Despite being a weekday evening, The Circus in Helsinki’s center was filled up very nicely by the time the first band of the evening hit the stage. Dynazty served up some adequate Swedish heavy rock balancing itself somewhere suitable between classic Judas Priest and the slightly cheesier side of hair metal. Very basic execution but stuff that worked alright live.

Handling the middle tier was Raubtier, Sweden’s seeming answer to Rammstein. Their industrial-tinged stomp with its militant, marchable qualities gave the definite air of said German giants, just with a lot less flames. Even though I must say for visuals, Raubtier’s drummer had a cool minigun-nozzle cover on his bass drum. I’d also say that these Swedes had an extra serving of rough thrashiness in the mix when compared to the straightforward hammering of Rammstein. Entertaining live but not something I’d probably buy on record.

Anyhoo, by this time in the huddle of the road crew, it became very clear who was headlining. The chants of ”SABATON! SABATON!” were ringing clearly well before the band actually came up on stage and they pretty much became a theme during every single pause between songs. If you wanted to shout something near, dear or quirky to the band or even song requests, you had no hope. The mob swallowed all such efforts. The group’s hyperactive and mega-smiling frontman Joakim Brodén probably forgot half-way into the show how many times he had been counting goosebumps off his arms.

The line-up changes that Sabaton went through in the summertime did not reflect in their performances one bit, just like they didn’t at this year’s Tuska Open Air Metal Festival. Even former King Diamond- and Therion-man Snowy Shaw, who was filling in for the regular new guy Robban Bäck on drums, handled his post with gusto. It seems like no matter who plays in Sabaton, you can never criticize these guys for being insanely full of energy on stage, which only reflects back at them from the reactions of the crowd.

The setlist for the day included bulldozing awesomness from just about all eras of the band, with logical emphasis on the new epic Carolus Rex. Of course since they were in Finland, they had to play both Talvisota and White Death, brilliant pieces. 40:1 and Cliffs of Gallipoli steamrolled onwards as nigh classics while the acoustic version of The Hammer Has Fallen provided some sweet dynamics. You also have to give it to the band in terms of fan service. Since they had recorded the Carolus Rex album in both English and Swedish, and Swedish is still the second official language in Finland, Brodén asked at the start of the evening whether the crowd wanted to hear the new songs in English or in Swedish. English ruled the day in the end and it was the norm, even if Karolinens Bön was whipped out in the band’s mother tongue to balance the generosity out. The new tunes, great stuff live as well. The only song missing that I really hoped for was Panzer Battalion, but at this point it is merely a cosmetic complaint.

All in all, Sabaton proved once again that even if their unique brand of war-centric power metal isn’t your thing, you would be a filthy liar or blind if you claimed that these guys don’t sweat and tear it up on the concert stage to a degree matched by very few metal bands today, regardless of genre. I’d dare say that shows like these are custom made for converting not-so-dedicated metalheads to join the ranks – melodic mayhem to the max, whirlwinds of energy and an overall blast of fun. A highly recommended live show if they come to a venue near you.

Full setlist:

Ghost Division
Gott Mit Uns
White Death
Carolus Rex
Karolinens Bön
40:1
Cliffs of Gallipoli
Uprising
The Lion From the North
The Hammer Has Fallen (acoustic)
Attero Dominatus
The Art of War
Talvisota
Primo Victoria
Metal Crüe