#x-wild

X-Wild was a power metal band on account of the history of its members, but Monster Effect and “Heads Held High” were more like just straight up fast heavy metal and more like speedy Running Wild than the more melodic variant.  The riffs and drumming were frenetic, though the funny thing about Frank Knight’s screeching rasp in retrospect was that while it recalled Udo Dirkschneider in the moment they actually sounded more like Mark Tornillo.  But while Axel Morgan, Jens Becker and Stefan Schwarzmann inadvertently revealed they needed Rolf Kasparek’s leadership more than they wanted to admit, X-Wild at its best offered plenty of fun and frantic metal, and “Heads Held High” certainly fit that description.

X-Wild was a Running Wild adjunct in both spirit and sound: three members had done stints with Rolf Kasparek’s crew over the years, and they were apparently determined to prove that Rock ‘n’ Rolf wasn’t the only one who could write gonzo speed metal ragers with double-bass trashcan drumming, since So What! played like a sequel to Pile of Skulls.  “Can’t Tame the Wild” opened So What!, X-Wild’s first record, and after a strange and meandering intro, went straight to crushing skulls.  Frank Knight sounded more like Mark Tornillo than Rock ‘n’ Rolf, but Axel Morgan, Jens Becker and Stefan Schwarzmann all followed up on their time in Running Wild by essentially rewriting “Riding the Storm”, so this was basically a RW tune in all but name. Knight’s screeching was actually a bit of a distraction, and didn’t totally fit the speedy power metal roaring behind him, but the rest of the band kicked up such a racket that his limitations were easy to overlook.  Best of all, “Can’t Tame the Wild” was a fun metal anthem that came along at a time when the world was sadly short on such things.

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Happy birthday to Axel Morgan! (RUNNING WILD / X-WILD)