Branded and Exiled - Picture LP

Running Wild’s classic album “Branded and Exiled” as a deluxe Picture-LP (limited to 500 copies worldwide). Comes with an insert and an huge poster of the artwork. German Speed Metal never sounded better!

Rock ‘n’ Rolf and his crew were quite productive in the mid 80s, and surely did not mess around to get a second full-length release on the market only some months after the release of the first one. “Branded and Exiled” was released in 1985 at the time that Speed/Thrash Metal was becoming one hell of a big thing around the globe. At this point of their career the band did enjoy a bit less success as they would have hoped, their sound was dark and heavy, which probably did not yet appeal to a bigger audience. Looking back now this early period of the band was as good, if not better than what they would do later on.

Like its predecessor, “Branded and Exiled” has eight tracks and is kind of short with its 35 minutes of music, but that does not matter as it flows so perfectly that one does not mind at all. While pretty much maintaining the same production value and the heavy as hell sound, the music kind of evolved a bit to include some interesting varieties but a little less speed metal oriented.

This release start-off with the album title track “Branded and Exiled” and just by hearing the guitar sound as the first riff kicks-in, you get a pretty good idea about how heavy this record will be. The main thing with this record is that all the material is easy to diggest and be hooked on it with all its catchiness. However, this aspect does not remove anything to the actual music as the heavy vibe and those crushing riffs are exquisite. Despite opting for less fast-paced tempos on this album, the pure speed metal track “Fight the Oppression” is definitely up there among the best early Running Wild songs. The “Branded and Exiled” album close-up with the fun re-recorded version of the 1983 demo song “Chains and Leather”.

Being the last album before the pirate theme appears with “Under Jolly Roger”, we definitely recommend it to anyone that likes old school 80s heavy/speed metal with a dark and heavy atmosphere