After taking twenty years from their founding to head Stateside, landing triumphantly in Times Square in New York in February 2023, Powerwolf have brought their Holy Heavy Metal Mass to North America twice in rapid succession: on a second leg of the same US tour in March of 2023, and now on a much more comprehensive 12-date US tour in the late summer of 2024, supporting their latest album, Wake Up the Wicked. This time around, they bring with them Vancouver, BC’s Unleash the Archers, who themselves just dropped a new album this past May. Conveniently, Powerwolf put themselves in Atlanta the day after the largest locus of the US’s power metal scene, ProgPower USA, leading to a rapidly sold out show as folks chose to extend their trip to Heavy Metal Summer Camp by one day, myself included.
Arriving to the Masquerade (which seems to receive the majority of touring metal performances in Atlanta) around 6:30, our party found that the line to enter stretched down several flights of stairs, then down a parking structure ramp and then back up the ramp. However, venue security worked the line and were actually scanning tickets in advance and marking hands, leading to a rapid entry at the 7pm doors time.
Even before Unleash the Archers took the stage at 7:40pm, the floor and both levels of center mezzanine were quite full, making for some tough sightlines for the shorter individuals in our party! Scanning the crowd, it was quite apparent just how many people came from four earlier days of metal in Atlanta, judging by their festival shirts. Unleash the Archers is an incredibly high-energy band – this time, as evident by their bassist accidentally unplugging himself from jumping around! Their vocalist, Britney Slayes, sounded absolutely perfect during this set and gave a shoutout to the band’s Discord community, dedicating “Gods in Decay” to them. UtA busted through their short eight-song set, closing out with “Northwest Passage,” having the crowd sing along while knowing EVERY word.
Unleash the Archers
After a relatively quick changeover, Powerwolf took the stage. As the house lights came down, the crowd split themselves into two camps: those howling like wolves and those chanting “POWERWOLF! POWERWOLF!”. The band jumped right into Bless Em’ With the Blade, the opening track from their newest full length, grabbing the crowd’s attention right out the gate with crazy-high energy. Their frontman, Attila Dorn, is such a charismatic frontman, complementing the crowd with, “WOW, what a warm welcome! It seems like home, my friends! We are really, really happy to be in your beautiful city for the first time.”, immediately proceeding with blessing the venue “for today and for the future with HEAVY METAL!”, getting the crowd pumped for the second song of the night, “Incense and Iron”. As they worked through the setlist, Attila always seemed to have some monologue between each track, but before “Dancing with the Dead”, he involved some of his bandmates by asking the audience, “Do you wanna dance with me? Do you wanna dance with Falk (keys)?” Let’s just say that Falk got more cheers! As the night progressed, the energy level did not let up one iota until the end, to the point where you could feel the second-level balcony flexing a bit during “Blood for Blood”. As they finished up, the band determined that Atlanta was “Absolutely Possessed with Heavy Metal!” and after this night, I wholeheartedly agree!
Powerwolf
