Port Royal (Album)

Occupation

Port Royal is the fourth studio album by the German heavy metal band Running Wild. It was published in 1988 and deepened the completed on the previous album " Under Jolly Roger " Image shift towards historical topics, especially pirates. In addition, the album established the commercial success of the band, which still increased and is reflected in the following years in top chart entrances and single story with a paid circulation of about 50,000.

The album title refers to the Jamaican city of Port Royal, which was in the 17th century as a stronghold of piracy.

Formation

Prior to the recordings, the band changed their occupation. The rhythm section, consisting of Stephan Boris's on bass and Wolfgang " Hasche " Hagemann on drums, left the band. It was replaced by Jens Becker and Stefan Schwarzmann.

The recordings took place in 1988 in the Sky Trak Studios in Berlin. The album was released on 26 September 1988 on Noise Records on CD and LP. 1989 appeared an output on MC, 2007, a remastered CD version.

The album cover is based again on the pirate theme. This time, the band members are graphically represented as a pirate and sitting at a table in a harbor pub. Above the fireplace hangs on the wall a pirate flag, in the middle of the band is also on the band mascot " Adrian ", which was here stylized with tricorn hat and uniform to the pirate captain.

The tour to the "Port Royal" was accompanied by the band Angel Dust. Before the next album Stefan Schwarzmann left the band and was replaced by Iain Finlay.

Title list

Port Royal was composed by Rolf Kasparek, Jens Becker and Michael Kupper. Kasparek and Kupper also wrote Calico Jack together. Into the Arena and Blown to Kingdom Come go alone to the account of Kupper, Final Gates comes from Jens Becker. All the other songs were composed by Rolf Kasparek.

Meanings of some songs

  • "Port Royal " describes the liberal and bustle of the busy pirate city of Port Royal. In the corresponding "Intro " is heard as well in the pub shown on the cover of the chorus of " Under Jolly Roger " is sung by the same previous album.
  • "Raging Fire" tells of a revolution against a dictatorial regime.
  • "Into the Arena" denounces crimes of the Christian Church in the Middle Ages. The same is true for " Conquistadores ", here the Christian motivation of the conquistadors is provided in the conquest of South America in question.
  • " Uaschitschun " acts in a similar manner of crimes against the American Indian population of the United States. Readjusted the song is a proverb, which is attributed to either the Indian chief Seattle or the Cree Indians (see the Cree prophecy ). However, the quote from the German was translated back into English:

" Only When the load tree HAS BEEN felled, the load- caught fish, the load- river poisoned, you know that you can not eat money. "

" Only when the last tree is felled, the last fish caught, and the last river has been poisoned, you will find that you can not eat money. "

  • "Final Gates" is an instrumental piece on conducting.
  • " Blown to Kingdom Come " suspected greed and profit motive as the motivation behind all the wars in human history.
  • " Warchild " is about child soldiers. Curiously, there were already on the first demo of the band for a song of that name, which, however, only the content has in common with the " Port Royal " to be heard song.
  • " Calico Jack" tells the life story of the historical pirate " Calico Jack" Rackham.

Reception

According to the " Under Jolly Roger " in many places recorded disappointed "Port Royal" received positive reviews failing again. In Rock Hard copper Thomas praised the album as more varied:

"Running Wild undoubtedly have broken new ground, which greatly can easily see at Rock ' n' Rolf's improved vocals and good guitar work, but still have not made ​​the mistake of turning his back to the chosen music style years ago. "

But criticized the cover design ( "It would not surprise me if Heavy Metal plate inexperienced seller the disc into the fairytale corner. " ), Nevertheless closed the review with a score of 7,5 / 10.

Even later considerations of the album praise the album as a logical development of the style, but not yet fully mature. So Chwalek Herbert wrote in his review, published in the webzine Powermetal.de:

"Rock ' n' Rolf was already stubborn and kept with the successor of " Port Royal " iron grip on the pirate concept. Musically the album was definitely the step in the right direction. [ ... ] Remains as a conclusion that " Port Royal " not a classic of the band's history, but due to the aforementioned three exploits ( "Port Royal ", " Conquistadores " and " Calico Jack" ) unequivocally in any collection of a true running Wild fans heard. "

The decades later still played live songs of the album belongs primarily " Uaschitschun " of which was left on the "Live " in 2002 and recorded titled album was a live recording. In the 2003's best-of album "20 Years in History" can be found on this album the title track and " Conquistadores ".

A new recording of the song " Uaschitschun " 1992 was intended for the never- released single " Sinister Eyes" and was subsequently published in 1999 as a bonus track on the reissue of " Pile of Skulls " for the first time.

External links and sources

Gates to Purgatory • Branded and Exiled • Under Jolly Roger • Port Royal • Death or Glory • Blazon Stone • Pile of Skulls • Black Hand Inn • Masquerade • The Rivalry • Victory • The Brotherhood • Rogues en Vogue • Shadowmaker • Resilient

Ready for Boarding • Live • The Final Jolly Roger

The First Years of Piracy • The Story of Jolly Roger • The Legendary Tales • 20 Years in History • Best of Adrian

  • Album ( Heavy Metal )
  • Album 1988
  • Running Wild album
Record label Genre Death or Glory (album) Tricorne Angel Dust (Band) Federal Indian Policy Military use of children Live (Running-Wild-Album) The Rivalry (album) Victory (Running-Wild-Album) The Brotherhood (album)
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