September 26, 2026
Sabaton Brings the Battlefield to Ottawa with a Little Help from Hair Metal and Heavy Rock
Ottawa got a full-blown lesson in heavy metal history Saturday night as Swedish power-metal giants Sabaton stormed into History Ottawa on September 26 as part of their ‘Legends On Tour’, bringing Pop Evil and Wings of Steel along for the ride.
The lineup promised three very different flavors of heavy music, and delivered all of them with considerable volume. As is the style of these times!
See Also: W.A.S.P. at MTelus, Montreal
The air was crisp and the metalheads of our nations capital were out in full force – and full camo, ready for an experience. And as is always the case, Sabaton were ready to deliver a bombastic night of hard artillery.
Wings Of Steel
Opening the night, Los Angeles band Wings Of Steel absolutely stole our hearts. Founded by vocalist Leo Unnermark and guitarist Parker Halub, the band plays the kind of unapologetically glorious heavy metal that makes you wonder why anyone ever decided hair metal needed to go away.
With soaring vocals, blaring guitars, enormous riffs and enough hairspray-in-spirit to fill an entire 1980s tour bus, Wings of Steel were impossible not to love. Unnermark delivered vocals that could probably be heard somewhere across the Ottawa River, while the rest of the band handled their duties with plenty of flash and attitude.
Their latest album, ‘Winds of Time’, released in 2025, has clearly given the band plenty of ammunition for their increasingly prominent live presence.
Pop Evil
Then came Michigan rockers Pop Evil, who brought considerably more muscle than their sometimes radio-friendly reputation might suggest. Frontman Leigh Kakaty led the current lineup, which includes longtime guitarist Dave Grahs, Nick Fuelling on lead guitar, Joey “Chicago” Walser on bass and Blake Allison on drums, through a set that leaned into the heavier side of the band’s sound.
Songs including ‘Trenches’, ‘Deathwalk’, ‘Criminal’, ‘Deal with the Devil’ and their final song, ‘Waking Lions’ hit with a noticeably heavier punch live.
Kakaty remains an energetic frontman, working the room while the rest of the band supplied the sonic artillery.
If you’ve mostly encountered Pop Evil through their more accessible rock material, this was a useful reminder that there are some serious metal muscles underneath the hood.
And then, the tanks rolled in.
Sabaton
There are concerts, and then there are Sabaton shows. The Swedish power-metal institution has spent more than two decades building its reputation around songs inspired by military history, but the band’s live show is every bit as much about spectacle as it is about the music.
The current lineup of front man Joakim Brodén, bassist Pär Sundström, guitarists Chris Rörland and Thorbjörn Englund and drummer Hannes Van Dahl came armed with massive riffs, booming drums, Brodén’s unmistakable gravelly vocals and, naturally, the band’s trademark tank drum riser.
The production transformed History Ottawa into something resembling a very loud military-themed amusement park, with lights, theatrical staging and enough visual stimulation to keep even the most easily distracted concertgoer locked in.
The set opened with a three-song barrage of ‘Ghost Division’, ‘Yamato’ and ‘The Red Baron’, immediately giving the crowd plenty to sing along to while showcasing the band’s knack for turning historical battles into massive power-metal anthems. From there, the set moved through newer material like ‘Crossing the Rubicon’, ‘Hordes of Khan’ and ‘Templars’, alongside fan favorites including ‘The Last Stand’, ‘Night Witches’ and ‘Bismarck’.
The closing stretch was pure Sabaton crowd-pleasing territory, with ‘Primo Victoria’ and ‘Swedish Pagans’ sending the room into full-volume singalong mode before the band finally wrapped things up with ‘To Hell and Back’. By then, History Ottawa was less a concert venue and more one enormous, sweaty choir of metalheads who clearly knew every word.
This was Sabaton’s first Ottawa appearance, and the response made it pretty clear the city had been waiting. But perhaps the best part of the night was the audience, because Ottawa truly showed up.
The room was packed with fans singing, shouting, throwing horns and embracing every glorious second of the spectacle. There were also an impressive number of kids in the crowd, many of them clearly having the time of their lives. Forget soccer practice! This is parenting done right. Getting your kids hooked on live metal at an early age is practically community service.
Read More:
>> Bring Me The Horizon at Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
>> Mastodon at Mtelus, Montreal
>>Blackberry Smoke at History, Ottawa
By the time Sabaton brought the evening to a close, History Ottawa had become one giant, sweaty, enthusiastic congregation of metal fans.
With Wings of Steel winning over new converts, Pop Evil proving they can bring the heavy and Sabaton delivering the full arena-sized spectacle in a club setting, Ottawa got exactly what a Saturday night should be: loud, theatrical, gloriously excessive and a hell of a lot of fun.
