Running Wild

Running Wild is a German heavy metal band founded in 1976 by Rolf "Rock'N'Rolf" Kasparek (song/guitar) as Granite Hearts before renaming in 1979 after a song by Judas Priest. After some demos and participations in compilations in the early 1980s, the first real album was released in 1984, entitled Gates To Purgatory . This record and its successor, Branded And Exiled (1985), proved to be very classic in their approach to Heavy Metal, and it was necessary to wait until Under Jolly Roger in 1987 for the group to appropriate the piracy themes that it would continue to explore throughout its career. Running Wild saw his reputation take off, Port Royal (1988) and Death Or Glory (1989) were the two greatest successes of the formation. Despite an unstable line-up (sometimes referred to as the "solo project" by Rolf Kasparek, the only master on board), albums are regularly linked. From 1995 to 2000, a trilogy focused on the confrontation of good and evil, composed of Masquerade , The Rivalry and Victory , the latter being an exception in discography by not addressing the usual themes of piracy. Two albums are still released in 2002 ( The Brotherhood ) and 2005 ( Rogues En Vogue ) before Running Wild announced his separation in 2009, after a last concert at the Wacken Open Air (recorded and released in 2011 under the name The Final Jolly Roger ), Rolf Kasparek decided to set up another project called Giant-X . However, it is not necessary to wait beyond October 2011 to see a reformation and the recording of Shadowmaker which is born in 2012, followed in 2013 by Resilient. In addition to Rock'N'Rolf, the band included only another member, guitarist Peter Jordan (no one knows the names of the bass player and session drummer), and it was only from 2015 that live performances resumed with the integration of Michael Wolpers with the drums and Ole Hempelmann with the bass. The sixteenth album, Rapid Foray , is released in 2016.
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