RUNNING WILD – ROGUES EN VOGUE
Reviewed by Matt the Pirate
SYNOPSIS:
After a three year wait following his last studio album THE BROTHERHOOD, German Metal legend Rolf Kasparek and crew return to the metal world with a new longplayer in tow.
Now, those of us in the know are well aware of the many issues at hand leading up to this release. RUNNING WILD is almost a 25 year band now and recent album releases although very solid have widely been regarded as inferior to the glory days of the band. Now exactly what era and albums from the band constitute the glory days is always a hotly contested battle. Not surprising when you consider this is studio album number thirteen.
I, personally, lean toward the Power Metal base so perhaps it is natural that my favorite RUNNING WILD CDs have always been PILE OF SKULLS, BLACK HAND INN and MASQUERADE. I enjoy all RUNNING WILD material but these three have always stood far above the others. I say this simply to give you fans an idea of where my RUNNING WILD tastes generally lie.
Now, on to the new release ROGUES EN VOGUE. I had listened to a few 30 second clips of the songs at Amazon.de and they sparked my interest. I wasn’t overly pleased by any stretch of the imagination but I figured from the clips that the material sounded like it had a good chance to be as good as the last album which considering the age of this band plus a three year layoff sounded pretty good to me. Suddenly, from a completely unexpected and sinister source the full album fell into my lap prior to release.
All I can say is „OH MY GOD!“. I cannot believe what Rock’n’Rolf was able to do here. The creativity on this release compaired to the solid but somewhat paint by number last three releases is just baffling. Everywhere you turn he seems to pull a different rabbit out of his hat. If it’s not an unexpected wrinkle in the song here, it’s a shockingly fresh drum kick there. If it’s not the perfect outro you didn’t think was coming, it is a totally out of the norm vocal delivery or guitar lick. In addition, totally unlike previous releases it seems like the songs are not identically recorded. He may use a certain production on his vocals in one song and then the next little effect or echo or just the general sound or the way he uses his voice has changed just enough to be noticable.
Now, I’m not one for experimentation and screwing around in the studio. It usually means your material isn’t good enough to stand on it’s own but believe me it is the opposite here. Even if Rolf had used the same exact sound throughout the album these songs would still kick the crap out of anything he has done for years.
You know how older bands like Judas Priest, Scorpions, Kiss, Iron Maiden etc. etc. hang around for years and we still love ‚em. The material is not what it used to be but heck, if they put out an album that even harkens back to their glory days a little bit it is well worth it and we are happy. Trust me folks, this is not that.
When I first heard the album I admit the sound mix seemed kind of strange. Like I said Rolf has pulled out some new tricks and you have to listen a little while to fully drink in the new sound. Vocally he sings a bit higher and with a sharp bite on many songs. This is a voice we have not exactly heard before. All in all though, once you play a few times it just sounds so perfect. Pure RUNNING WILD, fresh and exciting although I have noticed that certain speakers seem to work better than others for this album.
When it comes to old fans. If you are looking for a specific sound Rolf has done in the past such as „I want it to sound just like PORT ROYAL“ or whatever I can already tell you it does not sound like any previous album so forget it. I guess I would call this a modern, clean production and yes there might be some triggered drums or whatever but Rolf has a real drummer on board for this album and if you give it a chance believe me it sounds powerfull and exciting. Drums 100% smoke.
SONGS:
Instead of going through every song on the album I think it will be more helpful if I just tell you how it is. The mix of songs is all over the place. You have a few very speedy songs, many of the songs have a mix of speed and yet the main riff is more basic and you have a few straight forward tracks but even on those Rolf seems to throw in some cool surprises to spice things up. For one, the straight forward tracks some like to refer to as the „Rock“ tracks have some cool metal licks in them and the choruses are better or at least more catchy than you would find on the rock tracks from the previous two albums THE BROTHERHOOD and VICTORY. Some of those rock tracks were like pulling teeth just to get through them.
As a side note, many of you may be wondering will there be any straight rock stompers ala AC/DC like the ones that showed up on THE BROTHERHOOD. Namely, „Detonator“ and „Dr. Horror“. The answer is No, every track on ROGUES EN VOGUE is more melodic in nature and not in that style.
We cannot talk about RUNNING WILD without bringing up Piracy. Sure enough a pirate song exists on ROGUES EN VOGUE. It is called „Skull & Bones“. I could say a lot about this track but I will simply leave it at this. I’m pretty sure any whining and complaing that the pirate song on the last album was somehow not legitimate and that Rolf may no longer have it in his heart to write a real pirate song ends here.
Overall, the songs are more catchy than before. Choruses ring in your ears for days and the songs do not drag on like some of the songs on the previous three albums that seemed to repeat themselves and last far too long. I think THE RIVALRY album comes to mind. Now, you may get the feeling from this review that I somehow don’t like the last three albums from the band. That is far from the truth. It is just that this release simply blows them away.
ORIGINALITY: 5 of 5
PERFORMANCE: 5 of 5
SONGWRITING: 5 of 5
VOCALS: 5 of 5
PRODUCTION: Grows On You
SPECIAL WEAPON: Rolf’s Energy
BOTTOM LINE:
I only have the main album which is 11 songs. There are two bonus tracks that will be released on the Limited Edition version and they are rumored to be outstanding but even if they end up being demo quality recordings of bathroom sounds I have to rate this album:
10 OF 10 SKULLS (Buy or Burn In Hell!)
REVIEW SCORES:
10 SKULLS (Buy Or Burn In Hell!)
09 SKULLS (Buy Or Die!)
08 SKULLS (Excellent)
07 SKULLS (Good)
06 SKULLS (Average)
05 SKULLS (Needs Improvement)
04 SKULLS (Bad)
03 SKULLS (Shockingly Bad)
02 SKULLS (An Insult)
01 SKULLS (A Scam)
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