Thobbe Englund speaks about rejoining Sabaton

Englund’s return was announced by the Swedish metallers Sabaton during the beginning of February 2024. Tommy Johansson announced his departure from the group a month prior to this revelation. England joined Sabaton in April 2012 and left the band in good terms in July 2016 to concentrate on his personal life and pursue his artistic goals. He returned eight years later and went on the road with his bandmates once more. Together with Sabaton, Englund recorded two studio albums, “Heroes” (2014) and “The Last Stand” (2016). Englund also helped write the lyrics to several well-known songs, such as “Shiroyama” and “Fields Of Verdun.” He spoke about returning to the band in a new interview.

I stayed in very close contact with the guys during all these years, since I left back in ’16. We even wrote some songs together, and we always made sure to stay in touch, barbecuing, having beers, visiting each other’s family and stuff like that. So when I got the question, it was, like, ‘Oh, so Tommy’s leaving. ‘Whoa. Yeah, yeah, of course.’ Because it was the perfect timing for me, because when I quit in ’16, I was a bit worn out and I wanted to slow down a bit, and focus a little bit on my own music and stuff like that, but also have a kid, buy a house and all that. Now when the guys asked me if I would like to rejoin, it was a no-brainer for me. It was, like, yes, the circle is absolutely complete. So it was the best that could ever happen. And my son is six years old now and his favorite band is Sabaton. So there you go.

The rehearsals with the band were very good.

I remember one song in particular, ‘The Art Of War’, I just put my guitar on, and [it was] spotless — from the beginning to the end. And I was, like, ‘Yeah, I’m back.’ Yeah, it was great.