Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Running Wild
Label: Noise Records
Released: 1988
Rating: 4.5/5
“Port Royal” finally nailed down the stylistic and lyrical-conceptual standards for a cult classic metal band that has always thrilled with its political incorrectness, its pirate-rebel attitude and the untamed charisma of its chieftain, singer and guitarist Rock’n Rolf. After laying down what critics of the day popularly dubbed pirate metal on “Under Jolly Roger” (1987), Running Wild shifted everything into an even higher gear on “Port Royal” and created one of the classics of German melodic metal.
Running Wild were always one of those metal bands with drummer trouble, so it’s no surprise that right after the “Port Royal” sessions wrapped, Stefan Schwarzmann (who came back later for the album “Pile of Skulls” (1992)) was replaced behind the kit by Ian Finlay. Schwarzmann, later of Accept and Helloween, teamed up with bassist Jens Becker (later of Grave Digger) to form one of the best rhythm sections in Teutonic metal at the time, while the two guitarists, that is Captain Rolf and Majk Moti, handled the epic and the dramatic with their harmonies in thirds and jagged riffs. Technically, Rolf was never much of a singer, but he had exceptional charisma and a one-of-a-kind voice that fit perfectly with the image of an angry pirate captain who’d seen it all and knew every trick in the book, and that set Running Wild apart from their metal contemporaries from a mile away. The lyrics on “Port Royal” are bursting with all sorts of historical and socially conscious themes, which would become standard practice on later Running Wild albums. If you enjoy gulping down literary classics and books about piracy, witch hunts, conquistadors, North American natives and epic historical battles, then this is the album for you. And it’s all lubricated with uncompromising satire aimed at all sorts of clerico-fascist institutions, towards which Mr. Kasparek always felt a strong allergy, which made him one of the greatest heroes of Teutonic metal on top of everything else.
Captain Rolf and his crew named one of the best albums of their career after the legendary Jamaican port town that was badly hit by a devastating earthquake in 1692. Port Royal was founded by English and Dutch buccaneers as a base for raiding the hated Spanish royal ships, which they had their monarch’s permission to do. Later it became a hotbed of unbridled piracy, shady taverns serving grog and rum, and prostitution, but also, on the other hand, of liberalism that was unheard of for those times. After the fateful earthquake, which some God-fearing souls on the outside saw as ‘divine punishment’, the town never recovered, and soon after its final collapse Kingston blossomed as the Jamaican capital.
“Port Royal” opens with the title track, a beloved classic that’s conceptually tied to a witty intro in which the random listener finds themselves in the middle of a pirate dive, after which dynamic guitar riffs and a drum stampede make room for Rolf’s properly pissed-off vocals. The main charm of this evergreen lies in the epic chorus, decorated with backing vocals, which bursts out at rhythmically perfectly timed moments. The main message hides in the closing verse: that the rebellious ‘spirit of freedom’ symbolized by Port Royal lives on even in today’s world.
‘Angry man’ Kasparek, whose vocal contribution is positively bursting with rebellious zeal, is once again the main pillar of quality on the explosive opener “Raging Fire”, where dynamic riffs, destructive double-bass pounding and a multi-voiced chorus rule amid a pompous battle ambience. On “Into the Arena”, where Rolf once again battles the hypocrisy of the ‘almighty’ RCC, especially when it comes to their medieval witch burning and the mass dim-wittedness of the God-fearing sheep of the time, besides his fierce vocal outbursts, it’s the baroque-tinged succession of guitar phrases that really stands out, nicely tied together by uncompromising drum stampedes.
The epic “Uaschitschun”, which in the dialect of certain North American Indian tribes means ‘white man’, is in every respect one of the best creations in the band’s story. With it they touched on the genocide of native North Americans by the white man and for a moment drifted away from pirate themes, though without colonization there would never have been Caribbean pirates, and plenty of far worse things besides. The song has an exceptionally solemn atmosphere and emotional charge, which superbly captures the pride of the oppressed North American peoples, to whom history still hasn’t paid its debt. Melancholic harmonies in thirds and massive drum fills flow into a lyrically rich chorus. But all these musical merits are surpassed by the humanist message of this wonderful, environmentally aware song, which is more relevant today than ever before. It goes that ‘only when the last tree has fallen, the last fish has been caught and the last river has been polluted will the white man realize that he can’t eat gold’ (a quote from Si’ahl, the legendary chief of the Seattle tribe). The dramatic instrumental “Final Gates”, besides the splendid guitar soloing, is above all a vivid demonstration of Becker’s solo bass talent, for which it would have been hard to find an equal in the German metal scene of the time, and an instrumental feat of a kind that sadly there weren’t many of in the band’s story.
“Conquistadors” is likewise one of the most beloved pieces in the band’s story and at the same time one of their sharpest anti-clerical manifestos, since it’s about ‘raping, pillaging and killing under the flag of the holy church’, while church bells can be heard tolling at its intro and ending. This pirate metal classic is bursting with dramatic harmonies in thirds, mischievous passages and merciless drum hooks, while the furious Captain Kasparek delivers one of the best performances of his singing career and at the same time wags a finger at the clerical hypocrisy that, in God’s name, brought so much misery upon subjugated peoples so that the Roman curia could go on gorging and fattening itself on loot from the new colonies. Of course, it was precisely these early Spanish conquerors, in their insatiable greed for Indian gold and new territories where they could plant a big cross with the message ‘this now belongs to us’, who left whole burnt-out ruins, heaps of corpses, rivers of blood and sheep converted to the ‘one true faith’ in their wake, and who consequently helped pave the way for Caribbean piracy. “Blown to Kingdom Come”, another revolutionary call to fight against secular and clerical tyrants, adorned with downright baroque arrangements, is one of the album’s ‘hidden’ favorites. Seasoned with simple but highly effective sonic spices, the track develops in an interesting way especially in its latter part and spills over into an epic, almost anthemic chorus.
The only weak spot on the album is “Warchild”, which, thanks to a rather limp chorus and slightly clichéd lyrics that deal with the problem of current wars instead of historical battles and pirates, fits this cult Running Wild release neither stylistically nor conceptually. “Mutiny” is a much better effort, once again a full-blooded pirate-metal assault with the emphasis on a dramatic central melody. On it, Captain Rolf makes it vividly clear what awaits all those crew members who dare to defy his authority. Luckily, the Running Wild ship never really sank during the band’s stormy career, even though a whole bunch of first mates and sailors came and went along the way.
The best piece on the album, just as will happen again on numerous other Running Wild albums, sits right at the end. That’s “Calico Jack”, a historical epic about the legendary English pirate who kept attacking and defying royal ships to the very last, until, through a chain of unfortunate circumstances, he was cornered and sentenced to death by hanging. John Rackham, known by the pirate name ‘Calico Jack’ (1682-1720), one of the most notorious pirate captains of the early 18th century, went down in pirate history mainly for two peculiarities. The first was his flag, which instead of the traditional crossed bones under a skull had two crossed sabers. The second was that he was the first pirate captain to have two women among his crew. They were Anne Bonny and her friend (and, it’s presumed, lover) Mary Read, who was raised as a man. The red-haired Irish beauty Bonny, later Calico’s wife (after she ran away from her first husband), went down in history as the best-known female pirate captain, although there’s no evidence that, unlike the ‘pirate queen’ Grace O’Malley, she ever commanded a ship with her own crew. There’s likewise no solid evidence that she dressed in men’s clothes, as Read did, which became popularized in later legends. Calico treated both women, who are said to have taken an active part in the fighting too, as equal members of the crew, which was a truly big deal in those times.
Calico’s wild pirate exploits around the Caribbean came to an end in late 1720, when a ship flying the flag of the British Empire surprised him during a night of carousing. Captain Barnet, a former pirate now in the empire’s service, had received special orders to track down and destroy the dangerous pirate who was giving the Jamaican governor more and more gray hairs. That evening Calico and most of his crew were heavily drunk, since they were celebrating the successful seizure of cargo from a Spanish galleon, so apart from Anne and Mary, who in the end had to give way, they put up no serious resistance. Together with both women and the rest of the crew, he was sentenced to death by hanging in the king’s name. After his death, his body was smeared with tar as a warning to other pirates and hung in a special cage that dangled right by the entrance to the harbor of Port Royal. To avoid the death penalty, the two women pleaded pregnancy, which under English law of the time meant the sentence was postponed until after the birth. While Read died of fever in a prison cell together with her unborn child, every trace of Bonny, who was spared thanks to her influential father, mysteriously vanished. Her fate remains a great enigma. Many historians assume that after the birth of Calico’s second child she somehow managed to slip away from the English authorities and went on with her pirate exploits well into old age, probably under another name.
Anyway, Rock’n Rolf, a great lover of pirate history, decided to dedicate one of the best pieces in the band’s story to his legendary pirate role model. The musical structure of this evergreen is also a real treat for the ears. A baroque intro is followed by epic harmonies in thirds, a combative drum stampede and dramatic twists, while Mr. Kasparek fills every available vocal capacity to the brim as he tells of Calico’s adventures on the open sea in the company of Bonny and Mary. It all ends magnificently with a trial, where Calico (played, of course, by Captain Rolf) answers the deathly judge’s sentence of ‘death by hanging, drawing and quartering’ (historically a little inaccurate, since Calico’s body wasn’t quartered but hung in a warning cage) with a sneer in the style of “I don’t recognize this court” and “see you again for the rematch, where the sun don’t shine”. Masterfully done.
The most notorious pirates in metal sailed into the port of Port Royal laden with loot and made the first masterpiece in the band’s story, one that’s bursting at the seams with all sorts of epic historical themes. Long before Pirates of the Caribbean hit the cinemas, Runnning Wild were using their music to present the romantic side of the pirate way of life, portraying it as an island of freedom amid the general obscurantism and stuffiness of the age of the great explorations that historians call the early modern period. “Port Royal” may not be the band’s best achievement, but you’ll still find most of their longtime favorites on it. While you listen, of course, don’t forget to set a glass of rum on the table, hoist the pirate flag, put on an eyepatch and perch Klodovik on your shoulder.
Line-up
Rolf Kasparek – vocals, guitar
Majk Moti – guitar
Jens Becker – bass
Stefan Schwarzmann – drums
Production
Running Wild
Track list
1. Intro
2. Port Royal
3. Raging Fire
4. Into the Arena
5. Uaschitschun
6. Final Gates
7. Conquistadores
8. Blown to Kingdom Come
9. Warchild
10. Mutiny
11. Calico Jack
