Wild Animal

That bass tone sounds like a rupturing volcano; Jens Becker is a beast. I mean, damn, I noticed it before the raging drum artillery and the guitar shark-attack! You can hear the bass curling and spitting out pools of lava every second, giving the EP a dirty, merciless tone already. Production is just as clear and crisp as Death Or Glory, and the drop in atmosphere isn’t that great like it was with the Little Big Horn EP for Blazon Stone. “Wild Animal,” as much as I think of W.A.S.P., is a crazy track with a strong rhythm, particularly with the slicing riffs and that consistent drum battering. Rolf himself I can picture running around Port Royal like a wolf in boots just jumping around feasting on people and pineapples.

The original “Chains And Leather” from Branded And Exiled kicks ass, but this isn’t what I’d call a perfect re-recording. It seems very rushed compared to the original, which is the saddest bit. Even if you haven’t heard the original, this version seems way too fast for a mid-paced song. Rolf rushes through his lines, but the instruments just go along with it. Thanks to the beefed up production akin to Death Or Glory, the tone is incredibly majestic and grand, with riffs knocking down walls and a solo like a dispatched firework. The song is the same length as the original, but with this changed formula it sort of drags on.

“Tear Down The Walls” doesn’t offer much at all, especially after “Chains And Leather” rushing to get the job done. The energy isn’t there, even in Rolf who just kind of yells his lines rather than pouring all his energy into them. It’s a dull song that passes you by without leaving anything to grasp. “Störtebeker” (and the others) got tagged on to the remastered version of Death Or Glory - with that authentic opener, those blaring, adventurous riffs, and Rolf’s commanding voice at hand, they’d be dumb as shit leaving this particular song off forever. To me, it’s the best song on the EP – you can’t top that wild solo! It’s such a short epic about a privateer who could kick ass with the best of them, and the riffs back him up!

While technically half and half, this EP is still pretty enjoyable all around. You’ll love the first and last songs, for sure, but the other two are up for grabs. Now if Rolf can just re-release the remastered Death Or Glory album (as well as all his other albums) properly, then we’ll all be able to enjoy this on a nice CD format (vinyl if he cared, even though I sure don’t).

Who said EP's sucked goat balls!? This one is actually worth hunting down and getting! Since there is only four songs, I'll tell something about everyone!

Wild Animal- This song has a cool intro riff. But besides that nothing else is to special about this song. The lyrics are kinda cool, but then all songs about pirates or ships are pretty cool. The vocals are kinda weak on this song, straight out, they really don't grap a hold of the listener like on the other songs. For all this negative stuff, the solo brings you back to its greatness!

Chains and Leather 90- Okay this song is the best one on here! Everything about this song kicks ass! The main riff is filled with headbanging delite. The lyrics are probably the coolest though. "We are right praying metal tonight
the message from hell and its spell. Even Satan wears leather, our souls to it forever so let us pray our rules tonight" This album is worth getting primarily for this song alone.

Tear Down the Walls- This song is pretty cool because it goes slow then fast and then stays rather fast! The riff for the chorus is well concepted, however the lyrics are kinda of lame with this weird voice noise before the chorus. By the way the chrous goes Tear Down the Walls, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, etc. Overll all okay song, but not the best.

Störtebeker- The lyrics for this song are fucking awsome, and the riffs are awsome as well. The riffs sound a lot like Iron Maiden (Killers) style, while the solo sounds a lot like Iron Maiden (Somewhere in Time) style. It is a pretty fast song to! This is another reason why this EP is pretty good

Overall this album slays the mighty. Great riffs, great solos, great songs with good lyrics. Everything is good, except for the production, it can be kinda choppy sometimes. But if you find this in vinyl or cd definetly pick it up. You can't really go wrong with any Running Wild album.