Running Wild: Under Jolly Roger (1987)

It took me a long time to discover Running Wild's music.  I had always heard about them of course, the German band is a major influence in the power and speed metal genres.  Running Wild is often mentioned in the same breath as Blind Guardian and Helloween when discussing the origins of power metal.  But so much of their material was hard to find and out of print, so it took a long time to find anything.  That started to change last year and this is now the third album by Running Wild in my collection, joining Death or Glory and Blazon Stone.  This is also the earliest of the albums in my collection and was one of my primary targets when I began looking into Running Wild's music.

This album may be Running Wild's first to take on the pirate theme that the band would become well-known for.  I could be wrong about that, but it is certainly when the theme became the most obvious.  This is obviously different than groups like Alestorm, who take the pirate theme to the next level, but Running Wild did have a strong lyrical theme about pirates.  It showed through in the title track here which also featured various sound effects to sound like cannon blasts.

The songs are here are melodic, yet heavy and catchy as all hell.  There are a number of fist-pumping choruses that make the listener stand up and take notice, including the obvious "Raise Your Fist" and then "Beggar's Night" and "Raw Ride".  The riffs take obvious influence from the likes of Accept, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and there are some incredibly impressive galloping guitar solos as well.  The guitars are of course the major drawing card on this album, but the rhythm section shines through as well and is a bit of an underrated part of the band.  The vocals are delivered in kind of a sneering snarl, but are still quite melodic and powerful.

I am still in the process of discovering Running Wild, but this is my favorite album to date.  It packs a punch while retaining an infectious melodic sound.  The pirate theme is not all-consuming at this point, as only a couple of songs deal with pirates.  It is an interesting theme, and at the time was definitely unusual.  This album is a lot of fun and is influential for a very good reason.  This is a great example of what power metal from Europe used to sound like, back when "power" was the operative word.  I will be continuing to explore Running Wild in the future, I have a long way to go.

Metal Mail: Rapid Fire Records

RUNNING WILD: DEATH OR GLORY (1989)
For some reason, I only recently decided to check out Running Wild.  The German power/speed metal band has been around for 40 years, yet I never took the plunge.  It was only a few months ago that I added Blazon Stone to my collection and loved it.  So I picked up this release which was the album that immediately preceded Blazon Stone and I love it even more.  Running Wild, along with Blind Guardian and Helloween, really helped usher in the European style of power metal.  This album is filled with terrific, pulse-pounding burners with infectious hooks and choruses. The middle tracks drag just a little bit, particularly with the instrumental "Highland Glory" and its oddly bouncy bass riff, but it picks right back up on "Marooned".  I was a little concerned when I saw the tile "Bad to the Bone" that Running Wild might be attempting an ill-advised cover, but this song is an original and quite catchy.  After two positive experiences, I will be checking out additional material by Running Wild.  There is a lot of stuff to go through yet.

NUCLEAR ASSAULT: GAME OVER (1986)
Nuclear Assault is the band that really got me into crossover.  I had heard groups like Suicidal Tendencies and Prong, and even the Corrosion of Conformity stuff that was more crossover-oriented, but it was when I checked out "Critical Mass" again that I was really sold on the genre.  I loved the album that that song appeared on Handle with Care as well.  So, when I had an opportunity to add their debut album to my collection, I jumped on it.  I do not like this one quite as much as the aforementioned album though.  The band had not fully grown into their sound on this release.  It is more of a straight thrash metal album than the later release.  There are a lot of great songs on this album, but some of the tracks are clearly done to be humorous and end up falling a little flat.  There is nothing inherently wrong with doing humor in metal, but it does not always work, and this is one of those occasions.  The more serious tracks are definitely the standouts and keep the album interesting.