Running Wild

Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Alestorm – Sunset on the Golden Age

Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Alestorm – Sunset on the Golden Age

“Previously on AMG, heavy metal pirates Alestorm received the glowing accolade of “unceremoniously piss[ing] in the pool” of pirate metal in a Running Wild review. Today on AMG, these Scottish privateers set sail into calmer critical seas, and I’m going to spend 500 or so words telling you, our dear readers, why Alestorm’s latest record, Sunset on the Golden Age, is worth your time and attention.” Mutiny is afoot at AMG, and the one thing we don’t tolerate is insubordination. Oh, and Alestorm worship.

Kaledon – Antillius: The King of the Light Review

Kaledon – Antillius: The King of the Light Review

“After the medieval dumpster fire that was the last Kaledon album, you’d be justified in asking why your friendly neighborhood Steel Druhm is reviewing their latest platter of hobbit beshirted LARP guild metal. Call me a glutton for punishment, but a certain morbid curiosity drove me to give the promo a spin to see if there was any improvement from last time.” They say morbid curiosity killed the cat, so will Steel pay for his wonderings ways or can this band step up to the big leagues…of orc metal?

Running Wild – Resilient Review

Running Wild – Resilient Review

“Pirates occupy a strange place in popular consciousness; being at once badass and completely silly. For every historical tale of marauding, pillaging and rapine, there’s a counter-balancing pop culture anecdote like the mincing and prancing Captain Jack Sparrow. For every macho Captain Morgan, there’s Jerry Seinfeld’s pirate shirt. The same problem infects the sparsely populated “pirate metal’ genre pool. While the original outlaw crew known as Running Wild rode the pirate motif for decades of relative coolness, newcomers like Alestorm and Swashbuckle came along and unceremoniously pissed in that pool, making the very idea of pirate metal seem untenable and comical.” It’s almost Halloween, so why not get out the eye patch and pirate hat and celebrate the return of the original buccaneers, Running Wild. ARRRRRR!

Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Forefather – Last of the Line

Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Forefather – Last of the Line

This little gem fell from Odin’s mighty beard in the waning days of December and since that time of year is so hectic, this may have eluded the attention of many metal-minded folk. Steel Druhm simply cannot abide such a ruinous oversight. Why? Because the U.K.’s Forefather plays such a highly endearing mix of black, viking and folk metal with some power and NWOBHM tossed into the Anglo-Saxon stew. Over the course of five albums, they’ve honed that mix into an insanely catchy, guitar-driven style of epic-infused music. With Last of the Line (Seven Kingdoms Records), that honing continues unabated and this is one sharp ass piece of jagged iron. Though Forefather consists entirely of two brothers (both appear in Folkearth as well), they know exactly how to blend genres and craft tunes that alternate between catchy and heavy, epic and black and most of this material is designed to stick deep in your brainpan. Stylistically touching on Falconer (or Mithotyn to be more exact), Running Wild, Tyr, Crom, Ensiferum and Amon Amarth, they manage to carve out their own identity and I’m betting after hearing some of this stuff, you’ll join me in wondering why Forefather isn’t more of a household name in metal… houses.

Powerwolf – Blood of the Saints Review

Powerwolf – Blood of the Saints Review

German power metal/freak show act Powerwolf have been perplexing me since their 2005 debut. All corpse painted up and evil looking, they look like a black metal band but actually play sub-par power metal with traditional metal elements and coat the whole thing with cheesy theatrics and goofball pomp. I attempted to get into what they were doing on several occasions due to the buzz they were receiving but aside from a few scattered tracks, it was rough going. To me they always seemed generic and silly, though I appreciated their zest and zeal for entertaining. With this back-history, I naturally chose to approach their fourth album, Blood of the Saints with muted expectations. As usual, Steel Druhm is proven wise indeed. Blood of the Saints is arguably Powerwolf’s best release thus far and packs several amusing and respectable songs, albeit, still laden with cheese and cheap theatrics. However, as a whole, its still the same Powerwolf product and that can’t lead too far down the road to the land of 5.0. For every decent song, there’s an equally painful one and a few are just laughable. While I know they don’t take themselves too seriously, sometimes silly is too silly and that’s the case here more often than not.

Fimbulthier – Arise Review

Fimbulthier – Arise Review

Into every reviewer’s lap, some crap will surely fall. Now, I can’t complain too much since I’ve had a pretty crap-free run so far as a scribe for the mighty and esteemed Angry Metal Guy. Sadly, that run has now come to a sudden and painful end with Arise, the second album from Germany’s Fimbulthier. I had never heard of these gents before but apparently their 2007 debut was some kind of viking/death metal hybrid, which by the looks of online reviews, didn’t exactly warm the cockles of the metal minded among us. Arise however, is about as viking as Pee Wee Herman in drag. No, seriously, maybe I misread the band description and it said Tricycling metal because there is nothing remotely close to viking metal here. What there is plenty of however, is awfulness and dreck.

Wuthering Heights – Salt Review

Wuthering Heights – Salt Review

Well shiver me timbers, it’s a pirate metal concept album! Sure, Running Wild has been doing that since 1987 but can you ever really have enough pirate metal? Yarr, I think not me mateys! So it is with open arms I welcome Salt, the new album by Denmark’s Wuthering Heights. Salt is the band’s fifth release and although they began life in 1997 as a power metal unit, I am not exactly sure how to classify them now. They still have many elements of traditional power metal (fast, galloping rhythms, speedy yet melodic guitar work) but they have evolved into a far more progressive and unorthodox entity over time. So much so in fact, that yours truly couldn’t get into their past two releases because they were just too schizophrenic, scattered and disjointed. I will admit that after my initial few listens to Salt, I had exactly the same problem and was prepared to send this album down to Davey Jones’s Locker with a vicious cannonade along the lines of “ARRRRRR, she blows!!!!” Then slowly, the album’s buccaneer charm began to seep into my head and I started liking it (although at first I only liked parts of it and prepared to say it possessed merely “pieces of great, pieces of great”). However, after two days of soaking in the Salt, I have signed on for this expedition and am ready to pillage and quaff ale right along with Wuthering Heights.