Swedish metallers SABATON toured Jerusalem, Israel’s Ammunition Hill with soldiers ahead of sold-out Tel Aviv concert on Thursday (August 30).
SABATON has written several songs praising and celebrating the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The band’s 2006 song “Counterstrike”, from their landmark “Primo Victoria” album, recounts the lightning victory the IDF accomplished in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Ammunition Hill is the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Six-Day War and s the main official memorial symbolizing the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem.
“[The members of SABATON are] like family,” Yishai Sweartz, the Tel Aviv head of Raven Music, which promotes metal shows and albums and brought SABATON to Israel on its previous trips, told The Jerusalem Post. “They love Israel. The last time they were here, they asked to visit Latrun, and this time they asked me where else they could visit, so I suggested Ammunition Hill.”
“When you read about something, which is what we did before writing the song ‘Counterstrike’, you get your own images in your head,” SABATON bassist Pär Sundström told The Jerusalem Post. “So even though I knew most of the information already, I like the movie because it helped me visualize better what went on.”
Read the full report, and check out photos, from The Jerusalem Post.
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 
Sabaton plays for the privileged few in apartheid Israel.
Metal music is growing in popularity in Israel. Festivals and promoters are indeed looking to bring more artists like Sabaton to Israel. Please publish photos of your gigs.