I found out about Powerwolf in a pretty bizarre way. I was on YouTube and had clicked a video about a Dark Souls build, something along the lines of "Dark Souls Low Soul Level One-Shot X Boss". I had planned on just listening to while drawing. As the video started, the background music really caught my attention, way more than the actual content of the video. I scrolled down to the video description to see if they mentioned the background music, and thankfully the uploader did: Blessed and Possessed by Powerwolf. I immediately went to look up Powerwolf and never actually ended up watching the build video.
Powerwolf was formed in 2003 in the German city of Saarbrucken by guitarists David Vogt and Benjamin Buss, former members of the stoner rock band Red Aim. Soon after, they roped in keyboardist Christian Jost and drummer Stefan Gemballa, two other former bandmates. However, they struggled to find a vocalist. At some point and while on vacation in Romania, Vogt and Buss met Karsten Brill, a classical opera student who was obsessed with werewolf legends. Vogt and Buss invited him to join their band, and so Powerwolf was born. Its lineup has stayed remarkably consistent over the years, with the only changes being in its drummers: Stefan Gembella left the band in 2010 and was replaced by Tom Diener, who was then replaced by Roel van Helden in 2011.
From left to right: vocalist Karsten Brill, lead guitarist Bejamin Buss, keyboardist Christian Jost, bassist Charles Vogt, and drummer Roel van Helden.
Powerwolf is really big on spectacle and grandiosity. There is a minimum of an undercurrent of conflict in all their songs, although for most it's more like a flood or torrent. Honoring their name, wolves (and werewolves) are an extremely common subject. Wolves fighting in the crusades, Armenian wolf armies, wolves marching relentlessly through the night, the persecution of a man accused of being a werewolf, the list goes on. They even have some pieces inspired by underrated and more obscure wolf legends - take "Beast of Gevaudan" and "Tiger of Sabrod" for example.
However, it's not just wolves that they sing about. They also feature vampires, demons, rats, nuns, priests, the Virgin Mary, and numerous other religious figures. There's a lot of surface level, aesthetic Christianity in their music. They're clearly not a Christian metal band though; one of their most popular songs is "Demons are a Girls Best Friend". Instead, they use religious elements for a "coolness" factor. Which in my opinion, is pretty effective. Turns out that while reading stories about St. Peter or Paul bored the hell out of 5th grade me in CCD, listening to a tale about saints going wild is very exciting.
One of Powerwolf's most badass album artworks.
While not a symphonic metal band, Powerwolf still incorporates plenty of instruments into its music. Organs are very common to help emphasize fantastical, eerie, and religious atmosphere, and are easily Powerwolf's signature and most prominent symphonic instrument. Strings and brass instruments are quite regular as well, although they play a more supportive role. Sometimes a single, powerful organ will be backed by waves of trumpets, trombones, violins, and cellos. Make no mistake though- Powerwolf is still a metal band at its core: fierce riffs and aggressive drumming overwhelmingly dominate much of its songs.
Powerwolf's themes also bleed into its members appearances and personas. Brill goes by "Attila Dorn", Buss as "Matthew Greywolf", Vogt as "Charles Greywolf", and Jost as "Falk Maria Schlegel". Van Helden is the only current member to not have a stage name. They all don corpse paint for their performances, and Attila and Falk love to go the extra mile with robes, overcoats, and other gothic garments. This attention to detail extends to their collaborations as well. They worked with Arch Enemy's Alissa White-Gluz on her cover of "Demons are a Girl's Best Friend", and White-Gluz's horns are one of the coolest looking accessories I've seen.
I want to give a trophy to Alissa's costume designer.
So, what songs of theirs do I recommend? Well, all of them of course! They're fantastic. But if I had to recommend a few of my favorites, they would be:
"Armata Strigoi" - A stoic, unwavering piece about an army of vampires that subsists on the blood of their fallen comrades.
"Nochnoi Donzor" - A sinister song about Russian watchmen who are way too eager to kill and cause destruction while serving in the line of duty.
"Kiss of the Cobra King" - A desperate, ultimately futile plea for a young woman to reject temptations. It's actual a rewrite of a song by the same name from their first album, "Return in Bloodred". The original is pretty great as well, although it lacks much of the symphonic elements that the bands has developed and refined over time. The lyrics are also much more vague- gone are the themes about sinning and temptation. Truthfully, they are so vague that it's hard to say exactly what the original song is about. I've heard some people claim it's about the Roman Empire, which is definitely fair game as far as Powerwolf's choice of subjects go, but I just don't hear it as far as lyrics go.
"Reverent of Rats" - The tale of a legendary warrior that defends and supports rebels and outcasts no matter the cost.
"All We Need Is Blood" - An unabashedly and indulgently edgy track about a bunch of wolf priests that really want to drink your blood and steal your soul.
I also want to briefly touch on Powerwolf's album artworks. They're sick. They're the kind of art that make me a little upset that I didn't make them. They're raw, feral, aggressive, and fantastical, perfectly embodying both Powerwolf's wild and religious themes. I've been having a difficult time tracking down the genius responsible for their earlier artwork, but I can at least say that the artist responsible for the more recent covers is Zsofia Dankova. The only thing that's more incredible than his art is how he came to be Powerwolf's go-to artist: He attended a Powerwolf concert in 2016 while he was still in high school, made fan art and a time lapse video, sent it to them just out of adoration for the band, and they replied asking him to make some designs for them. I'll provider a link to his portfolio at the end of this article.
But it's about time that I wrap up my gushing. Powerwolf's newest album, Wake up the Wicked, is also dropping this summer. They've released one song from it so far, "1589", and it's pretty awesome, describing the trial and execution of an English man accused of being a werewolf. It's set to feature eleven songs and the two I'm most excited to hear are "Joan of Arc" and "Heretic Hunters". Needless to say, I will be driving around on July 26th blasting their new album and ensuring that everyone in my neighborhood and township enjoys it as well. I wish I could say I am going to one of their concerts this fall as well, unfortunately though, metal concerts and mosh pits are high stress environments. And I am not an exotic fish with adaptations to survive the crushing pressure at the bottom of the sea. But that's perfectly fine, because this finicky, pH sensitive fish that dies if you look at it the wrong way, can always rupture her eardrums with a good pair of headphones and a Spotify subscription instead.
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You can find Powerwolf's website here: POWERWOLF - Official Website
You can find Zsofia Dankova's portfolio here: ArtStation - Zsofia Dankova
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