Interludium

Interludium arrived on Good Friday, April 7, 2023, through Napalm Records. The title is exact: it is an interlude, a record placed between Call of the Wild and whatever came next, holding new songs alongside material finished during earlier album sessions but never released. Production was shared between Joost van den Broek, Jacob Hansen, Jens Bogren and Fredrik Nordström — the four names behind the band's records to that point. “Wolves Of War” opens on a marching rhythm and a chorus built for a hall. “Sainted by the Storm,” already played on the 2022 Wolfsnächte tour before it was released, reduces its idea of being consecrated by a storm to a melody anyone can follow. “No Prayer at Midnight” and “My Will Be Done” work from declarative choruses, while “Wolfborn” and “Midnight Madonna” are finished enough that it is hard to see why they were held back in the first place. The limited editions add Communio Lupatum II, a bonus album on which eleven befriended bands play Powerwolf songs, and the most expansive versions add Interludium Orchestrale, a set of orchestral takes. None of it reads as a clearing-out: the record is built as a run-up to the next step.