Blazon Stone is the sixth album by German heavy metal band Running Wild, released in 1991. According to Rolf Kasparek in an interview to a Brazilian heavy metal/hard rock magazine (Roadie Crew, ed. #41, June 2002), Blazon Stone is the best-selling album by the band, in the 1990s. It is also their first album with both guitarist Axel Morgan and drummer AC.

Blazon Stone
Studio album by
Released4 April 1991
RecordedDecember 1990 – January 1991
StudioStudio M, Hanover
GenreHeavy metal, power metal
Length49:27
LabelNoise
ProducerRolf Kasparek, Karl-Ulrich Walterbach
Running Wild chronology
Death or Glory
(1989)
Blazon Stone
(1991)
The First Years of Piracy
(1991)
Singles from Blazon Stone
  1. "Little Big Horn"
    Released: 28 February 1991
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[2]
Rock Hard9.0/10[3]

Track listing edit

All tracks written by Rolf Kasparek except where noted

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Blazon Stone" 6:30
2."Lonewolf" 4:49
3."Slavery" 5:15
4."Fire & Ice"AC4:09
5."Little Big Horn" 5:00
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."White Masque" 4:17
7."Rolling Wheels"Becker5:33
8."Bloody Red Rose" 5:06
9."Straight to Hell"Becker3:50
10."Heads or Tails" 4:58
Total length:49:27
CD bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Over the Rainbow" (instrumental)Becker1:55
2."Billy the Kid"Kasparek, Dreffein4:47
3."Genocide (The Killing of the Buffalo)" (Thin Lizzy cover)Phil Lynott4:47
Total length:60:56
1995 bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Over the Rainbow" (instrumental)Becker1:55
2."Billy the Kid" 4:47
3."Genocide (The Killing of the Buffalo)" (Thin Lizzy cover)Phil Lynott4:47
4."Dancing on a Minefield" 4:59
Total length:65:58

Notes edit

  • 1st press CD release and Polish pressings features the three bonus tracks "Over the Rainbow", "Billy the Kid" and a cover version of the Thin Lizzy song "Genocide". Later CD releases feature one or two bonus tracks
  • The 1995 re-release includes the song "Dancing on a Minefield", which is also featured as a bonus track on the 1994 album Black Hand Inn
  • The 2017 remastered release features all bonus tracks (excluding "Dancing on a Minefield"), plus the 2003 re-recorded versions of "Blazon Stone" and "Little Big Horn"

Personnel edit

  • Rolf Kasparek – vocals, guitar
  • Axel Morgan – guitars
  • Jens Becker – bass
  • Rüdiger "AC" Dreffein – drums
Additional Musicians
  • Kalle Bösel – backing vocals
  • Jan Olav, Martina Wiegendt, Sven Pöschmann, Michael Herwig, Jens Butterwick, Raymond Kana, Oliver Losshagen and Ladislav Křížek – backing vocals on "Little Big Horn" and "Heads or Tails"
Production
  • Jan Němec – engineer, mixing
  • Karl-Ulrich Walterbach – executive producer
  • Thorsten Herbig – photography
  • Rock 'n' Rolf – producer
  • Andreas Marschall – pover art (front and back covers)
  • Horst Herrndorff – pover art (back cover)

Charts edit

Chart (1991) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[4] 24
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[5] 22
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[6] 16

References edit

  1. ^ Huey, Steve. "Running Wild – Blazon Stone review". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 372. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
  3. ^ Götz Kühnemund. (1991). "Running Wild 'Blazon Stone'". Rock Hard. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Running Wild – Blazon Stone" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Running Wild – Blazon Stone". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 September 2020.