Port Royal
Studio album by
Running Wild
Released26 September 1988
RecordedJune 1988
StudioSky Trak Studio, Berlin, Germany
Genre
Length44:15
LabelNoise
ProducerRunning Wild, Karl-Ulrich Walterbach
Running Wild chronology
Ready for Boarding
(1988) 		Port Royal
(1988) 		Death or Glory
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal8/10[2]
Rock Hard7.5/10[3]

Port Royal is the fourth album by German heavy metal band Running Wild. It expanded on the pirate theme introduced in their album Under Jolly Roger (1987) and established them as "pirate metal" in the metal community. The album takes its name from the location of Calico Jack's death.

In 2017, Loudwire ranked Port Royal as the 23rd-best power metal album of all time.[4]

Songs

"Uaschitschun" tells about the pollution of nature through a Native American's perspective. "Uaschitschun" is a word that the Native Americans used for white males; the nearest translation is "ghost".[citation needed] The ending words were originally spoken by filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin in 1972 and were probably inspired by a famous speech made by Chief Seattle to the whites when they came to buy the lands of Seattle.[5]

A music video was made for "Conquistadores" which had some air play on MTV's Headbangers Ball. It is also the first to use a 5-string bass in a metal context.[citation needed]

"Warchild" is not the same song that appeared in the band's early demos.

"Calico Jack" is about an English pirate of the 18th century. He designed the skull-and-bones pirate flag that was later named the Jolly Roger, which gave the title to the previous album.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Rolf Kasparek, except where noted

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Intro" 0:50
2."Port Royal" 4:12
3."Raging Fire"Kasparek, Schwarzmann, Moti3:28
4."Into the Arena"Moti3:59
5."Uaschitschun" 4:53
6."Final Gates" (instrumental)Becker3:00
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Conquistadores" 4:50
8."Blown to Kingdom Come"Moti3:19
9."Warchild"Kasparek, Schwarzmann3:01
10."Mutiny"Kasparek, Schwarzmann4:28
11."Calico Jack"Kasparek, Moti, Schwarzmann8:15
Total length:44:15
2017 remastered bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
1."Uaschitschun" (1992 alternate version)5:04
2."Port Royal" (2003 re-recorded version)4:13
3."Conquistadors" (2003 re-recorded version)4:48
Total length:58:20

Notes

Personnel

Production

Charts

Chart (1988) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[6] 36

References

  1. ^ Ravelin, Antti J. "Running Wild – Port Royale review". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  3. ^ Kupfer, Thomas (1988). "Running Wild 'Port Royal'". Rock Hard (29). Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  4. ^ Divita, Joe (5 July 2017). "Top 25 Power Metal Albums of All Time". Loudwire. Townsquare Media. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Alanis Obomsawin – Wikiquote". en.wikiquote.org.
  6. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
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