Wednesday, June 3: X-Wild, "Heads Held High"
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.



















