ALBUM REVIEW: The Monumental Mass: A Cinematic Metal Event – Powerwolf
There must be something in the water in Germany. AVANTASIA’s ambitiousness makes MEAT LOAF’s rock opera theatrics look like its namesakes’ damp cardboard texture. RAMMSTEIN use more pyro than Americans do on the 4th July, worrying passers by their stadiums are burning down. And POWERWOLF combine the two for a chaotic celebration of heavy metal.
The Monumental Mass: A Cinematic Metal Event is all the evidence you need that POWERWOLF are poised to take over the European skies with their towering live production. Originally aired as a global streaming event at the tail-end of 2021, this collection allows you to relive (or experience for the first time) the 80-minute extravaganza.
Whilst some of its digital formats give you the cinematic experience, others simply give you the audio recordings. We know that pyro-spurting organs, snow-falling backdrops, and cardinal-burning ceremonies take place across its theatre-like narrative – but if you’re experiencing audio only, can you still hear the magic of a band whose live sets should not be missed? In all honesty? The short answer is duh, of course.
Split into four parts, the instrumental prologue sends suspense shivering down your spines before vocalist Attila Dorn arrives in your eardrums with Faster Than The Flame. From this moment on, they run through a setlist so well structured you might as well hire POWERWOLF to build skyscrapers; they rarely drop the pace, with super-hits like Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend and We Drink Your Blood praying at their altar for more, yet it never feels like they’re running out of steam.
Over half the set features songs from their latest, and arguably two most successful albums, 2018’s The Sacrament Of Sin and 2021’s Call Of The Wild. Whilst some fans might turn their nose up with another six albums to choose from, it means there’s plenty of fan favourites and rarities sprinkled throughout, whether it’s the blood-pumping fist-raising sing-alongs of Venom Of Venus or Preachers Of The Night’s Cardinal Sin, showcasing their power solo muscle.
Whilst it’s surely more sensational with the show itself in front of your eyes, simply hearing just how massive staples like Resurrection By Erection and Amen & Attack sound in this set is enough to convince you they should be headlining stadiums. Power metal might get a lot of stick for its shtick, but POWERWOLF’s performance on The Monumental Mass is as serious as it gets.
As a ridiculously loaded final chapter of Amen & Attack, Army Of The Night, Blood For Blood (Faoladh) and Armata Strigoi closes out the mass, you’re left staring at invisible fireworks in your mind’s sky. And few bands can capture that on a live recording.
Rating: 10/10
The Monumental Mass: A Cinematic Metal Event is out now via Napalm Records.
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