Review by Daniel for Running Wild - Pile of Skulls (1992)

German heavy/power metal establishment Running Wild & I have certainly maintained a rocky relationship over the years. I've been aware of them for many decades now but only really explored them properly for the first time during my work on the Metal Academy podcast during the mid-2010's when I investigated their first couple of mid-80's albums, neither of which did much for me to be honest. Since that time I've given five of Running Wild's next six albums a chance to win me over with only 1991's "Blazon Stone" sixth album offering me anything of interest. 1990's "Wild Animal" E.P. earnt a few spins too but was probably the furthest from the mark so you're probably wondering what led me to going down the path of reviewing the only remaining release from Running Wild supposedly classic period then, aren't you? Well, I guess I'm just a busy-body essentially. I just need to know everything there is to know about metal & after getting some pleasure out of "Blazon Stone" I was left with a single unexplored gap where its follow-up sat so I thought to myself "What can it hurt?". Well, perhaps it can't "hurt" as such but, as I've found out, it can still be a fairly uninteresting experience in much the same way as the vast majority of Running Wild's other major releases have been for me.

Much like the albums either side of it, 1992's "Pile of Skulls" seventh full-length sees Running Wild tip-toing along the boundary line between heavy metal & power metal with an occasional foray into genuine speed metal territory. They don't sound all that much like your classic German power metal model though & are a little more in line with the US version of the genre as they lack the vocal histrionics & aren't as focused on cheesy pop melodies (even though there are some examples to be found here). Front man Rock 'n' Rolf's production job is very good & highlights some chunky (if quite simple) metal riffage from both himself & Axel Morgan (current Savage Circus & former X-Wild guitarist). As I've said many times in the past though, a lot of Running Wild's instrumentation is quite engaging but the limiting factor here is definitely Rolf's vocals which come across as weak & clearly don't serve this style of music anywhere near as well as your classic higher-register Teutonic power metal front man would have been capable of. Rolf simply fumbles his way through the tracklisting & fails to ever see me fully engaged, even during the stronger material.

The tracklisting on "Pile of Skulls" certainly has its moments. It begins with a pretty awful folk metal intro piece but then launches into a trio of the best tracks on the record & after just experiencing those I was feeling pretty good about the potential for "Pile of Skulls" to emulate the successes of "Blazon Stone". Things take a downward turn at that point though which correlates with the band putting their power metal queue back in the rack for a couple of songs & focusing more on traditional heavy metal ("Fistful of Dynamite") & even hard rock ("Roaring Thunder") for a bit. My interest is revived during the middle of the B side through a duo of decent heavy metal inclusions in "Lead or Gold" & "White Buffalo" but the fifteen minutes of power metal that closes out the tracklisting sees me once again struggling & the record tends to peter out a bit, particularly given that the final song "Treasure Island" is in excess of ten minutes & flaunts the band's cringe-worthy pirate themes more strongly than anything else on the album.

So, once again we have a hit-&-miss Running Wild album here. The stronger songs never reach a particularly solid standard, each one struggling to overcome the vocal deficiencies of the band's loyal protagonist, but the weaker tracks are never all that horrible either. It just comes down to engagement really & I simply can't say that I remain engaged for a little over half of the album's run time. Even the inclusion of a more than decent speed metal opener (i.e. "Whirlpool") wasn't enough to see me getting terribly excited so I guess that Running Wild still reside primarily in the unfortunate bracket of being none of my fucking business for the most part. Diehard fans of similar German bands like Grave Digger, Blazon Stone & Rage will no doubt disagree with me but that's what makes this wonderful metal scene so interesting now, isn't it? For me personally though, I think my ongoing experiments with Running Wild are finally over & I plan to move on with my life.