A quick introduction – my name is Dani, and I’m the DJ for a metal radio show, Powerzone. We specialise in playing power metal and folk metal, the kind of stuff that you don’t hear very often on UK radio, so when I heard that Powerwolf were finally planning a UK tour rather than a one-off gig in London, I was very pleased. Not pleased enough to buy a ticket in time, as it turns out, because I am a very forgetful kind of fellow. And when I finally remembered to get a ticket, I realised that the gig I wanted to attend in Manchester was sold out, which mad me both sad because I had missed out, but happy for Powerwolf (and by extension, me, because I know that a sell-out tour is likely to bring them back for another tour soon where I would be more prepared). So, when I got a message from Beany from NEW Metal Productions on the cold, January night of the Manchester gig asking if I’d like to go because of a cancellation, I put my coat on so fast I got coat-burn.
Arriving at the Manchester Academy, it was clear that the gig was already in full swing. After retrieving our passes, I was delighted to find out I had a guest photography pass- I had no camera with me, but nonetheless it was pretty cool. We rushed in to see openers Kissin’ Dynamite just finishing up a song to a packed room. Luckily, it wasn’t their last song as we had originally feared. What struck me at first was how well they were going down with the Manchester crowd- knowing only a little about the band, I didn’t think they were obvious bedfellows for a Powerwolf show. Let’s face it, their brand of glam metal is the sort of thing that you might expect opening for Steel Panther or A.N Other obvious comparison. But, you know, it simply didn’t matter.
I’ve rarely seen a gig so busy for the opening act, and with good reason. They had clearly got the audience nicely warmed up, hands were in the air right the way to where I was standing at the back! I immediately recognised the next song they played; Waging War had clearly sunk in from when I’d received a promo copy. An earworm, apparently! They followed on from that with You’re Not Alone, a singalong number that had the crowd swaying, and then a new favourite of mine I Will Be King where frontman Hannes accessorised himself with a huge swishing cloak. He certainly had character- reminding me of Tobi from Edguy as he orchestrated the crowd. They finished with Flying Colours to a rapturous applause. A solid start.
After a brief interlude and a beer, we were all set for Amaranthe. Despite my years in the business, I knew nothing about Amaranthe apart from the name, and I assumed they would be some sort of Nightwish clone just from that. Wrong again! To the blare of some electronica they took the stage; not one, not two, but THREE singers. Hoping for maybe some Avantasia-styled power metal, instead I was slightly disappointed to find that they play a strange hybrid of death metal and melodic pop, which I guess makes them ‘metalcore’? Not wanting to label them with a genre and give up hope immediately, I stuck around for a few songs whilst they belted out opener Maximise followed by Digital World, Helix and 1.000.000 Lightyears in quick succession.
It seemed to me that three singers, although a novel idea, wasn’t completely necessary. There was a death metal growling singer, and male/female clean vocals. I’m not convinced that they need a male clean vocalist at all, because frontwoman Eliza seemed more than capable of picking up any of those bits. What concerned me the most though, was that for all the synthesiser used, there was no keyboard player. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine- and many bands do this these days; backing tracks are all well and good, but only by having a keyboard player do you truly get a unique show. I don’t want the pace of the song to be completely dictated by a recording. I know, I know, I’m being ignorant here, it’s just personal preference. Many bands can’t afford to have that extra ‘live’ member and since bands tend to have creative geniuses in there anyway, in this case their guitarist Olof, it falls to them to create the synth. But in this case, personally I’d drop a singer and get a live keyboard player in instead.
Finding it hard to focus on the singers each doing their thing and frustrated with the weird pop-death mix, I retired to the backstage area to have a little mooch for a couple of songs before returning for the final few songs. The crowd in general seemed to love Amaranthe, and everyone was having a good time as we were getting ready for our main event.
When you got to a Powerwolf show, it’s not just the music that entertains you. It’s the atmosphere, the theatre, the interplay with the audience. And having seen them before, I knew I was in for a treat. The band slowly made their way onstage to the tunes of Lupus Daemonis, dressed in the robes and vestments fitting of the metal mass that was about to take place. Bursting into Fire and Forgive, it was clear that this was going to be a special one. The sound was clear and crisp, frontman Attilla Dorn commanded the stage, in the way that all great singers do. He has the audience eating out of the palm of his hand, chanting ‘POWERWOLF’ between every song and was eagerly assisted by keyboardist/organist Falk Maria Schlegel- he was keen to get up to the front of the stage at every opportunity and orchestrate the baying congregation. I love it when you get a keyboard player that does that- see Rammstein and Die Apokalyptischen Reiter for further examples of this!
Swigging a blood-red liquid from a chalice between songs, Attilla confidently strode around the stage like a bishop during communion whilst Matthew and Charles Greywolf (not real brothers, sadly, but they do look really similar and wore the same outfits) cranked out hit after hit in quick succession. This was their Sacrament of Sin tour, so a good deal of the material was obviously from that album. Incense and Iron, Stossgebet, Killers with the Cross and others mixed in amongst older favourites such as We Drink Your Blood, Amen and Attack and Resurrection by Erection (which certainly raised a smile, at least!). Somewhere along the line, they even managed to slip in new ballad Where the Wild Wolves Have Gone, where Falk Maria took centre stage at an ornate piano, brought in by two enrobed stage hands, playing with his back to the audience and a smile over his shoulders.
As the night drew to an end, Attilla instructed the audience to sing like him, with ever increasing difficulty levels, but the sold-out choir took to it with fervour, myself included. The hour was late and 2 songs into the encore, I was a little concerned that my favourite song might not be played. But for the final song of the night, Werewolves of Armenia was belted out and that gave me immense satisfaction. The band took a well-deserved bow and that was the end of a superb night. In my opinion, Powerwolf will be able to headline a UK major festival in the coming years, perhaps Bloodstock (they have already done the second stage). If Sabaton can do it, so can they and there are many similarities between the two bands, once you substitute ‘war and history’ for ‘wolves and religion’ in a lyrical sense. And now that their UK tour is selling out mid-sized venues, hopefully they’re be back soon so that anyone that has missed out this time around gets another chance to see them. I’ll certainly be there again.
