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Running Wild: Black Hand Inn

19/03/10 || Habakuk

When I reviewed Rvminq Wild’s “Death or glory” a while ago, I went out on a limb saying something like “this is probably the best Running Wild album out there” or whatever. I had a feeling that wasn’t quite right as I had only listened to that one (pretty impressive, so consider that before you judge me falsely!) output, so shortly afterwards went out and found myself a used copy of “Black Hand Inn”, which has long gone out of print, apparently. Well, I’m not gonna contradict myself completely, but be aware that at the end of this review I will simply go and copy/paste the score from my “Dess or glouy” review . I’m pretty sure it was a good one. And “Black Hand Inn” sure is good. More than that.

Iron balls are flying, a crystal ball reveals the hidden truth at the Black Hand Inn (and also where to steer), balls of light are flashing,.. this album is full of BALLS, not only in the lyrics that deal with a zombie pirate foreseeing the future, combined with rants about aliens and their role in the War of Armageddon as well as a bit of “social commentary” about evil politicians and a BIKER song, too …?! Yeah, right, whatever rocks your corsair, Rock ‘n’ Rolf. I can take it. Except, and here’s my only major beef with this disc, when your nerdy concept ideas transform into massive, minute-long spoken word intros. This happens twice and I actually cut the fucken parts off after ripping the CD. Seriously, this is some annoying shit.

Dig this: “450.000 years before our time, when the atmosphere on Nibiru, the 12th planet was getting worse and worse and when Alalu the sovereign of the Annunaki race was dethroned and dislodged by his opponent Anu. Alalu had to flee in his Vimana to save his life and he came down to earth… yadda yadda blah blah” SHUT UP. FUCK YOUR ANALANALU RANTS, I bought this for the MUSIC. But hot damn, is it awesome.

After the first (at least it’s pirate- and not alien-themed) intro, we are pushed face first into the metal bliss that is the instrumental opener “The Curse” – epic, balls-out, full-on heavy metal. Non-gay melodies, galloping horses, thick production, double-bass, riffs and riffs and fucken riffs. Fuck yes. And from here on, the songs on this album breathe Heavy Metal – with a stress on “Heavy”. And “Metal”. The basic recipe stays the same for everything that follows, plus obviously Rock ‘n’ Rolf Kasparek’s trademark rough but melodic singing in questionable pronunciation and great tone. However, slight variation is found with three heavy rockish tracks that combine simple chord riffing with anthemic song structure and great choruses (“Fueeeewind wiiiider”). No problem though, the band’s approach works as well on those as on metal hymns such as “Powder & Iwon”, “Draygonmen”, or “The Puivateer”. One could argue that the last song is a bit two long at 14 minutes PLUS about 2 minutes of introduction which I partly quoted at the beginning, but I can live with that, as all the other songs showcase perfect dynamics, length and awesomeness levels.

Also, a bit of time has passed since (obvious example) “Death or glory” came out in ’89, which didn’t even have a bad production – but “Black Hand Inn” has profited from this some more, as it sounds crisp, loud and clear and allows for proper enjoyment of the great double-bass work by Jörg Michael. The guy’s playing is no drum magic by all means, but any Heavy Metal album with a dude like him behind the kit is more than well off. Really a strong point in the metal gunboat that was Running Wild anno 1994, and a more than solid foundation for the twin guitar assault by Kasparek and Thilo Hermann who lay down one killer riff after another and top it off with some of the best metal melodies you will find. Obviously there’s also a bass player, but I can’t say more about Thomas Smuszynski than that his name sounds Polish and he does a solid job not trying anything clever like the stupid bass song “Highland glory” on “Death or Glory”. All good. Oh yeah, the cover is also pretty neat, done by Andreas Marschall in all his nerd-pleasing glory, and it even has Rolf Kasparek depicted on the cover. The guy quite obviously never had a bit problem with his self esteem. And he doesn’t need to after this album.

“Black Hand Inn”, apart from the goddamned two intros, really is an awesome disc that can be listened to from start to finish and despite its abundance of melody packs enough flaming red hot testosterone to remain in my gym mp3-playlist alongside Insect Warfare, Assück and assorted crust punk. And I’m not even making that one up.

Track this album down, you won’t be disappointed.

Information
Released: 1994
Label:
Website: www.running-wild.de
Band
Rolf Kasparek: vocals , guitars
Thilo Hermann: guitars
Thomas Smuszynski: bass
Jörg Michael: drums

Tracklist
01. The curse
02. Black Hand Inn
03. Mr. Deadhead
04. Soulless
05. The Privateer
06. Fight the fire of hate
07. The phantom of Black Hand Hill
08. Freewind Rider
09. Powder & Iron
10. Dragonmen
11. Genesis (The making and the fall of Man)

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