Powerwolf
Blessed & Possessed

"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Only for today, you can choose from a myriad of Power Metal bands, have fun, and calmly listen to the most innovative, original proposals... Come on, dear guests, a laugh! Originality in a genre like Power? Let's continue our tour, and at the end of this journey, you can choose the band that best defines your character as staunch defenders of the metal creed! And whether you choose this one or that one, it doesn't matter, you won't find any personality or character!"

Finding your own personality. Perhaps this is the most ambitious challenge for a band starting out, inventing something that can define them, that distinctive trait that helps draw attention to themselves. If we then narrow the field to Power Metal, it could be even more difficult to achieve this much-desired originality. They seem to sprout like mushrooms; every day I find myself discovering more and more bands of this genre who, although they have excellent musicality on their side, fail to stand out due to their attitude, which says nothing. I'm not expecting much, but the saying "Heard one song, heard them all" seems to hold more and more value. In this case, the phrase is slightly modified to "Seen one Power Metal band, heard them all."

The ones who managed to shake things up were Powerwolf, a band formed in 2003 by brothers Charles and Matthew Greywolf, of German origin, who managed to make a strong impact on the music scene thanks to a move as simple as it was original. Revisiting the formula that made KISS famous, makeup, Powerwolf added an exaggerated abundance of religious references, both in the lyrics and in their performances, and Latin phrases as if there were no tomorrow. Add great live performances, and I speak personally having had the fortune to see them (although I must say that, once night fell, it felt more like a black mass than a concert) and the game is done.

Year after year, release after release, Powerwolf has solidified its sound, managing to evolve from the raw sound of the first two albums to Power metal with some serious credentials in subsequent releases. Nothing special, this must be clarified, but finally something different compared to what had been circulating for a while. In 2015, the German group released "Blessed & Possessed", their sixth studio album that continues the group's "tradition" of releasing an album every two years, a move I consider both shrewd for keeping fan interest alive, but also reckless because with such a short time frame there might be a lack of ideas.

Returning to the album, the sound is typically in the band's style. Direct and highly charged tracks like "Army Of The Night" and "Sanctus Dominus", others where the deep voice of singer Attila Dorn stands out in all its power, "Sacramental Sister" and "Christ & Combat" to name a couple. However, there are predictable inspiration drops now, like in "We Are The Wild", a track that seems to come from a B-Side of Hammerfall, or the too, too tacky chorus of "Higher Than Heaven". Yet, "Armata Strigoi" is very well structured, with a sharp riff and a rhythm that doesn't tire the listener. However, it seems to be a sort of must for most Power bands to close the album with a fairly long track, and indeed with "Let There Be Night", Powerwolf proves they haven't made just another flashy track for the sake of it, meanwhile showcasing a certain musical versatility, even if some passages turn out to be too sophisticated and lengthy.

What I can recommend is not to start with the usual prejudices, but to try to give a chance to a band that doesn't invent anything musically but at least had the good sense to renew themselves and offer (almost) always well-crafted, absolutely engaging tracks that aren't just the result of a simple copy-paste of the previous album with the addition of an electronic drum set. As I also wrote in the description, Powerwolf could represent one of the major promises for modern Power, and if not, you have my permission to stone me to death. So far, though, there aren't any major criticisms on the horizon, and hoping doesn't cost anything.

3.5