Port Royal (album)
| Port Royal | ||||
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| Running Wild studio album | ||||
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Publication |
1988 |
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| Label (s) | Noise Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD, MC |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
44 min 15 s |
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| occupation |
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Rock 'n' Rolf |
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Studio (s) |
Sky Trak Studios, Berlin |
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Port Royal is the fourth studio album by the German heavy metal band Running Wild . It was released in 1988 and deepened the image change on the previous album " Under Jolly Roger " towards historical topics, especially pirates. In addition, with over 50,000 copies sold, the album established the band's commercial success, which intensified in the following years and was reflected in high chart entries and single successes.
The album title refers to the Jamaican port city of Port Royal , which was considered a stronghold of piracy in the 17th century .
Emergence
In the run-up to the recordings, the band changed their line-up. The rhythm section, consisting of Stephan Boriss on bass and Wolfgang "Hasche" Hagemann on drums, left the band. Jens Becker and Stefan Schwarzmann took their place .
The recordings took place in 1988 in the Sky Trak Studios in Berlin . The album was released on September 26, 1988 on Noise Records on CD and LP. In 1989 an edition was published on MC, in 2007 a remastered CD version.
The record cover is again based on the pirate theme. This time the band members are drawn as pirates and sit at a table in a harbor pub. A pirate flag hangs on the wall above the fireplace, and in the middle of the band sits the band mascot "Adrian", who is stylized here as a pirate captain with a three-cornered hat and uniform.
The tour to "Port Royal" was accompanied by the band Angel Dust . Before the album was released, Stefan Schwarzmann left the band for UDO and was replaced by the British Iain Finlay, which is why he was already listed as a permanent member of the record and was also shown on the back cover with a photo - but on the record cover Schwarzmann could still be seen, as the artwork was designed long before the album was finished.
Track list
- Intro - 0:50
- Port Royal - 4:12
- Raging Fire - 3:28
- Into the Arena - 3:59
- Uashichun - 4:53
- Final Gates - 3:00
- Conquistadores - 4:50
- Blown to Kingdom Come - 3:19
- Warchild - 3:01
- Mutiny - 4:28
- Calico Jack - 8:15
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 are solely due to Kupper, Final Gates is from Jens Becker. All other songs were composed by Rolf Kasparek, with Stefan Schwarzmann helping to write the lyrics for half of these songs - Warchild , Mutiny and Raging Fire .
Meanings of some songs
- "Port Royal" describes the revealing goings-on in the port city of Port Royal, which is frequented by pirates . In the accompanying “intro” you can hear how the chorus of the song “Under Jolly Roger” from the previous album of the same name is sung in the pub shown on the cover.
- "Raging Fire" reports on a revolution against a dictatorial regime.
- “Into the Arena” denounces crimes of the Christian Church in the Middle Ages. The same applies to "conquistadores", here the Christian motivation of the conquistadors in conquering South America is questioned.
- “Uaschitschun” deals in a similar way with crimes against the indigenous peoples of the USA. The song is followed by a proverb that is attributed to either the Seattle Indian chief or the Cree Indians (cf. prophecy of the Cree ). However, the quote has been translated back from German into English:
"Only when the last tree has been felled, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, you know that you cannot eat money."
"Only when the last tree has been felled, the last fish caught and the last river poisoned will you find that money cannot be eaten."
- "Final Gates" is a transitional instrumental piece.
- "Blown to Kingdom Come" suspects greed and profit addiction as the motivation behind all wars in human history.
- "Warchild" is about child soldiers . Curiously, there was already a song of this name on the band's first demo, which only has the content in common with the song on "Port Royal".
- "Calico Jack" tells the life of the historical pirate "Calico Jack" Rackham .
reception
After “Under Jolly Roger”, which was received with disappointment in many places, “Port Royal” received more positive reviews. In Rock Hard , Thomas Kupfer praised the album as being much more varied:
"Running Wild have undoubtedly broken new ground, which can easily be seen in Rock 'n' Rolf's greatly improved vocals and good guitar work, but they have not made the mistake of turning their backs on the style of music adopted years ago."
The cover design was criticized (“I wouldn't be surprised if heavy metal inexperienced record sellers put the disc in the fairy tale corner”), but the review closed with a rating of 7.5 / 10 points.
Later considerations of the album also praise the album as a consistent further development of the style, but not yet fully developed. Herbert Chwalek wrote in his review, published on the Webzine Powermetal.de :
“Rock 'n' Rolf was stubborn even then and stuck to the pirate concept with the successor“ Port Royal ”. And musically, the album was definitely a step in the right direction. [...] The bottom line is that "Port Royal" is not a classic in the band's history, but due to the three major feats mentioned ("Port Royal", "Conquistadores" and "Calico Jack") it is without doubt in every collection of a real running- Wild fans heard. "
The songs on the album that were still played live decades later include “Uaschitschun”, a recording of which was made on the album, which was recorded in 2002 and entitled “ Live ”. The 2003 best-of album "20 Years in History" includes the title track and "Conquistadores" from this album.
A new recording of the song "Uaschitschun" was planned for 1992 for the never-released single "Sinister Eyes" and was subsequently released in 1999 as a bonus track for the new edition of "Pile of Skulls".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information in the band's history on the official homepage ( memento of the original from February 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Interview with Malcolm Dome, October 2016. In: Port Royal, Booklet of the 2017 Reissue.
- ↑ a b Review of Port Royal in Rock Hard No. 29
- ↑ Review at powermetal.de
