ALBUM REVIEW: Wake Up The Wicked – Powerwolf
No matter your sentiment towards the eccentricism of power metal, you’ve got to give it to POWERWOLF haven’t you? The wolfpack has roamed the genre’s hunting grounds for two decades, and in that time have remained steadfast in both style and showmanship – becoming a deserved reference point for newcomers earning their stripes. In an extremely saturated sub-genre, with gimmicks flying left, right and centre, the band’s longevity can only be praised. For some, however, their embrace of the ‘If it ain’t broke…’ adage has deprived them from a place among the greats. POWERWOLF are almost unanimously ‘fun’ and ‘a spectacle’, but the old dog’s refusal to learn has left these wolves long in the tooth, and not in the way you’d hope. The band’s answer to such accusations? Their ninth album, Wake Up The Wicked…
This ‘answer’ is certainly a vindicating one, and for all parties involved. If you fear POWERWOLF are slipping into auto-pilot, this album will confirm such apprehension. Equally, if all you’re looking for is a POWERWOLF album with more…well…POWERWOLF, then you can do a lot worse than the 11-track gauntlet on offer. It’s daft, operatic, it’s filled with ridiculous notions of sea-fairing missionary werewolves – it’s everything you would want a POWERWOLF album to be. Is it much more? No. Does it need to be? At this point, most likely not. POWERWOLF is an entity that most would happily see reach the ludicrous heights of 50+ studio albums, howling the same bombastic and operatic hymns of the canine cult simply because they’re a sheer joy to listen to, regardless of their copy-paste inception. Even in announcing their new record, the band need say little more than “We’re back!” in an attempt to whip up the crowds. There’s no need for a ten-page prologue detailing the intricacies of Wolf Jesus, they know all fans care about is scratching that itch that only they can relieve.
It seems a little late to be delving into the album itself but, for those wanting to see the band take their revelations more literally, addressing the elephant in the room is crucial. That said, Wake Up The Wicked succeeds in essentially every criteria the band have proven themselves against in the last 20 years. It’s yet another fresh injection of no-nonsense bangers into the discography predicated on a philosophy of ‘more is more’. Even after a mere few spins, tracks like Sinners Of The Seven Seas, Kyrie Klitorem, 1589 and Thunderpriest, to name a few, are destined to be setlist toppers – sporting the typical bold choruses and infectious chants the pack has made their killings from. Notably, the band sound particularly colossal this time around. For a group that has always known strength in numbers, their growling ensemble feels particularly sizable on album number nine, the staggering production work of Joost van Den Broek working wonders to keep the sound of two decades from fading into tedium.
That aside, there is little that can be said about Wake Up The Wicked. If you’re a POWERWOLF fan you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not, you won’t. Sure, a few tracks like Vargamor aren’t as memorable as most, and Viva Vulgata sounds as though it borrows its hook from a song only three tracks previous to itself, but we’re splitting hairs in an already long-resolved matter. Power metal, besides a few, is not famed for its daring ambition. It’s stupendous, hilarious, ear-to-ear grin elation that would waste itself in trying to re-invent that hallowed wheel. Some bands are exceptions and justly praised, but it doesn’t mean that those who sit safely in complacency should be judged so harshly. Wake Up The Wicked is a brilliant, complacent, delightful, but unchallenging piece of work from the genre’s best-known canis congregation – nothing more need be said.
Rating 7/10
Wake Up The Wicked is set for release on July 26th via Napalm Records.
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