Artist: Running Wild
Label: G.U.N. Records
Release: 2002
Rating: 3/5
Well, well, well… I can’t stop grinning! After “Ready For Boarding” way back in 1988, we finally get a new official live CD from the legendary German heavy metal band. Though the timing is off. Sadly we don’t know the backstory, probably the answer lies in the contract between the band and the label. The band promoted tracks from their latest and, sadly, catastrophic creation “The Brotherhood” on a short early-spring European tour (Germany only). The setlist is tailored accordingly, with a whole five songs from the new record making the cut. The sound is phenomenal, though, and Rock’N’Rolf was without a doubt in top form vocally, singing his heart out. The guitars have the band’s trademark angry tone, the bass is dynamic, and Rock’N’Rolf has found a fantastic solution in the newly recruited “live” drummer Matthias Liebetruth. The kid is exactly what Running Wild need. Fast and expressive in the fills, and as nimble as can be on the double bass pedal the whole way through. Yes, you read that right: the band is no longer a “one man band”, and the booklet lists four members under the Running Wild lineup: Rolf Kasparek (guitar, vocals), Angel Dust “stray” Bernd Aufermann (guitar), Peter Pichel (bass) and the aforementioned Matthias on drums.¨Rolf and Bernd lock in beautifully through the riffing, the picking and the harmonized melodies. So hallelujah! Welcome back among the living, Running Wild, and I hope I haven’t jinxed it by speaking too soon.
The older stuff is what really works: “Uaschitscun”, “Riding The Storm”, “Bad To The Bone”, and the fantastic “Lead Or Gold” and “Blazon Stone”. They kick the latter off straight with the main riff (no intro). You’ll look in vain for songs from the “Masquerade” record. But they gave the recording of the Osnabrück show some special attention, because the fantastic “Running Blood” from the Death Or Glory album, which they played on the same tour a few days earlier in Kaufbauern, for example, was swapped out of the setlist for “Kiss Of Death” from Rivalry. Real shame. I’d rather “Kiss Of Death” had been added as a bonus than have the band sacrifice one of the best songs in their set for it. The main part of the show is followed by two encores. The first has three tracks, namely the historic “Prisoners Of Our Time” and “Purgatory”, plus, by some logic I can’t figure out, the painfully boring flop “Soulstrippers” from the latest record found its place in there too. In the second encore they dust off “Under Jolly Roger”, without which the crowd would have lynched them for sure. Rolf addresses the audience in German throughout.
The longer pauses between songs are a bit annoying, as Rolf uses them for numerous costume changes, from hussar to pirate. That kills the atmosphere, and the audience goes kind of quiet in those moments. Otherwise, the band wraps up the main part of the show with proper pyrotechnic devastation in a one-of-a-kind classic exit from “Victory”. Despite all the nitpicks, this live album doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. What mainly saves it is the band’s truly perfect, all-out stage performance and the phenomenal sound. A sound that only Running Wild can conjure up. Again. And this time, live!
Lineup
Rock’N’Rolf – guitar, vocals
Bernd Aufermann – guitar
Peter Pichl – bass guitar
Matthias Liebetruth – drums
Production
Rock’N’Rolf
Track List
CD 1.:
1. March Of The Final Battle (02:16)
2. Welcome To Hell (04:38)
3. Bad To The Bone (05:33)
4. Lead Or Gold (06:04)
5. Riding The Storm (05:15)
6. When Time Runs Out (06:07)
7. The Brotherhood (07:21)
8. Soulless (05:43)
9. Blazon Stone (05:21)
CD 2.:
1. Crossfire (04:58)
2. Metalmachine Solo (03:02)
3. Kiss Of Death (04:15)
4. Uaschitschun (05:32)
5. Unation (06:20)
6. Victory (06:25)
7. Prisoners Of Our Time (05:10)
8. Purgatory (06:23)
9. Soulstrippers (05:19)
10. Under Jolly Roger (04:41)
Album runtime: 100:00:34
