Greywolf: Absolutely. “Lupus Dei” was a great album, a huge step for us as a band, and an album that brought us a real lot of new fans. Not a few people have considered this album as a classic right after the release and these are comments we really feel honoured by. And also speaking for us a musicians: we still love that album and would not change any tone on it. We´re proud of having written that one, haha...

Your new album ‘Bible of the Beast’ beats ‘Lupus Dei’ on all fronts. I don’t mean to say that ‘Lupus Dei’ was not a good album, but it’s more mature. Do you agree?

Greywolf: Well, thanx. Great to read that. I don´t know if we have beaten “Lupus dei” with “Bible of the beast”, I don´t compare the two of them in a competitive way. Lupus dei, was what we did in 2007, it was a great album, and now it´s “Bible of the beast” that displays the fucking best we were able to deliver in 2009. But of course it´s great to read that you see it this way. And of course: I also think that on “Bible...” we have developed our sound even further and did things much more straight and to the point, and I think we have managed to write a bunch of really good songs this time. And there´s indeed one point where we topped “Lupus dei”: we have just entered the German album charts for the first time in the bands career with “Bible of the beast”...

Can you tell us something about the song-writing? Who’s responsible and how does the band work?

Greywolf: We only work as a collective. A single Wolf has no power at all. It´s the pack that makes a wolf being dangerous – and it´s exactly this way when it comes to the songwriting process: we can only create the typical Powerwolf feeling when all the five of us are together in one room and we all let our passion for metal flow free... I could absolutely not imagine working like I sometimes read from other bands, that all members work out stuff at home and then send it to the other via mail... Powerwolf could never write a song this way... we really need that band-feeling to be creative. And according to that all of us are responsible for the songwriting.

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The new record has more power and is heavier, was that how you planned it, or did it just go this way?

Greywolf: We didn´t plan that, it´s probably what is considered a natural development. But then again, there was one initial thing we consciously did: we decided to start writing this album right after we came back from the touring for “Lupus dei” as this way we wanted to get the fresh power and the adrenaline push we have when being on stage banned into the new songs. And I think we indeed did so. “Bible...” is more aggressive and more rough than our previous albums, and this is pretty close to how Powerwolf sound when playing live. That´s what we wanted to achieve, and when we started writing songs it just happened by itself that they got more heavy...

I read that the band used a real choir this time, could you tell us something about that?

Greywolf: Well, it was a really unique experience. We got the chance to work with a big choir of a national conservatory in our hometown. Attila´s vocal coach is  a professor at the conservatory and since this man is a big Powerwolf-fan, he offered us working with his choir. That´s a chance not many metal bands get, and it was by the way the very first time that this choir sung lyrics like “St. Satan´s day”, haha...

I also hear a church-organ, I think it must be a real one (and no keyboard), is that right?

Greywolf:Indeed. We recorded the organ parts in a chapel in northern France , near the city Thionville. As you can imagine it was a lot of work to do this, and it was by the way not easy for a metalband to get the permission to record in a church, but it was definitely worth all the work. No keyboard sound or sample could ever sound as huge and as atmospheric than a real church organ recorded in a church. And then: can you imagine what a great feeling it was sitting in an empty church with the church organ playing your songs? Man, this was really shivers down our spines for hours...

The lyrics have very religious subjects, is Powerwolf obsessed by religion?

Greywolf: As private persons we all are into spiritualism and religion. All of us in their individual way, and so we could never tell you that Powerwolf stands for any religious belief, as we all have our own beliefs. Speaking for Powerwolf as a band we only describe, we don´t judge. But of course we are somehow obsessed by religion in a way, it´s just that we don´t want to go too deep into it with Powerwolf, as Powerwolf is a metal band, not a sect.

What does the band want to tell us with their lyrics?

Greywolf: We don´t want to tell anything to anybody. We describe, we write about religious metaphores, myths and odds. But we don´t want to convince anybody of anything or tell people anything. If there´s a message than it´s: your only true religion should be METAL!!!!

Could you tell us where the song “Resurrection by Erection” is about?

Greywolf: Guess what? What´s a man´s true and only religion? There you got it. We celebrate the miracle of resurrection focussing on one part of the male anatomy. Halleluja.

Your music is rather over the top power metal. Originality is not a word that I would use listening to the songs. I don’t think it is the purpose of you to be original is it?

Greywolf: Not at all. We want to write great heavy metal songs. Period. No originality needed for that. But nevertheless I think that in the meantime we have created a kind of unique Powerwolf sound and unique trademarks within the kind of metal we play, and that´s something that fulfils us with pride.

Powerwolf found a good balance between the power, the dramatical parts, the choirs and the orchestral arrangements. This must have been quite a difficult job. You must be very satisfied with Fredrik Nordström.

Greywolf: Well, it basically was our job to find this balance, since Fredrik was only involved for the mix. We produced this one ourselves. But you´re right, it was a hard piece of work this time. Considering all the tracks we recorded, all the choir arrangements, all of that had to be worked out and fitted into the songs, as the most important still is the song itself, and sometimes its the hardest part not to loose the focus on it. And there again of course it´´s also the goal of Mr. Nordström, as I think he is one of the best mixing engineers if it comes to combining choirs and orchestral stuff with a real kick-ass metal sound.

I described Powerwolf as a mix between Manowar and Sabaton, can you live with that?

Greywolf: I can live with any comparison, I don´t mind. To be honest I don´t know much of Sabaton, I saw them live once, a great live band, and remembering that show I can understand that there´s a certain similarity in the way of metal we both play. I should check their album out. And concerning Manowar... for me personally they are no influence at all, never really was into what they did or do...think I don´t even know any of their albums from the last ten years. Of course I know the classics, but not really from a close listen...

In Germany you are very well-known, how is your popularity in other countries?

Greywolf: We´re working on it. Unfortunately the touring for “Lupus dei” didn´t lead us to other countries except for Switzerland, Austria and France , which we were really unhappy about. I really hope that for “Bible of the beast” we get the chance to tour in a lot of different countries. We´ve just been to Belgium for the first time last week supporting Hammerfall and it was goddamn great to see what a great welcome the Belgian fans gave us, and that made us aware of the fact that we really need to increase our gig schedule outside of Germany. Let´s hope we get some invitations!

On which Festivals can we see you this Summer?

Greywolf: We´ll play at Bang your Head and Summerbreeze for example – again both in Germany... but we´re about to get some more festival shows booked, and maybe there´s some festival shows coming up outside of Germany , which would be a fine chance to present “Bible of the beast”.

Other touring plans?

Greywolf: We´ll definitely tour in autumn. We´re just about to check different options, but there´s nothing confirmed yet. We don´t know yet if we´ll play another tour as a support act. At least speaking for Germany the time seems to be right to play a first headlining tour, but if there´s a right offer we also consider doing the support thing again, especially to get more shows outside of Germany...

Any other thing you want our readers to know?

Greywolf: Never forget that METAL is religion everybody. Now put on our fave record, volume to the right, and shout your prayers!!!!