The Rivalry

Here we have the middle of the three “breaker” albums. Fans cut off Running Wild’s success around this time, with this album being the center of that debate. Some think Masquerade is where things started to fall apart and others believe Victory showed the first severe signs that the band, or specifically Rolf, was beginning to falter. I personally fall in the latter group, making this (to me) the last full, unadulterated Running Wild experience. Sure, Rolf begins padding some of the song lengths and there aren’t as many master tracks, but what exists is fresh and fearsome, with some truly outstanding pieces here and there.

Production can be considered a step down when regarding the full, rich textures of the past, what, five albums? Even then, it fulfills the job of guaranteeing riff supremacy, a bulky rhythm section, and Rolf roaring endlessly. His vocals have become synonymous with manly, gruff German heavy metal; definitely one of my favorites. I love hearing him wail and sing with no wuss-factor and all while maintaining a commanding presence and a healthy dose of catchiness in those infectious choruses. One main complaint you’ll find with this album is that it can get pretty damn long or exhausting with the number of tracks - the longest Running Wild album in both cases, in fact. It beats Black Hand Inn by a few minutes and Victory by one track (not counting bonuses, of course). Whereas that Black Hand Inn had one long-ass song, this one has a few that actually don’t get drowned out that badly (some not at all). Face it, tracks like the epic “Ballad Of William Kidd” and “Return Of The Dragon” are too good to turn off, and the shorter tracks around them are also barrels of fun.

While a change of pace, Rolf hasn’t forgotten his duty to bring majestic, aggressive leads and some grit to the German heavy metal scene. Much like Chris Boltendahl from Grave Digger, Rolf doesn’t squeal or go falsetto on us. No, he protrudes his dusty vocals with all the power in his gut, wailing and howling loudly without undercutting his catchy performances on all the tracks. Some of his best moments here can be heard on “Ballad Of William Kidd,” “Adventure Galley,” “Return Of The Dragon” (corny intro aside), and “War & Peace”; on these in particular Rolf sounds extremely proud of his job. Next to Kasparek is Hermann once more with sweeps and riffs harmonious and plentiful; where Iron Maiden fell, Running Wild rose. The crunchiness in the guitar tone isn’t as powerful this time around, but it’s still a precise distortion. Bass grumbles on the lower end much like the previous albums – a boat rudder merely following the guitars. Where was Jens Becker at this time? In Grave Digger, eh? Well good for them because at this point we could have used him. No disrespect to Smuszynski, though, as his contributions are the finesse of the depth. Drumming isn’t hellish, but one can expect the same consistent, mid-paced battery of booming snares, rumbling double bass, and other allotted sorts.

Running Wild has always had depth in their music, even in the early demo days where raw quite literally meant death and heavy metal. Almost a couple decades later we have The Rivalry, a special release that used the same Running Wild formula for the past few albums while attempting to switch up the tracks a little bit. This wasn’t the fault, but what was to come surely began the downward spiral into, well, utter shit. Was it the horizon beyond the start of the next technological era that got to Rolf’s head? Who knows, but even then that first mishap was still enjoyable. It’s the ones after it that hurt, as they aren’t Running Wild giving it their all - they aren’t Rolf giving it his all.