Genre: Power/Heavy Metal
Country: Spain
Label: Fighter Records
Year: 2022
Running Wild is one of the most brilliant bands that Germany has ever gave birth to and whoever mocks right now can suck my dick for the next 51 minutes and 8 seconds, as the record of Whirlwind entitled “1714” spins. The Running Wild-influenced metallers from Barcelona, Catalunia, have dropped their debut album, in November 2022 via Fighter Records on CD, 12″ LP, Cassette & Digital formats. But these guys aren’t just a bunch of RW worshippers or clones. They are far from that, believe me. Probably all that you are in to Power/Epic scene know well the name of Mark Wild from Körgull the Exterminator that established Whirlwind (which is taken from the song that is featured in Running Wild’s 7th studio album, the ambitious gem “Pile of Skulls”) in 2012 when he began to write songs highly influenced by the golden era of Running Wild, Accept and Helloween. What took him so long to release a full length? Probably the too many projects and the lack of time along with pandemics/lock-downs made us wait until late 2022 for their debut. But it was definitely worth the wait! He recruited the brothers Jordi and Artur Julió (drums and lead guitar) and Héctor Llauradó (vocals) making a strong, rock solid group that includes members or ex-members of Steelforce, Redshark, Grave Dreams, Noctämbuls and Körgull the Exterminator, in order to finish the album. And the final result which was recorded at Moontower Studios by Javi Félez and mastered by Patrick W. Engel at Temple Of Disharmony, was a 100% vindication of his efforts. Old-school to the core, “1974” features 10 (+1 intro) excellent songs (in general all songs have well-crafted intros), a totally organic and vintage sound, a dual guitar with sharp riffs, catchy tunes, memorable choruses, paying homage to the sound of the mid/late ’80s. Bass lines follow mainly the guitars, the drums are punchy and Llauradó performs like an arena-rockstar front man with 10 kilos each cojones and huge self-confidence. Please also notice the awesome historic lyrics (The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1715. On 11 September 1714, during this war, Barcelona surrendered to the Bourbon troops after 13 months of resistance and Philip V triumphantly entered the city. Harsh repression of both the populace and the Catalan institutions followed) that shows a band that works hard on their compositions that may awake an interest in History to any listener out there. Highlights: “Torture, Knife & Fire”, “Red September”, “Under Siege”, and the killer closer “Echoes of Time”.
