Line-up

Venue

Scotiabank Centre

1800 Argyle St., B3J 2V9, Halifax, NS, Canada

Capacity: 11,093

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Additional details

Tour name: Sabaton: Legends on Tour

Doors open: 19:00

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Sabaton biography

Sabaton is a Power Metal band from Falun, Sweden that have a strong lyrical fixation on war history and the nature of battle. Though the group formed in 1999, it was not until the mid 2000s that the group broke out of their cult status to reach a wider audience.

Though the band did not put out their debut album until 2005 they began recording as early as 1999. Sabaton’s recording sessions took place in The Abyss studio where noteworthy doom metal bands like Children of Bodom, Overkill and, Dispatched have recorded. The band’s recordings attracted a couple of record labels, one of them being the Italian label, Underground Symphony. This label issued the band’s first commercially distributed album, which was the 1999-2000 compilation, “Fist for Fight”. The album was largely seen as a promotional tool as it was released with the intent to get people excited about the band’s upcoming albums.

Sabaton’s first official LP was supposed to be their 2002 recorded album “[[]]”; however, it was shelved for 2 years and eventually discarded. The band finally put out their second album and first commercially released LP entitled “Primo Victoria”. The band signed on with the label Black Lodge for this release and would go on to put out their next album “Attero Dominatus” through this label. At this time the group recruited keyboardist Daniel Myhr for the band. This allowed the group’s previous keyboardist/singer, Joakin Broden, to take full reign over vocals.

In 2007 Sabaton released “Metalizer”, which was an accumulation of their early demo recordings and their previously unearthed debut album. The band’s follow up record was based on the book “The Art of War” by the Chinese military leader Sun Tzu. The group was increasingly getting more recognition and by 2009 they were playing festivals such as Atlanta’s ProgPowerUSA and Bloodstock ’09 in Derby. They also toured throughout Europe during this time, which included a 18 show stint in the UK supporting DragonForce. The band’s next album “Coat of Arms” came out on 2 October 2010 and peaked at No. 2 on the Swedish Albums Chart. It’s lyrics were heavily inspired by World War II and its closing track “Metal Ripper” was an instrumental piece paying tribute to a long list of the band’s musical influences.

The band experienced a crucial line-up change in 2012, with four members leaving, making singer Broden and bass player Sundström the only remaining members. The newly comprised band released “Carolus Rex” in 2012 and went on a large scale North American tour in the Spring of 2014.

Shortly afterwards Sabaton put out their commercially successful album “Heroes”, which debuted at No.1 on the Swedish Album Charts. The group has built a substantive reputation for themselves in the metal community, particularly one in their homeland in which they host their own festival. In addition to touring extensively around the globe the band also has an annual cruise called ‘Sabaton Cruise’ that embarks every November.

Pop Evil biography

Pop Evil was the result of bands disbanding in 2001 in the Michigan scene and making essentially, a super group. They are the recipients for the Radio Contraband Rock Radio Award for “Song Of The Year” with their song “Trenches” in 2013.

Pop Evil self funded their first releases, which were a couple of three-song EPs, “War of the Roses”, and “Ready or Not”. Out of the released, they earned them selves a management deal with G&G Entertainment. The band released their debut album on the independent label, Pazzo Music, through Universal Music Group. The album, entitled “Lipstick on the Mirror” on August 12th 2008, which features the songs “100 in a 55” and “Somebody Like You”, which were both hits on radio stations. Following the release of this album, Pop Evil embarked on a North American tour alongside Whitesnake, supporting Judas Priest.

At the beginning of the following year, the band announced that they would be re entering the studio to record their second album, “War of Angels”, the first instalment of the album came in the form of “Last Man Standing” which premiered in a video with UFC fighter, Frank Mir. It was featured on the NHL and NFL channels, and then many episodes of NASCAR. The release of the album was delayed as the band notoriously tore their contract with Universal Music and fortunately found a deal with eOne Music. The album was released on July 5th 2011. In June 2011, the band released their 2nd single from the album for the song “Monster You Made”. In promotion of the album, Pop Evil embarked on tours with Drowning Pool, Paper Roach, Escape the Fate, 3 Doors Down and Theory of a Deadman. The band release a song entitled “In the Big House” which is a testament to the Michigan Wolverines football team.

In July to August of 2012, the band featured on a tour with their contemporaries, Five Finger Death Punch, Killswitch Engage and Trivium. Following the tour, the band entered the studio with Grammy nominated Johnny K to get to work on their 3rd studio album, which would be called “Onyx”. They released the first single “Trenches” on February 28th 2013. The song went onto became their first national number 1 on Rock Radio.

Live reviews

There is a chorus of metal hungry attendees engaged in conversation about the support acts this evening as the lights begin to fade out gradually, to the sounds of orchestral swells filling the speakers and of course this huge room. The audience’s response is that of a predominantly male cheer as if they’re about to go to battle.

On stage, appears a band from Sweden called Sabaton who kick off the evening with the sound of a very distorted guitar playing the opening bars of “No Bullets Fly” which is taken from their most recent album, “No Bullets Fly”. The reaction is a mixture of more battle cries with the movements of a circle pit beginning to take shape, sweeping people from the sidelines into it gradually getting bigger – all of which is completely encouraged by vocalist, Jaokim Broden.

Sabaton have a whole lot of material to get through this evening as they fill this set only with the very best material from their career that has, despite being fifteen years long, seen seven studio albums.

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Lannistaar

As their name suggests, American band Pop Evil plays a twisted combination of alternative metal, post-grunge and hard rock with elements of pop. Earth shaking drum grooves along with rock-solid bass lines and mind bending guitar licks form the foundation on top of which lead singer Leigh Kakaty commands his audience. Whether amplified or not, his voice can be heard from the very back of any stadium; the sheer energy with which he sings is probably the most ear-catching thing at a Pop evil gig. Combine this with an audience eager to jump on stage with the band and you have yourself a night you won’t forget. Trust me when I say their shows aren’t for the faint-hearted; you can expect to get involved in mosh pits or crowd surf across the venue while listening to songs like Deal With The Devil or Trenches, which recently won the Radio Contraband Rock Radio Award for Song of the Year in 2013. With more than ten years of activity and three albums already released, Pop Evil has toured extensively throughout the US and more recently in Europe, shaking audiences to their bones in an exhilarating and ecstatic parade of testosterone fueled anthems packed with some serious punch. Watch out for these guys, they’re something else entirely.

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