Pile of Skulls

Pile of Skulls is the seventh studio album by Running Wild, released in 1992. It is their last album with guitarist Axel Morgan.

Pile of Skulls
Studio album by Running Wild
Released	21 October 1992
Recorded	June - August 1992
Studio	Studio M, Hannover, Germany
Genre	Heavy metal, power metal
Length	50:35
Label	Electrola
Producer	Rolf Kasparek, Karl-Ulrich Walterbach
Running Wild chronology
The First Years of Piracy (1991) Pile of Skulls (1992) Black Hand Inn (1994)
Singles from Pile of Skulls
"Lead or Gold" Released: 7 September 1992

The song "Jennings' Revenge" tells about the exploits of pirate Henry Jennings.

The lyrics of "Treasure Island" are based on the book of the same title by 19th century author Robert Louis Stevenson.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10^[2]
Rock Hard	9.0/10^[3]

Pile of Skulls was met with mostly positive reviews from critics. Steve Huey of All Music Guide called it one of Running Wild's strongest efforts. While calling it too ambitious, he thought Pile of Skulls combined the group's trademark pirate subject matter with a unifying concept about corruption and abuse of power throughout history.^[1]

In a 2013 interview, Rolf Kasparek spoke about the song "Bloody Island" from the 2013 album Resilient and explained that the demo version of the song would've been a great fit on the album.

Track listing

Music and lyrics written by Rolf Kasparek, except "Pile of Skulls" by Kasparek and Axel Morgan and "Win or Be Drowned" by Kasparek and Piotr Smuszynski.

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Whirlwind"	4:52
2.	"Sinister Eyes"	5:06
3.	"Black Wings of Death"	5:17
4.	"Fistful of Dynamite"	4:06
5.	"Roaring Thunder"	5:56

Side B

No.	Title	Length
6.	"Pile of Skulls"	4:39
7.	"Lead or Gold"	5:06
8.	"Jennings' Revenge"	4:17
9.	"Treasure Island"	11:14
Total length:		50:35

CD Edition

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Chamber of Lies" (Intro)	2:21
2.	"Whirlwind"	4:52
3.	"Sinister Eyes"	5:06
4.	"Black Wings of Death"	5:17
5.	"Fistful of Dynamite"	4:06
6.	"Roaring Thunder"	5:56
7.	"Pile of Skulls"	4:39
8.	"Lead or Gold"	5:06
9.	"White Buffalo"	5:17
10.	"Jennings' Revenge"	4:17
11.	"Treasure Island"	11:14
Total length:		58:13

Japanese CD Bonus Track

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Beggar's Night '92"	5:00

1999 Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Hanged, Drawn and Quartered"	4:38
14.	"Win or Be Drowned"	4:17
15.	"Uaschitschun '92"	4:53
Total length:		67:02

The 2017 Remastered version contains a second disc, featuring the following songs

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Beggars' Night" (1992 Alternate version)	5:01
2.	"Hanged, Drawn and Quartered" (From the Lead or Gold EP)	4:38
3.	"Win or Be Drowned" (From the Lead or Gold EP)	4:17
4.	"Uaschitschum '92" (1992 Updated version)	4:53
5.	"Whirlwind" (2003 Re-recorded version)	4:54
6.	"Treasure Island" (2003 Re-recorded version)	11:16

Personnel

• Rolf Kasparek – vocals, guitar
• Axel Morgan – guitar
• Thomas Smuszynski – bass
• Stefan Schwarzmann – drums

Additional Musician

• Ralf Nowy – keyboards on "Chamber of Lies", effects on "Sinister Eyes"

Production

• Jan Němec – engineer, mixing
• Thomas Körge – engineer
• Karl-U. Walterbach – executive producer
• Rock 'n' Rolf – producer
• Andreas Marschall – cover art

Charts

Chart (1992)	Peak position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[4]	54

References

1. Huey, Steve. "Running Wild - Pile of Skulls review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
2. Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 372–373. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
3. Kühnemund, Götz (1992). "Review Album: Running Wild - Pile of Skulls review". Rock Hard (in German). No. 66. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
4. "Offiziellecharts.de – Running Wild – Pile of Skulls" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2017-04-10.