SABATON – Announce New Guitarist

Swedish power metal act SABATON said farewell to Thobbie Englund, who announced his departure from the band back in late July. Over this past weekend, Englund played his final show at the Sabaton Open Air in the band’s hometown of Falun.

Joining Englund and the band on stage was ReinXeed’s Tommy Johansson, who was simultaneously announced as replacement. The band posted the following:

“Thank you Thobbe, Welcome Tommy!

“Our guitar player Thobbe did his final concert with us on the last nights very emotional show at the Sabaton Open Air festival. Celebrating the release of our new album while saying goodbye to a great friend is lot of mixed feelings.

“But the future is bright since this was not nearly our last stand, from now on you will see Tommy Johansson playing guitars with Sabaton and we all look forward to see you on the road!

Tommy commented: “For me to be a part of the Sabaton family is a huge honour and I couldn’t be happier! The guys are awesome and among the nicest people you can meet. I’ve been following Sabaton since 2005 when I saw them live for the first time and I have loved the band ever since, so when they asked me to join there were no hesitation.

“Although, they did ask me already back in 2012 but for many personal reasons it was not a good time for me to hit the road and give everything that was needed to the band. So I declined, but we have stayed in touch since then. I also wanna say that Thobbe is a great guitarist and such a wonderful guy!! My job is not to replace him, it’s to contribute to the band with my own style of guitarplaying but of course also to keep his fans happy by playing his wonderful solos with pride. I look foward to meet you all on tour and to do what I love the most in life – to play heavy metal!”

Sabaton just released the brand new album “The Last Stand” and will tour the U.S. with Devin Townsend Project, Between the Buried and Me and Fallujah next month.

Source: metalunderground

http://www.sabaton.net/