German/Romanian band Powerwolf was one of those acts which I had never heard before, but as they had come recommended by a friend, I figured why not give them a shot.
Man, am I glad I did...

Newly acquired drummer (not sure he’s even an official member) Roel Van Helden was the first one to enter the stage, all clad in black, with full corpse-paint, and the biggest smile you’ve ever seen! Already at this point you could see where this was headed...
Anyway, as soon as he got behind his drums he stood up and got a loud shout-along going, the perfect soundtrack for the entry of the rest of the band; ”brothers” Matthew and Charles Greywolf (guitars) quickly ran on stage and showed great energy from the start, and they were closely followed closely by Falk Maria Schlegel (keyboard). Vocalist Attila Dorn came adorned in a black priest robe, swinging an incense jar in one hand and carrying a golden chalice in the other.
After sanctifying the stage and the crowd, the show commenced the song We Take It From The Living, and this certainly did not lessen the crowds’ enthusiasm.
What struck me as odd was that there was no bassist present on stage; Charles Greywolf handles this duty as well in the studio, but apparently they did not deem it necessary to bring someone in for the live-show, and as this was all new to me I couldn’t say if they maybe played it over the speakers only or if they completely left it out. No matter what, the whole thing sounded good and tight.

Powerwolf may have had only 45 minutes in which they could mess about on stage, but they used their time to the fullest as they ripped out one grand anthem after the other, which all saw the German crowd go wild with headbanging and especially singing and shouting along!
Dorn proved to be an exceptional frontman, often speaking to us between songs (sadly, it was all in German so I didn’t get anything) and leading us into the shouts I’ve already mentioned. Werewolves Of Armenia was a good example of this, as he shouted ”Hu” and we should answer back with a loud and resounding ”Ha”!
Dorn wasn’t alone in getting the crowd off their asses though; I’ve already mentioned the energy of the Greywolf’s, who were constantly running from side to side of the stage without losing the connection with the crowd; Schlegel constantly left the keyboard every chance he got (which was often) to go stand at the front-stage, doing his part in inflaming the fans. Van Helden on his hand was also something to behold; how he managed to actually play something is a mystery, as every time I turned my eyes in his direction he was standing up and waving at the audience to turn it up even louder. An unusual approach to be sure, but damnit it worked!
When the end was drawing near in the form of the last song, Lupus Dei, Dorn once more took his priestly garments on (he had dropped them shortly after the beginning), and when the whole thing was over and done with, the whole gang assembled to take a deep bow followed by throwing loads of things out, among other things a whole lot of water, to the thirsty yet happy audience.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, I turned instantly fanboy for this band. They had everything I looked for; great energy, even more humour, and songs you could sing along to the first time you heard them!
And the best part of it all? I was going to see them again at Metalcamp the very next week!

Setlist:

We Take It From The Living
Prayer In The Dark
Raise Your Fist, Evangelist
In Blood We Trust
Werewolves Of Armenia
Sanctified With Dynamite
Resurrection By Erection
Saturday Satan
Lupus Dei