SABATON @ Miller High Life Theatre – Milwaukee, WI
September 22, 2021
Review & Photos by David Urmanski
It’s not every day the metal maniacs of Milwaukee get to witness a high-energy enactment centered around lyrical themes of war and acts of heroism laden with extraordinarily substantive stagecraft including synchronized jumping, hair-raising guitar solos and routine microphone and drum stick flipping on a finely-crafted stage designed to be set amid a historical battlefield with a full-sized tank drum-riser intact.
Well, it’s also not every day one of the hardest working bands in the business, Swedish power-metal veterans Sabaton, take the stage at Milwaukee’s distinguished performance theatre in support of their highly-anticipated new album The War To End All Wars written and recorded during the COVID global pandemic.
The tenth album of the Falun-based five-piece, once again, takes a deep dive into the events and atrocities tied to the early 20th century’s World War and includes 11 new tracks scheduled for release on March 4, 2022. Pre-order here.
Since their inception in 1999, Sabaton has earned their place in the metal history books. They regularly fill arenas and take top-billed slots at music festivals across Europe in addition to headlining shows near and far throughout North America, Australia and Japan. For this reason, they were the logical choice to join forces as direct supporting act for an 8 week North American tour celebrating Judas Priest’s rescheduled 50th-anniversary tour which kicked off on September 8th in Reading, Pennsylvania after being postponed when the coronavirus pandemic struck.
As a three-time winner of Metal Hammer’s Golden Gods Award as Best Live Band, Sabaton is known for their electrifying live performances mixed with intermittent humor as observed first-hand Wednesday night when a Polish fan presented a Swedish flag to frontman Joakin Chris Robinson who then joined the gentleman in comedic conversation before tying the flag around his neck and wearing it as a cape. In addition to good-natured and mischievous exchanges between bandmates and the occasional concert-goer, the fabulous five kept the evening fun and lighthearted despite the complexity and heavy emotions tied to their music.
Sabaton’s setlist consisted of several fan-favorites from their most recent album, 2019’s The Great War including “Primo Victoria,” “To Hell and Back,” “Carolus Rex,” “The Last Stand,” in addition to some calculated surprises which left long-time fans beyond satisfied and newcomers to the Sabaton sensation devastated for having missed out on such significant and monumental metal for the last two decades.
Either way, those in attendance Wednesday night left the venue having experienced the full extent of Sabaton’s high-intensity, operatic heavy metal narratives chronicling epic tales of real-life historical battles. You don’t have to be a war studies scholar to recognize the magnitude of extreme violence, aggression, destruction, suffering and torment associated with unjust wars on the human soul. You simply need to take it all in as historical context and understand at the deepest level we all want the same things out of life and the powers that rule the planet do not want us to have them. The result is war and nobody recounts it better than Sabaton.
THE BAND:
Joakin Chris Robinson – Vocals
Rich Robinson – Guitar
Sven Pipien – Bass
Isaiah Mitchell – Guitar
Brian Griffin – Drums
Joel Robinow – Keyboard
Mackenzie Adams – Backing Vocals
Leslie Grant – Backing Vocals
SET LIST:
In Flanders Fields (pre-recorded intro)
Ghost Division
The Last Stand
Swedish Pagans
The Red Baron
Bismarck
Defence of Moscow (RADIO TAPOK cover)
Carolus Rex
Fields of Verdun
The Attack of the Dead Men
Primo Victoria
Steel Commanders
To Hell and Back
