After the French of 'Existance', we stay in metal with the Germans of 'Running Wild' who release their seventeenth studio record, and between their first album 'Gates to Purgatory' and this latest baby 'Blood On Blood', a good forty years have passed. So, in forty years, quite a lot has happened, and the years before 2000, which were the Germans' most prolific, are quite far away and, after a split in 2009, they came back in 2012 with a 'Shadowmaker' that didn't make the specialized press unanimous. So, is 'Blood on Blood' a good vintage? I might as well warn you, 'Running Wild' still has the good recipes of the past and if you want refined music, skip it because it's all about simplistic anthems that you can't get out of your head for a whole day, but sometimes it's good to be carried away by memorable melodies without having to think about it. And if 'Blood on Blood', 'Say Your Prayers' (the guitar riffs remind me of 'Money For Nothing' but a little more muscular of course), 'Crossing the Blades', the power ballad 'One Night, One Day' or 'The Iron Times' (a must for melodic power metal) don't put a cot smile on your face, then you're not cut out for the Germans' festive power metal. And for the others who are still reading this sentence, two videos are available on youtube : 'Diamonds & Pearls' (see the video above) and 'The Shellback' (see the video here). In short, there are no surprises on this latest 'Runnig Wild' album, we're embarking on a short hour of recreational power metal and if you've been a fan of the latest releases from 'Powerwolf' and 'Rage', you should enjoy this 'Blood on Blood' too... | |
