On their only second tour in Denmark, the lupin brotherhood of Powerwolf returned to Copenhagen, but they’d updated the venue capacity as they now played Amager Bio. Not bad, not bad at all.

“Are you ready to celebrate the holy heavy metal mass with Powerwolf?”
- Attila Dorn (vocals)

Oddly though, there were less people in the crowd as it was time for Powerwolf to play. Less than at their last show? Damnit, I can’t remember that!
No, what I mean is that there were fewer in the crowd, than there had been for the support band of the night, Gloryhammer, and as fun as I find Gloryhammer, I found this to be truly confusing.
It wasn’t the floor that interested me most though, but rather the insanely well decorated stage in front of me! Seriously, just look at the photos - it was truly stunning. Powerwolf, as big a band as they’ve become, surely went for giving something back to the fans, here in the form of an extravagant show, and I liked it!

The band took to the stage in their usual get-up, although I was slightly surprised to see Attila Dorn with hair cut short. That thought was soon blasted from my mind by the beginning of the show, however. Fire & Forgive, first track off their latest regular full-length release, opened the show, adding yet another fun and catchy song to the band’s growing “&” song list - Fire & Forgive, Incense & Iron, Amen & Attack, Blessed & Possessed, Demons & Diamonds, Sacred & Wild, Christ & Combat - do we sense a pattern?
Anyway, the band was as lively as ever, as the Greywolf brothers constantly moved all over the stage, Roel van Helden used every free moment to twiddle with his sticks or stand and compel the audience, and of course Dorn and Falk Maria Schlegel constantly fighting over who’s the more popular with the fans. Heck, they’d even dressed their stage hands up in monk robes, as they entered to help out with stuff!

Apart from their engaging performances, the major strong point of Powerwolf has always been their ungodly ability to write insanely catchy tunes, and we were treated with a slew of them here tonight. The weight of them came from The Sacrament Of Sin of course, but they had managed to cram at least something in from every full length release to date, with the one exception of the cover song album Metallum Nostrum that is.
It was very much a hit parade from one end to the other, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t treated to both variation and surprises. One especially nice example of the latter, came with Where The Wild Wolves Have Gone. Here a piano was pulled out front and centre of the stage for Schlegel, and the song started out as a powerful dou with only him playing and Dorn singing - the rest came in later on, transforming it to a sweet power ballad, but that opening was monumental, and I’d actually like to hear a version with only the piano and vocals. The fact that they threw in falling snow as an effect, only added to the enjoyment.

I needn’t have worried about the crowd, as it quickly gained in size again, as soon as the band started playing (apparently the bar outside was something of a magnet between bands, even with the bars inside the concert room). I have a sneaking suspicion that it didn’t become as big as it was for Gloryhammer, but if it did or didn’t doesn’t really matter - the heat was on, and the action was go, to use but a couple of worn clichées to describe the evening.
Dorn was often willing to take some extra time for the audience to sing along to the songs, but even when he didn’t, the crowd sang on. Loudly. Dorn’s vocal solo, the heavy metal mass, was of course fun, but this was just one of the many places where the fans’ voices were heard.
There were other things going on as well of course, but headbanging and singing are the predominant audience features at a Powerwolf concert, as they should be.

Now, I had certainly enjoyed Gloryhammer, as had the rest of the crowd by the looks of it, but in my more or less humble opinion, there was no doubt as to who was the true ruler of the night - shall we howl their name to the blood red moon together?

Setlist:

Fire & Forgive
Army Of the Night
Incense & Iron
Amen & Attack
Killers With The Cross
Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend
Armata Strigoi
Stossgebet
Resurrection By Erection
Where The Wild Wolves Have Gone
Blessed & Possessed
Kiss Of The Cobra King
We Drink Your Blood
Solo (Dorn)
Lupus Dei
Agnus Dei
Sanctified With Dynamite
Coleus Sanctus
Werewolves Of Armenia