ALBUM REVIEW: Best of the Blessed – Powerwolf

Formed some seventeen years ago now, German five-piece POWERWOLF have long been endearing themselves to fans of all things power metal, churning out great records with seemingly endless consistency since 2005’s Return In Bloodred, and gradually finding themselves moving higher and higher on festival bills across the world. With a unique werewolf-priest aesthetic and subject matter, and ever-growing canon of symphonic anthems led by the incredible operatic vocals of Attila Dorn, the band are now set to not only look back on their career to date, but rework elements of it, with an extensive compilation release, entitled Best of the Blessed.

In the main, Best of the Blessed is a 16-strong cherry-picked selection of the very best of POWERWOLF’s decade and a half of material. Going all the way from early-career highlights like Saturday Satan to more recent fan-favourites like the outrageously catchy why-haven’t-Germany-sent-this-to-Eurovision-yet stomp of Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend, this is perhaps the best way to both induct new fans into the cult of POWERWOLF, and for existing diehards to celebrate their legacy. To many of said already-dedicated fans, the main draw of Best of the Blessed though, will be the presence of six newly re-recorded classics from the band’s catalogue, beefed up to more closely match their live counterparts of today and, in the case of Kiss of the Cobra King, lyrically-rewritten entirely with only the chorus of the 2005 original retained.

The effect is smooth enough, and helps mould the various eras of POWERWOLF into a far more cohesive collection, near-seamlessly refitting the oldest tracks in their repertoire to match up to their most recent thanks to newly recorded instrumentals and far stronger vocal performances than ever before from Dorn. Sanctified with Dynamite, for example, seems to feature vastly improved choral backing than the original, whilst perennial live favourite Resurrection by Erection is raised to arena-levels of sonic power whilst maintaining exactly the amount of tongue-in-cheek silliness you’d expect in order to pull off (pun almost intended) something with that title. If it wasn’t obvious already by this point then yes, POWERWOLF are ostensibly an incredibly silly band, but they go about things with such incredible conviction that’s it’s near-impossible not to be swept up in it all – particularly when faced with songs as relentlessly catchy and packed with killer riffs as Amen & Attack, Killers with the Cross and Army of the Night.

If that wasn’t enough to satiate your hunger for werewolf power-metal campiness though, then you’re in luck, as several versions of Best of the Blessed also come with an added bonus for fans – The Live Sacrament. Captured during their Wolfsnächte Tour 2018, this additional live record sees POWERWOLF cranking out ferociously powerful versions of some of their greatest hits to a homeland audience in Ludwigsburg, Germany at the tail end of 2018.

What’s really hammered home across this extensive look into the band’s revered “heavy metal mass” live show is just how equally remarkable POWERWOLF are as both a studio band and as a live outfit, with Dorn’s soaring operatic vocal stylings in particular sounding almost note-perfect to their recorded counterparts on the likes of Fire & Forgive and Armata Strigoi, whilst Falk Maria Schlegel’s emphatic keyboards are brought even further to the forefront on gloriously overblown cuts like Stossgebet and the emotional balladry of Where The Wild Wolves Have Gone. Throughout the set, the POWERWOLF fanbase’s devotion is evident to hear, as they shout, sing, chant and cheer along to just about every moment with impressive gusto, right the way through until the slightly reordered set is brought to a close with a triumphant Let There Be Night.

They might be part of one of heavy music’s most oft-sneered-at sub-genres, but Best of the Blessed is solidly-constructed proof of the enduring legacy POWERWOLF have built up over the course of their career, as well as just how great a live act they are. Long may their holy heavy metal crusade continue.

Rating: 8/10

Best Of The Blessed is set for release on July 3rd via Napalm Records.

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