been a fan since their album Primo Victoria dropped 20 years ago. Like pretty much everyone else has said they sing a put real world military history/battles/events/individuals. Vocalist Jaokim Broden composes the majority of the music with bassist Par Sundstrom and they are the only two remaining originL members. Chris Rorland came to the band as a former band mate of Par's in Nocturnal Rites and Tommy (guitars) is a multi-instrument artist who has his own band Majestica. Hannes Van Dahl came from Gothenburg based dark progressive metal band Evergrey (well worth checking out!). The band has played to over 600,000 fans on a WW2 battlefield outside of Warsaw, Poland, has put out 8 studio LPS, 12eps, 4 live albums, 1 History Edition of The Great War with opening narrations for each song and 1 Soundtrack Edition of The Great War which is an all orchestral score to their album of the same name.

As a veteran, Sabaton IMO are true warrior poets. Their music at times brings me to tears and brings peace to my soul. They put into music what it means to be "the few". Duty, honor, sacrifice.

Tommy, the guitarist, has another band Majestica and they released a whole christmas theme metal album called A Christmas Carol, it's a concept album telling the christmas carol story Check it out in your spare time

When I first heard this song on the day of release, I was in a coffee shop; I was openly weeping by the end. It's one of the best pieces of music that Sabaton has ever composed, and the "only" Christmas song that I'll voluntarily listen to from the modern era. And as you mentioned, I cannot even FATHOM the courage one would need to have to be the first to step out of the trenches, holding your hat by way of parley...

me when i hear the words "sabaton" and "i'v not heard of them before" i know its gonna be a great video, another great song by sabaton i think you'd enjoy, Ballad of the Bull.

If you can't imagine yourself firing on an enemy, you should react to Sabaton's No Bullets Fky next (the yarn hub animated version is best). Really great story about a German solider sparing/saving the lives of an enemy B17F crew.

"A band where everyone sings." Heck, they even got the drummer's wife to sing the end credits.

I am jacked. Been asking for a sabaton reaction since day 1 so happy. Doug there are so many songs that would trip your trigger. No Bullets Fly really pulled Tears from my eyes watch the official vid.

The pure musical genius of Sabaton can't be overstated. Their music is some of the best I've ever heard in my life.

Oh this one was a cool bonus, and a very fresh one! Sabaton is a nice Swedish power metal band that mostly have on their lyrical repertoire historical events, definitely worth exploring more later on. Oh and their drummer, Hannes, is married with Floor Jansen. You can hear her singing in the very end.

The soldiers started realizing that they had more in common with the soldiers on the other side than with their own leaders. And many of them were punished for it 😕

And now we just need Valhalleluja... I mean, it's christmas, c'mon

Sabaton’s other channel, Sabaton History, is a great educational resource exploring the events behind the songs. What kind of band produces a history channel? 😁

I love that you're a classical composer reacting to heavy metal. I'm a classically trained oboist, going to school for my BA in music. My fiancée introduced me to Sabaton and was certain I wouldn't like it because it's metal and I'm classically trained. How wrong he was! Being classically trained has helped me better appreciate other genres of music. We went to a Sabaton concert in October, and it was so awesome! I told him that if I had been taught history alongside or through Sabaton songs, I probably would've remembered history way better 🤣

I recommend you to watch and listen to Sabaton's version of Motörhead's 1916. It's very strong, powerful and impressive. You can't describe it, it goes straight to your soul.

#TheDailyDoug - as a retired military officer and combat veteran of Afghanistan & Iraq, I must say that this song is superb and very personal and relevant to me. Look at they symbolism - these guys would never be trying to kill one another if their governments had not told them to do so. But this was also was when war was between gentlemen. Also why it can easily be said that war is made by governments and suffered by men. It also shows that this is why war is something to be avoided. Best Regards, Major Harold Overton, US Air Force (retired)

I cannot wait for the new album. One of the singles is Lady Of The Dark. It is about Milunka Savic. She is a Serbian heroine and the most decorated female combatant of all time. She fought in the Balkan Wars and then World War 1 and was quite proficient at combat.

Nice catch that that the Carol of the Bells part was turned around to go up at first, then switching to go back down and sound more mournful near the end. I would never have noticed that unless you had pointed it out. Very nice touch to tie the music to the story the lyrics tell, one feeding into the other. I also like the dissonance in the instrumental middle section as Hannes/the german soldier remembers some of the horrors he's seen even as both side are talking peacefully around him. A moment of peace in a war that never ends indeed.

There are a couple versions of the Great War album; the album itself, the History version, and the 'Soundtrack to the Great War' version where the songs are arranged and played by a full orchestra and choir, with Floor singing 'The Future of Warfare'.

Sabaton never disappoints. Maybe check out To Hell and Back, Primo Victoria, Carolus Rex, or just about any other of their songs

Every Sabaton song is basically a history lesson set to metal.

Certainly a time for reflection, you might be very interested to hear that the guy playing the guitar (Tommy Johansson), has produced (with his own band Majestica) one of the best Christmas songs I have ever heard, titled "The joy of Christmas", would love you to react to that piece..

Thank you for doing this one Doug. I thought you'd like this recommendation. I see that you noticed Floor Jansen in the credits at the end, she's doing the vocal outro. She is married to Hannes Van Dahl, the drummer in Sabaton

Just love the content of your reaction! I have “lived” with Sabaton for many years and I just love when others like them too! Underrated for years, but seems they start to get the worldwide attention they deserve ❤

The sabaton rabbit hole is a real thing… they have a load of fantastic songs

This is a great anthem of humanity in the hardest of situations. And then there's Floor 💗🌷. Merry Christmas from Finland, Doug! 🎅⛄🎄👍

Hi Doug. Your facial expression was hilarious when you heard Floor Jansen. Well noticed. Have a merry Christmas.

MORE SABATON!!! Those guys are great! Unique sound.

Sabaton - icing on the cake. I love them and have seen them in concert here in the UK. Thank you Doug, glad you loved it. Now - watch Lady of the Dark and Bismarck.

New subscriber here. I have been a regular "The Charismatic Voice" watcher for the vocal breakdown. The Daily Doug is now my go to for the music breakdown. Well done Doug. Nice critique. Thank you.

Wow, just wow. Brilliant song, thanks Doug and your followers for introducing me to yet another band. First Nightwish and now Sabaton!

Oh yes, if they get hundred thousand people in the audience, this chorus is going to be chanted by a hundred thousand people, and it will be epic. Sabaton has some of the best crowd chants, the songs are explicitly written for crowd participation, and the band is even getting better at it over time.

Every one of those songs is like a history lesson. Since their first album was finished they went to focusing on military history and they do an excellent job in every song they write. I’m new to them, just got an earful of them with uprising last summer about the Polish Jews uprising against the Nazis. Great band, definitely check out more of them. With their theme of military history they will never run out of writing material.

12:55 We also need you, reacting more from sabaton!

I just discovered this band a year ago, and have a been a fan ever since, love their salute to history and bring it to life with their music

Sabaton covers history and they treat every song with the great respect the subject matter deserves. For more great songs where you'll want to watch the whole video I'd recommend No Bullets Fly, Bismark, Carolus Rex, Winged Hussars, and Night Witches. Have a great Christmas Doug!

Im sure its was said below..Floor is married to the drummer Hannes of Sabaton...the is a monument in Belgium for this event.

I absolutely cannot wait to see you react to more of Sabaton's songs! I cannot possibly "only" recommend a single song. They have way too many amazingly powerful songs. But I guess if I'd have to name one, it would be Primo Victoria, which is the first song I ever heard of Sabaton, and made me fall in love with the band at an instant.

Thanks Doug - glad you succumbed to all our pestering to react to this!!! As others have suggested, there are tons of other great Sabaton tracks/videos worth putting on your list. First personal recommendation would be to check out their music vids where they have teamed up with animators which adds another element/story to their songs - start with No Bullets Fly (another example of the awesome power of humanity during war)!!! Cheers

Powerful Song by a Great band , and a little of Floor Jansen's magic .... PERFECTION 🤘😎🤘. New sub here . NWSU .

In case anyone watches this now: This is based on a true story. December 1914, the start of the Great War, over a million lives already lost. On the front lines an unauthorized truce was made between the sides for 1 night only. All sides came together to celebrate christmas. And many had to be sent to different locations after when they would refuse to kill the enemy after having gotten to know them.

the Germans started to sing Stille nacht ( Holy night) and soon the Brits started too,The Germans brought beer and the Brits whiskey Many of the soldiers where punished courtmarshalled for this truce the german soldier decided to communicate with the British and they too did the same and from there they played games etc throughout Christmas the next day at least 2 whole companys had to be transferred to another frontline as the soldiers refused to fire on each other. Humanity in all Inhumanity war is such a waste of lifes

The saddest part of this story is that the high command of both sides made sure that this never happened again. On the upside units on both side had to be moved elsewhere on the lines as they would no longer fight each other.

Doug, I would love to see you react to Sabaton - En livstid i krig (a lifetime of war) live from Gothenburg. In that video, you will really se how sabaton is live and the interaction you get from the audience.

Please keep going with the Sabaton! If you ever do their live videos, you'll find that Joakim gets really creative with his vocals sometimes and just sings a tune without any lyrics as a form of embellishment. It's awesome since he has such a powerful voice to do it with.

I think almost all of the sabaton discography has war or heroic deeds as a concept. Great band. As a Greek I would suggest the song "Sparta" talking about the battle at the Hot gates. Peace y'all.

If you want another powerful ballad from them I'd recommend The Ballad of Bull, but can't go wrong with most of their catalog. So many great stories kept alive with their music.

Great reaction on this Swedish band. Thank you!

Welcome to Sabaton, my friend. Theur songs hit hard in MANY ways. I think you'd like their song "Father" the melody and vocals have this sort of conflicting tone of hope and fear that really highlights the subject matter. I think you could really appreciate it.

I'm guessing the version with Floor will be on an extra disc called "the soundtrack version", just like they did with The Great War album.

Sabaton are just amazing. Historical metal band. I highly recommend Bismarck by them as well.

I knew this one didn't get blocked Sabaton loves having their music shared

When you realise that's Floor ❣doing outro ... Great reaction to the great piece of music. Thank you Doug Have a Merry Christmas 🎄 Greetings from Poland

Floor jansen is married with the drummer of the sabaton band, nice collaboration !!!!!

Everything these guys do is on an UNRIVALED epic scale, especially their music videos. Check out Bismarck or Fields of Verdun, Ghost Division, Night Witches, Primo Victoria, Steel Commanders, Cliffs of Gallipoli...all testaments to the strength, determination, resolve and sacrifices of our forefathers.

Great that you not stopped…

As someone who knows nothing about music but loves Sabaton, you showed me a lot of very interesting things is this video. Thankyou.

Welcome to 'Sabaton crew' Doug....🇸🇪

@The Daily Doug, I actually just subsctibed based off of this reaction video. I enjoyed your reaction and thoughts on this video. Sabaton is a great band and I have enjoyed a lot of their videos. Side note: I am a Veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, I Served in the National Guard and deployed three times. Twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. I never wanted to go to war myself but I volunteered to serve in the Army National Guard so I could go to college. I ended up making a career out of it and retired from the Guard after 24 years. Sabotans music and lyrics and the stories they tell all hit me in a way that bring back both the good and bad memories of deploying. WWI, WWII, and The Korean war were all fought differently. Vietnam and forward is where military started with rotations in and out of wars. Hopefully with what is going on in Eastern Europe does not expand into anther world war. I pray that it does not happen everyday. Sorry I got super wordy their. I enjoyed your reaction to this video and I look forward to seeing more from you. Peace and Happiness to all.

"I'm sure the War felt like it was never ending." Everyone who was a part of it at this time had thought it would already be over by this point. Instead, the front had devolved into a nearly static meatgrinder.

What an AMAZING 🌟CHRISTMAS🌟 Song by SABATON. The lyrics and the MUSIC inspire You. And the Video, Unbelievable. All Band Members play a Role. Also the HUSBAND from FLOOR JANSEN, The DRUMMER van SABATON, HANNES VAN DAHL. He was the wounded SOLDIER. It's also a piece of history. You can learn a lot. It's very...... EMOTIONAL 😢 And at the end the Voice of FLOOR JANSEN, makes it extra Beautiful...💫 This a Gift for Christmas ☃️🎄🕊️ We are all.... We are all.... We are all.... We are all.... FRIENDS 🤝🤝 For Me The CHRISTMAS SONG of the Year 2021...💫 A little PEACE 🕊 and LOVE ❤️ for Everyone 🌹 WARS are TERRIBLE... Let's all think a little bit about 🌟 CHRISTMAS TRUCE🌟 during the CHRISTMAS Season, this is so often FORGOTTEN!!!! Thank you this was AMAZING. Love and Peace 🕊 Love from the Netherlands ️❤️🤍💙 🇳🇱 🙋🏼‍♀️

Every time I listen to this song, I reach for a tissue 😭🤧

Liking this before even watching. I saw Sabaton for the first time this year and became a fan. I love how you're listening to lots of European bands-my fave.

First of all, happy holidays. Great reaction, and great choice to NOT skip the credits. For future Sabaton-reactions, remember this; Never, ever shut down the video until it is truly over. Some, if not most of their videos have important bits after the actual song is over. Again, happy holiday. Stay safe, and stay awesome.

Doug, I think I speak for many when I say you need to react to a album called “Operation: Mindcrime” by a band called Queensrÿche. It’s an incredible story album that needs to be listened to all the way throughout. Geoff tate, the lead singer for Queensrÿche, is one of the best rock vocalist IMO. Do yourself a favor and listen.

Great reaction, I love hearing knowledgeable people talk about their craft!

"Oh so la fa" - Thanks for reminding me of the Sound of Music, a tradition to watch on new years eve. :D

What an incredible song and band. Doug, check out Afraid To Shoot Strangers by Maiden about the first Gulf war. Thanks for including Sabaton.

You could do a comparison of "82nd All the Way" and it's Amaranthe cover which was a total blast! You could even go as far to complete the triple and additionally watch the Live performance with both bands together!

This band iv listened to many times as I came across them by accident while surfing the internet this song I can't get enough of it is powerful but true.

so i understand that sabaton did the restart of thez fighting right after christmas is over for cinematic/song purposes but IRL the soldiers that participated in the truce on both side had to be removed because they refused to fight and so for several weeks after christmas there was still no fighting until new troops were rolled in

my recommendation for your next one from these guys is either To Hell and Back or Carolus Rex. For Carolus Rex I would Specifically recommend to react to the English studio version first and then react to the live Swedish version in Stockholm from the Great War tour with Apocalyptica

Such a strong and emotional song. Chills when the piano starts and when Floor sings the outro.

Sir, you have such a huge knowledge, it's fascinating to see this song from your perspective!

As a big metal fan and a history buff I must say Sabaton fucking kicks ass.

The soldiers of the Christmas truce found out, that they actually had more in common with the poor bastard in the other trench, than with their own generals! In the Christmas of 1915, the generals couldn't have that! So there was no repeat of the 1914 Christmas truce on this large scale, as the artillery kept firing ... Some DID come out of their trenches, but was mostly instantly killed by the enemy soldiers. No moment of peace in a war that'll never end ... Until 11 o'clock, 11th of November, 1918 ... War to end all wars, indeed ...

WOW!!!!! What a powerful song , message.....and the movie qulity in addition to that!!!

Love that you’ve finally listened to (and enjoyed) sabaton! Please check out Night Witches, No Bullets Fly, and Final Solution

its great to hear someone analize a great song that actually knows what they are talking about i learned a lot from this and didnt realize a lot of tricks used in this song on my own, thank you, great video and impressive knowledge from you there.

Glad you held off to the end to note that Floor was singing the outro with the credits.

Just awesome! Thanks for covering that one.