An excellent closing track and perhaps, with the opener and closer, Running Wild were announcing their intention of bringing the pirate theme more to the fore on future albums. This I would still not, despite the title, artwork and the few pirate tracks on it, consider a true Pirate Metal album, though at the time it was the only one out there. But later, with bands like Alestorm and Swashbuckle coming through, the whole idea of keeping the theme running through the entire album would be embraced and as a result some really excellent Pirate Metal albums would come to be.
As for Running Wild, I note their next album,
Death or Glory, while supposedly one of their most popular, still seems to have many non-pirate songs on it --- “Bad to the bone”, “Battle of Waterloo”, “Evilution”, while tracks such as “Billy the kid”, “Over the rainbow”, “Little Bighorn”, “Rolling wheels” turn up on the next one,
Blazon Stone. So we move on to what we can see is a full pirate album from them, or at least a concept album with very much pirate themes surrounding it.
Black Hand Inn --- Running Wild --- 1994 (Noise)
So, as we say here, what's the story? Well, the story basically is about a man, John Xenir, who uses black magic and is burned at the stake. But it would appear he is not dead, as he now runs an inn (the title one of course) which uses the only part of him that remained after he had been burned --- his blackened hand --- as its sigil. The opening track, “The curse”, is almost all spoken word, as John receives his sentence from the Inquisitor, then at first gentle, then more punchy guitar kicks in as the track ends in instrumental and into the title track. I must say, it certainly conjures up a real feeling of excitement, of something building. “Black Hand Inn” tells of the setting up of the tavern and of the man, rumoured to be a magician, who runs it. It's a great classic power metal song, and pulls in Running Wild's traditional anger against religion when a priest denounces John for trafficking with demons, but John proves that it is the priest who is evil.
The pace keeps up for “Mr. Deadhead”, which seems to be a sort of shot at man's greed and basic evil, and “Soulless” continues this theme, the song slightly slower with a kind of boogie feel to it, sharper, in-your-face guitar giving it almost a 70s hard rock idea, then the pirate theme comes home with a bang as “The privateer” rattles along on power metal rails, Xenir now seen as a cross between a seer and a pirate. He also appears to have become some sort of fighter for justice, which kind of dampens the pirate angle a little. There's an invitation to “Fight the fire of hate” with another powerful rocker, some sweet solos and an anthemic chorus that just sticks in your head, and then there's a nice sort of medieval guitar to open “The phantom of Black Hand Hill”.
It soon bursts into a big power metal thunderer though, and you could almost believe you were listening to early eighties Maiden here; the guitars are just fu
cking immense! Fantastic solo there near the end. “Freewind rider” puts me very much in mind of
Denim and Leather/Wheel of Steel-era Saxon, though the rider is on a horse, not a motorcycle. The melody of the chorus sounds familiar, though I can't place it at the moment. But now we're back to pirates with “Powder and iron”, and does it rattle along! Everything then slows down on what sounds like synth, or else flute, pan pipes or something like that as we move into the realms of high fantasy with “Dragonmen”, and it only slowed for a few moments; it's now bursting forth with renewed energy. I must admit though, the change in lyrical matter is confusing me. If you're going to write a concept album, even a loose one, try to keep to the storyline. What has this to do with John Xenir?
Be that as it may, the very history of man is told in “Genesis (The Making and the Fall of Man)”, surely the longest song Running Wild have attempted, at just over fifteen minutes long. It opens with a narrated introduction which seems to refer to aliens from a far planet finding Earth and utilising the gold therein to rejuvenate their atmosphere (don't ask me: I didn't write it!) --- I think Rolf is using the ancient Babylonian or Sumerian gods here. He certainly mentions Enki and Eridu and others. But then it bleeds into Old Testament narrative as we hear about the Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and the great battle of Armageddon, though Rolf gets it somewhat wrong here, quoting the “seventh month of 1999” as being Judgement Day. Um, still here, Rolf... talk to the Mayans, they know how you feel.
I suppose the overarching theme can be linked to say that these events are what John Xenir sees in his visions, but I feel the concept is so loose as to be almost falling apart. None of which takes from the excellence of the album, of course, which will be enjoyed by any power metal fan, but as a Pirate Metal album, again, it sort of disappoints me.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
1. The Curse
2. Black Hand Inn
3. Mr. Deadhead
4. Soulless
5. The privateer
6. Fight the fire of hate
7. The phantom of Black Hand Inn
8. Freewind rider
9. Powder and iron
10. Dragonmen
11. Genesis (The making and fall of Man)
The problem I'm encountering with Running Wild so far (and I accept that I have not listened to all their albums, but a quick check through lyrics has told me whether or not a certain album fulfills the criteria for Pirate Metal) is twofold: one, their music veers between (very good) pirate songs and then other related material, and two, they're too serious for me. I mean, half the time they're advocating Man give up his evil ways and stop destroying each other and the planet --- which I have no problem with; it's good advice at any time, especially in 2015 --- the other half they're painstakingly describing the exploits of historical pirates. But to paraphrase Mister Burns, where's the fun?
Admittedly, my only personal experience with Pirate Metal up to this has been Alestorm, and I loved them because they were irreverent, hilarious and didn't give a fu
ck. They're not concerned whether Captain Jack Morgan lived in 1759 or 1790, or even if he lived at all (well, that's not totally true, as we'll see when we get to them), but more with having a good time and making the sort of music you can enjoy and laugh with. For me, Running Wild, though they are the progenitors of this music, missed a trick here, and that was just to have fun with the subject, and through that, to ensure their fans did too. I've enjoyed the music, the lyrics are on the whole pretty good, but there hasn't been one instance here where I've felt the urge to smile, whereas by the time I had got through the one Alestorm album I did listen to I had had to change my underwear three times!
Maybe this attitude changed as time went on, although I kind of doubt it. But we'll move right up to the twenty-first century as we check out the last offering from them that I'm going to look at before we move on.
The Brotherhood --- Running Wild --- 2002 (Gun)
Sort of continuing the sense of disappointment vis a vis Pirate Metal, this album opens on another non-pirate track, as “Welcome to Hell” warns once again of the evils of man, with a nice trundling rhythm, biting guitars and hammering drums, “Soulstrippers” has some message about TV violence I think, and while I really thought the title track would be one, it's not: some sort of political rant against warmongers. It's a pity, as so far the album has been pretty stellar, but just as a power metal one, not a Pirate Metal one. I've yet to hear one song even vaguely referencing corsairs. “Crossfire” sounds like it might have some potential, right? Wrong. It's another stand-up-and-fight song, and while there's nothing wrong with them, I am beginning to weary a little of them. How many more ways can these guys overuse this tired subject?
At least the next one is an instrumental, and a long one at over six minutes, with “Detonator” apparently about someone who rather enjoys bombs and dynamite. This is finally followed by a song which has to be about pirates, since it's called, wait for it, “Pirate song”! Sure enough, it is, as we joyously return to the rogues of the high seas, and it's been worth waiting for, a rollicking, rolling rocker of a song with a great sense of bravado and courage, and for once just simply exulting in the pirate lifestyle, but it doesn't last of course as “Unation” (what?) and “Dr Horror” both return to other themes. Good power rockers, but I can get that on any power metal album really. The album then ends on another epic, ten minutes long this time, and focussing on T.E. Lawrence, the man who became known as “Lawrence of Arabia”. “The ghost” kicks off with a suitably Arabian riff, then jumps into a galloping power metal romp, and while the lyric is not the best it's a pretty climactic closer to the album.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
1. Welcome to Hell
2. Soulstrippers
3. The Brotherhood
4. Crossfire
5. Siberian winter
6. Detonator
7. Pirate song
8. Unation
9. Dr. Horror
10. The Ghost
While I would not be so crass as to begrudge Running Wild their place as the fathers of Pirate Metal (it would be impossible to do so; they were, after all, the first and only ones doing this for about fifteen years), their tendency to stray away from the subject on every album I've listened to from them, and even when they do concentrate on pirates, the general air of almost stuffy historianism that pervades their songs takes an awful lot of what I saw as the fun in Pirate Metal out of it. While it's good that they're so determined to make sure their songs reflect proper historical facts and dates, I would not be so concerned about this as I would about making the music a wild ride, and given the name of their band that's what I would have expected.
But maybe it's because they're German, not exactly known for their sense of humour, or maybe it's because they ploughed this furrow alone for so long, or even that they weren't sure how far they could push the envelope without overstepping and stretching the patience of their fans; whatever the reason, I find Running Wild, as the fathers of Pirate Metal, behaving in exactly the way you would expect parents to: careful, dignified (compared to what followed) and sticking to a core set of values from which they would not budge. There's no question that they invented the pseudo-subgenre, but in later times, others were to take it to extremes that these guys had never even considered, and in so doing, make it far more acceptable and less stodgy than I found the majority of the pirate songs here.