The German power metal titans are back with their tenth studio album (if we include last year’s compilation album). We’ve covered the band’s last two albums now and are clearly pretty big fans of the band, having given both of them 7.5/10! Will this be the album to finally buck that trend? Let’s take a dive and find out!
Opening the album with the sort of bang that only Powerwolf could, ‘Bless ‘em with the Blade’ is a straight-to-the-point, catchy, quick anthem. From the relentless drums, awesome riffing and powerful vocals, it will be an immediate fan favourite, both live and on track. It’s a damn fun track and the perfect way to start off the album!
‘Sinners of the Seven Seas’ continues on the same energy, adding a touch more of a folk feel to the existing power metal. A fun riff leads to the same infectiously catchy melody being used for the chorus vocals, and it’s honestly one of the best choruses I think the band have ever done. It was the perfect choice for a single track, and is a massive highlight of the album. We even get a great, cheeky little guitar solo tucked away in the middle, and the bridge after it is pretty great too. This album is off to an awesome start!
Tracks like ‘Kyrie Kiltorem’ and the massive single ‘1589’ are more epic, standard Powerwolf tracks, while ‘Heretic Hunters’ once again blends in more of the folk sound and inspiration. All of them have everything you’d expect from the band, from the catchy choruses to the heavy instrumentation.
Honestly, the same could be said for the vast majority of the album. I do love this band, but I still feel like I struggle to get through an album fully in one listen, and this one is much of the same. Every track is amazing, and Attila Dorn has one of the best voices in the genre, as well as an incredible ear for writing catchy hooks and melodies. But fuck man, throw me something different across the last three 40+ minute long albums, please. Even a ballad; I feel like this band would KILL an epic ballad! The closest we get is the closing track, ‘Vargamor’, and even that builds into similar stuff after the first verse.
Overall: There are plenty individual highlight tracks, from both singles to ‘Heretic Hunters’, but as an album as a whole it’s a slog. I completely get that the band are hugely popular and are still growing more by each passing release, but even a slight risk here and there wouldn’t go amiss, especially now that we’re into double digits of similar albums across the last two decades. If you like the band or the genre, you’ll surely love this, as do I, but I just kinda feel like Powerwolf are capable of more at this point, and they are starting to get just a touch stale with their studio work.
The Score: 7/10