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Review: Running Wild - Blood on Blood
Running Wild
www.running-wild.de
Blood on Blood

Label: Steamhammer
Year released: 2021
Duration: 55:39
Tracks: 10
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
3.75/5


Review online: November 20, 2021
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
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Rated 3.83/5 (76.67%) (18 Votes)
Review

Hard to believe Running Wild are still at it. Back when they broke up in 2009 it seemed like a good move, as they had clearly run out of ideas. When they came back in 2011 with a new lineup they did better, but the old spark was not quite there, and while the albums since then have all been better than shit like Rogues en Vogue, they are not a patch on classics like Branded and Exiled or Pile of Skulls.

This is the eighteenth Running Wild album, and yet it doesn't really sound like it, as they make no effort to create anything that they have not already done, and frankly done better. This is the sound of the band unabashedly milking their Pirate Metal glory days, but at least they are doing a decent job of it. Songs like the title track or "Say Your Prayers" pack in some decent riffs, and all of it sounds like the old days right down to the production. The guitars are a bit weak, and the drums lack punch. Rolf sounds exactly like he always does, with the same echo-heavy recording he has been using since the '80s.

Since this is a total throwback album, I feel like I should like it more than I do, but while this is doing everything it can to evoke old albums, it's not as good. The riffs are derivative, and they don't have that reel-based sound that used to really give this band wings. There's nothing on here to touch songs like "Treasure Island," "Black Hand Inn," or even "Fistful of Dynamite". If you like Running Wild, then this is about as good as they get anymore, and they are definitely aging better than Grave Digger, but this is not first-rate.

More about Running Wild...
Review: Black Hand Inn (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Blood on Blood (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Death Or Glory (reviewed by Zarzak)
Review: Pile of Skulls (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Port Royal (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Rapid Foray (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: Rapid Foray (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: The Rivalry (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Under Jolly Roger (reviewed by Nahsil)
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