Overview

At probably their highest point in their career, the German Pirates of Heavy Metal, RUNNING WILD, were going through lineup changes. Following the supporting tour for the band's 1989's "Death Or Glory", and with a new lineup, the band convened in the studio in order to properly close the first chapter of RUNNING WILD, its first three albums. "The First Years Of Piracy", a gathering of re-recordings of the best tracks out of the band's first three albums, originally came out in 1991, by Noise Records. After years being out of print, BMG rehashes the record, bringing it back to life in a special setting.

The Pros

For decades, "The First Years Of Piracy" has been out of print, and even though popular in the 2^nd hand markets, it was a hard to get album. BMG's initiative to print the album is major event for those that have been looking to purchase the album.

The album's booklet displays the entire set of songs' lyrics, along with featuring a variety of photos of the band, in the eras of the first three albums. Furthermore, there is a feature of a selection of show, and tour, ads of that time period, along with each of the album's artworks in order to provide an idea for those that are new to the band.

The tracklist of the album remained similar to the original release, displaying iconic tracks such as my personal favorites: "Under Jolly Roger", "Soldiers Of Hell", "Marching To Die" and "Raw Ride". No doubt that these 80s songs received great treatment back in 1991 with different musicians and of course an amazing sound.

The only mentioning of the album's remastering was back from 2018, by Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham. In general, the volume of the original album was elevated, the sound quality is top notch to the point where it is possible to take pleasure in RUNNING WILD's sound at the early 90s. If you liked the sound of "Blazon Stone" and "Pile Of Skulls", you will receive the band's full strength right here.

The packaging of the album is pretty simple, and decent, a quality Digipack for the CD Version, and a high quality one for the Vinyl version. I never expected anything less from BMG, once again, a well-deserved pack.

The Cons

After the series of reissues of the RUNNING WILD albums made by BMG, for Noise Records, I thought that there would be a written word, at least a few paragraphs, about the era of these re-recordings. Since it was a game changing era for Running Wild, a little info about it would have been a great addition to the importance of the album.

Summary

You don't have to be a die-hard fan of RUNNING WILD to grasp the importance of this grand stand called "The First Years Of Piracy". It is a re-unveiling of an era of the German band that marked a chapter in the history of Heavy Metal, and in German Metal in particular. Thanks to the rougher years of the band, these paved the road to their piracy of the high seas.