Powerwolf just proved that power metal has never been bigger. They might not embrace the tag, but the German werewolf-priests are only the second band in the subgenre to headline an arena in the UK - Sabaton were first - and they took to it with all the enthusiasm of a pyromaniac to a bonfire.
It's not even seven o'clock and already Wembley is filling up, a curtain on the backwall the only sign the venue isn't sold out. You don't need to count the masses of inflatable pickaxes held aloft to tell Wind Rose are fast-rising stars of the genre.
Kicking off with the bombastic Dance Of The Axes, their "dwarf metal" is as epic as it is daft - and Wembley loves it. From the folky knees-up of The Great Feast Underground (sample lyric: "Alcohol/We're drinking alcohol!/Until Tomorrow Comes/We're drinking alcohol!") to viral smash Diggy Diggy Hole (88 million plays and counting) to the bellowing chants of Rock And Stone, their set is gleefully unabashed from start to finish. It's not hard to imagine them headlining here in their own right someday.
Hammerfall got the jump on pretty much everyone when it comes to trad metal revival, paving the way for the likes of Sabaton and Powerwolf in the process. They might not have an eye-catching aesthetic or flashy stageshow, but the Priest-isms do them well and frontman Joacim Cans is a reliably funny and engaging frontman and with thumping heavy metal tunes like Renegade and Hearts On Fire you can't go wrong.
Metal's live spectacles are only getting bigger and madder - but somehow Powerwolf manage to outdo the competition. Pyro explodes from multi-tiered devices, meaning flames are literally raining down from the rafters at points and the cathedral set dressing looks fantastic as dry ice coils around the floor like an old Hammer Horror.
As impressive as the production is, you also have to remember that Powerwolf have the quite possibly the catchiest tunes in heavy metal right now. From the sublime, 80s-coded lead guitars of Armata Strigoi to Atilla Dorn's booming operatic vocal on Demons Are A Girl's Best Friend, and impossibly hooky, 'shake your ass' rhythms of Dancing With The Dead, Powerwolf combine the best parts of Rammstein, Iron Maiden and Ghost into one undeniably thrilling experience.
Somehow, the show keeps getting bigger too. Skeletal dancers join the group for Dancing, while Amen & Attack sees keyboardist Falk Maria Schlegel tinkering away at a flame-throwing organ. Just a few songs later he's dragged out to a stake in the middle of the stage and burned alive for 1589 - he gets better - and by Joan Of Arc the band are joined by a couple of angels whose wings burst into flames.
Throughout it all, there's a sense of undeniable awe. For all of Atilla Dorn's talk of metal being our religion, there's something true to the fanatical devotion Powerwolf get from the crowd, who roar along and bounce like a fleshy sea in a storm. With Wacken and Barcelona Rock Fest lined up for later this year, Powerwolf's ascension to festival headliner status looks assured. Marks our words: if they haven't headlined a UK festival by 2030, we may as well join a convent.
Powerwolf Setlist @ Wembley Arena, London March 7 2026
- Bless 'Em With The Blade
- Armata Strigoi
- Sinners Of The Seven Seas
- Amen & Attack
- Army Of The Night
- Dancing With The Dead
- Incense & Iron
- 1589
- Demons Are A Girl's Best Friend
- Kreuzfeuer
- Fire And Forgive
- Resurrection By Erection
- Where The Wild Wolves Have Gone
- Heretic Hunters
- Joan of Arc
- We Drink Your Blood
- Sanctified With Dynamite
- Blood For Blood (Faoladh)
- Werewolves Of Armenia
