Metal Reviews

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Click here to see the review.

From what I heard on youtube, they got the review they deserve.

Btw, Chris, I'm really glad you're back reviewing. It lacked and old soul to the team.

Thanks. I'm glad to be back reviewing too .

What? A review by Chris that doesn't have a score over 90 or an album of the month/year tag? I am shocked! Other than that, glad to see you back! I hope all else is well with you!

LOL, Hi Jeff, why can't everyone understand that since I review little, I review what I like the most... hence... high scores .

Hehe, how are you these days ?

Oh and why do people greet me back like I've been away for long, the welcome back end of year 2011 was warranted cause I was pretty much MIA back then, but since then I wrote pretty regularly, only skipping 1-2 weeks when I have exam periods (yeah back to school, temporarily... thank god as I no longer have what it takes to study nor the envy to do so more than a few weeks. Been doing it for three months now and my brain is in total data overflow... can't wait for it to end, hopefully in 2 weeks).

Glad to hear from you, and may I ask, when are YOU coming back ?
Chris

"me and the boys! we laugh at noise! me and the boys! we are going crraaaazzyyyy!"

This song has almost undone anything they have ever written.. Almost.

Actually I thought so as well but then I followed by brother's advice to re-listen to Masquerade, an album we hated at the time because it followed the best of career Black Hand Inn, an almost impossible task and unachievable expectation. So it took dust for more than 10 years, and now, after listening to this farce of ShadowMaker, it now sounds like one of their great albums (it just didn't stand a chance of meeting this expectation to improve on Black Hand Inn back then but now it blows everything post Black Hand... and while it won't beat Pile of Skulls or Death and Glory it's still a highlight of their career and probably a misjudged album now that I took a gigantic step back from it all these years) ! I badly judged it and I'm thinking it should be one of my upcoming reviews now. I suggest to anyone who discarded it back then to revisit it NOW, you'll be in for a surprise !

Just my 2 cents,
Chris

And I realize now that I should have included these lyrics in my review, they describe the horror of that song better than I could write it in 10 pages. I intended to do it but somehow I forgot to when it came time to jolt down my thoughts into the review. Thanks for correcting that miss on my part.

Chris

The reviews aren't looking too good at the moment

Good question! Hahaha! We wil have to catch up. E-mail me when you get a chance. I want to know what TV shows u are watching these days!

Shame if it really stinks. Most other reviews are positive so I will just have to catch some time and give it a few listens. And that gayish ( not that there's anything wrong with that ) song sounds really awful.

Hey Chris, how you been??

Just curious if you heard the Toxic Taste album that Rolf released during RW's hiatus?? That was basically an 80's rock album with some punk and metal elements. From that context, I totally see where songs like Piece of the Action and Me and the Boys come from. Fans of RW trashed that album when it came out, so I am guessing that Rolf resurrected the RW name, knowing that Toxic Taste was dead on arrival. However, he kept some of the Toxic Taste influences (more obvious at certain points during ShadowMaker than others). He mixed this TT influence with a mid 80's Accept meets Saxon heavy metal sound as opposed to the heavier classic RW sound of old. As a result, you have something that sounds nothing like RW. In fact, there are only 2 songs on this album with a pirate theme? The rest is just this trad metal mixed with some cheesy TT elements. Having heard that TT album way back when, this is pretty much the album I expected when Rolf announced the return of RW. And seeing that his buddy Pete Jordan is the only other band memeber listed, I suspected that the drum machine (aka Angelo Sasso, lol!) would return, along with cruddy production and sonics. I guess I don't hate this album as much as you, seeing as this is exactly what I expected following Rolf's TT venture. However, from the perspective of past RW albums, this albums really should have been released under a different moniker. Better than ReV, but not a true RW album in my eyes. I can at least make it through this album, whereas I turn off ReV after 4 or 5 songs.

Hey Mike,

Its really nice to hear from you ! it's been a while . I'm fine thank you and you ?

I wasn't aware of the Toxic Taste album. All I can say is that album allowed me to rediscover an album I thought I hated like Masquerade , which is now a pure awesome album after bleeding through my ears with ShadowMaker. I even tried ReV and I think it sounds better than this (the songs might be better written on ShadowMaker but I simply can't get into that utter shite sound). It's too soft, it's too mellow and it's not worthy of the name Running Wild AFAIK. Anyway, I'll always enjoy their back catalog but this one will probably never get another spin.

So what's new with you ? Don't hesitate to drop me an email to catch up, I've been wondering how you were lately and would love to know what's new with you.

Hope to hear more from you soon,
Chris

LOL, I hesitated to put that in the review as a wink to Seinfeld (probably my all-time favorite comedy tv show), but I wasn't sure anyone would get the reference .

Truthfully' I don't recall much about this album. When I first heard the first single I was dismayed yet slightly hopeful, but the entire album just shows a band that needs to call the pirate antics a day. The riffing is nearly entirely mid paced and the flare of Rolf's voice is gone. Maybe if they sped it up and injected some of the heavier moments that made Under a jolly rodger and Port royal classic examples of Teutonic heavy metal they'd salvage the wreck of this newest album.