Powerwolf - Blessed & Possessed review
| Band: | Powerwolf |
| Album: | Blessed & Possessed |
| Style: | Power metal |
| Release date: | July 17, 2015 |
| A review by: | Belegûr |
Disc I
01. Blessed & Possessed
02. Dead Until Dark
03. Army Of The Night
04. Armata Strigoi
05. We Are The Wild
06. Higher Than Heaven
07. Christ & Combat
08. Sanctus Dominus
09. Sacramental Sister
10. All You Can Bleed
11. Let There Be Night
Disc II [Limited edition]
01. Touch Of Evil [Judas Priest cover]
02. Conquistadores [Running Wild cover]
03. Edge Of Thorns [Savatage cover]
04. Power And Glory [Chroming Rose cover]
05. Out In The Fields [Gary Moore cover]
06. Shot In The Dark [Ozzy Osbourne cover]
07. Gods Of War Arise [Amon Amarth cover]
08. The Evil That Men Do [Iron Maiden cover]
09. Headless Cross [Black Sabbath cover]
10. Night Crawler [Judas Priest cover]
"I've put on the last album by mistake." These were my initial thoughts when I started listening to Blessed & Possessed; that is just how similar the opening track, "Blessed & Possessed," is to "Amen & Attack" from the previous album, Preachers Of The Night. Unfortunately this feeling of déjà vu continued throughout the rest of the album. Powerwolf have officially joined the "you know exactly what our new album will sound like" club, but is this necessarily a bad thing? Fans will eat this up, but anyone looking for something a little bit different will leave very disappointed. I often compare Powerwolf to Sabaton and not just in terms of sound, but in the confidence both bands have in their own style and lyrical themes. Neither band really wants to change and die hard fans of either band probably don't want them to change. Powerwolf take this to the extreme with this album. It seriously could have been called Preachers Of The Night Part II and I would have been a little more forgiving.
The Powerwolf sound is here: Latin, lofty choruses, organs, deliciously cheesy lyrics that are easy to remember and sing along to and the word "Hallelujah" used more often than all covers of the classic Leonard Cohen song combined. If Preachers Of The Night was enjoyable for you, then you have to buy this album as soon as it is released. Everything about the album is just so incredibly similar: artwork, number of tracks, length of album, music, lyrics, production and performance. I should repeat though that this predictable album is yet another master-class in producing music that would be incredibly fun to listen to live. There is a Blind Guardian quality with the sound of an army shouting at you through the speakers.
Originality is what I keep coming back to. With just how similar this album is to previous Powerwolf albums, I just have to wonder if things will ever change. You can argue that it is admirable that this is their style and they are happy with it; it does not detract from the quality of the performance and the impressive production of the album. Unfortunately, it also makes it difficult to pick out any stand-out tracks as they all sort of blend together, and the album rarely changes tempo. The opening four tracks of the album are a good indicator of everything that is on offer with Blessed & Possessed and I couldn't help but have the melody of "Dead Until Dark" stuck in my head for hours after listening to it. "Armata Strigoi" has some very catchy melodies throughout; it's a shame that this track seems to sound exactly like a mix between "Hung, Drawn And Quartered" from Accept and, strangely enough, "Moondance" from Van Morrison... and yes, I'm serious!
Perhaps I am being overly harsh with this latest effort from Powerwolf. It is an easy album to recommend to fans of the band looking for more of the same and I can guarantee that if you are a fan of their sound on previous albums then you will see this album as an 8, 9 or 10 out of 10. Sadly it is not an album I will be desperate to return to time and time again.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 3 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written by Belegûr | 02.07.2015
Comments
Comments: 17
Visited by: 251 users
| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365  |
Written by deadone on 02.07.2015 at 03:20 I think giving it a 7 and above would have been a bit hypocritical of since I was making such a big point about originality. I'm hoping I made it clear that people who dont' care about that will be pleased though!
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by deadone on 02.07.2015 at 03:38 Well while I was writing it I was thinking of Blind Guardian with a few of their albums in the 90's being the same style, but still sounding quite different. This Powerwolf album was just far too samey for me though. I would struggle to know which song they were singing live. When it gets to that stage then originality must be reflected in the score. For me anyway!
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62001  |
Did you listen CDII ... IMO its more value as I ... I wanna hear guy from Belfast cover song .... classic tunes, classic irish touch and Phil was there in original, so I am more curiuse about CD II I know band since MS posted news about it but full albums no, so to me I don't care about rip off until I will dig deeper, but I hope Cd II be good send me a link and I will vote for Scottish independence, my vote for CD fair deal ?
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by Bad English on 02.07.2015 at 15:31 Unfortunately the review copy was only for Cd 1. I know what you mean though, I am interested in hearing them take on those cover songs. Some of my favourite bands/artists in there. Sadly I could only review the first CD  , but I will most likely pick up the version with the 2nd one!Sadly the Scottish Independence vote is over...............for now 
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| WinterMadness Posts: 115  |
I'm glad I'm not the only one to see the Sabaton similarity...a power metal group I'm in freaked the hell out when I compared the two: "no, they're not similar at all, totally different..." The two bands are basically the same if you switch pipe organs and religious imagery for synths and WWII.
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by WinterMadness on 02.07.2015 at 15:50 I think they are very comparable. I can tell them apart obviously, but they are both bands that focus on one theme exclusively, have...quite...similar vocal styles, organs/synths like you say. Except for Civil War, if I was asked to compare Sabaton to anyone then it would be Powerwolf. Unfortunately both have also become completely stale for me.
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| WinterMadness Posts: 115 |
Written by Belegûr on 02.07.2015 at 15:52 Same for me. They both have such a homogenized sound that listening to an entire album is incredibly boring. But sometimes you're in the mood for a certain sound, and most bands would only have one or two songs that satisfy that craving. WIth bands like Sabaton and Powerwolf, they have albums full of that exact same sound. I like it for gaming sometimes.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62001 |
Written by Belegûr on 02.07.2015 at 15:34 me to its better value as Cd1 ,,, and CD offer an vote offer has limit 13 days IMO
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| jtowne1968 Account deleted |
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by [user id=156071] on 03.07.2015 at 00:40 You will love it then lol. I'm certain of that. I'm all for fun bands, but I do need a bit of variety sometimes. I stand by my score
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| jtowne1968 Account deleted |
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by [user id=156071] on 03.07.2015 at 02:21 Not at all! I'm glad you will like the album.
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by Bad English on 02.07.2015 at 16:42 There's one track from CD2 for you!
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
I've never really listened to these guys before, as I'm not too into power metal, but.... you make a good point with the score that you gave them for originality. Just because a band may have made a certain sound "their own" doesn't really mean they're being original if they keep doing it over and over again, and this is a good thing to remember for reviews. It reminds me of how one user was wining at me for my latest Summoning review when I gave a 7 for originality (still not that bad!) and they were like "it's clearly a 10." It was just like "dude, I love Summoning, but they've been doing the same thing for virtually their past 4 or so albums." That concept is what you seem to be getting at here as well.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 04.07.2015 at 14:26 Agreed. I make it clear that if originality is not important and you just want another Powerwolf album that is more of the same, then you will love it! The score shouldn't matter to those people and I'm glad they will like it.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62001 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 04.07.2015 at 14:26 good point but as far band works and don't get boring it works IMO ... better this as if we compare Iron maiden then and now or such horrible changes as Opeth and similar bands made
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| 7086945 Posts: 11  |
Nice review, I giggled a lot while reading it. Though as someone completely new to Powerwolf, I would personally rate this album an 8 or even 9. It is melodic, explosive, overwhelming, interesting in lyrics, and most importantly, my first album of this band. But it is also true that it lacks some varieties within this album itself. The more I listen to modern metal, the stronger the feeling is, that the bands are becoming standard plateforms which produce the same sh*t year after year. But hey, there are an awful lot of them, and the differences between each and other one are truely remarkeble, too. So even though the bands are becoming more and more homogeineous within themselves, as a listener I don't really feel bored or scared that the metal music is whithering away. Actually I think that this standardization within bands is a sign of a mature cultural industry with a stable consummer base, for which it produces, in relatively large quantity, the same products.
---- This man is lazy and has written nothing.
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