Spartan change sides: “Alcibiades” is chapter two of the Peloponnesian War EP

Dutch melodic death metal quintet Spartan released “Alcibiades” on October 16, 2026, the second chapter of their five-track concept EP on the Peloponnesian War, and the story of the general who won the war for both sides.

Athens raised him. Sparta welcomed him. Persia took him in. Alcibiades was the most gifted commander of his generation and the most reliable traitor in Greek history, a man who turned the tide of a twenty-seven-year war by changing which side he was on, twice, and who was never loyal to anything but his own name.

Spartan give him a chorus that crowns him: maestro of betrayal.

Where “Critias” opened the EP with the tyrant who reopened the war, “Alcibiades” is the song about who decided how it ended. Twin-guitar leads and power metal melody carry harsh vocals over a rhythm section built for momentum, and in the song’s final turn the music drops away for the man himself:

“They call me traitor, but I have always been loyal to myself. I have shaped cities and bent kings to my will. Let them curse my name, if only they remember it. For I will outlive them all.”

The track was recorded with the same team behind the band’s acclaimed 2022 album Of Kings and Gods: drums engineered by Jakob Herrmann at Top Floor Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios, Denmark.

“Alcibiades” is the second of five singles, each spotlighting a different figure who shaped the outcome of the Peloponnesian War, and each arriving with its own dedicated artwork. Three remain: Socrates, Lysander and Cyrus. In the band’s telling, the war’s closing chapters ended the golden age of Greece and paved the way for the rise of Alexander the Great.

▶ STREAM “ALCIBIADES”: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3RTXggyhvFSANfjP7lfkcw

Spartan forge melodic death metal and power metal into an epic tribute to ancient Greece.

Since their debut EP For Glory (2009) and the album The Fall of Olympus (2015), featuring guest vocals by Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ, they have shared stages with Marduk, Septic Flesh, Moonspell, Negură Bunget and Rotting Christ across Europe.

Their latest album Of Kings and Gods (Pest Records, January 14, 2022), recorded at Top Floor Studios and mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen, earned critical praise, including 85/100 from Lords of Metal and Zware Metalen.

The band is: