Black Hand Inn
| Black Hand Inn | ||||
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| Running Wild studio album | ||||
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Publication |
March 24, 1994 |
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| Label (s) | Noise Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD, MC |
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Title (number) |
11 (13) |
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running time |
65 min 43 s (74 min 27 s) |
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| occupation |
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Charlie Bauerfeind , Sascha Paeth & Rock 'n' Rolf |
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Studio (s) |
Horus Sound Studio, Hanover |
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Black Hand Inn is the eighth studio album of the German heavy metal - band Running Wild . It was released in 1994 and is the band's only concept album to date .
Emergence
Compared to the previous album, there was another line-up because the drummer Stefan Schwarzmann left the band. The new drummer was Jörg Michael , who was part of the band's live line-up in 1990 and stayed with Running Wild until 1998. The rest of the line-up remained unchanged for this and the next two albums.
The recordings took place in the Horus Sound Studio in Hanover , the drums were recorded in the Vox Studio in Bendestorf . These studios were also used for the next albums. The mix was in the hands of Charlie Bauerfeind with the assistance of Sascha Paeth .
The cover artwork was drawn again by Andreas Marschall . There is a scene from the album concept and shows the clairvoyant former privateer in his inn, the Black Hand Inn , sitting in front of his crystal ball. The scene, examined by numerous onlookers, shows in the crystal ball the image of a planet devastated by huge explosions.
Before the album was released on March 24, 1994, the single "The Privateer" was released. However, the single missed the charts. The album itself appeared on CD, LP and MC. In 1999 a new edition was released that included the two B-side songs from "The Privateer" single as a bonus.
The album was promoted in May and June 1994 on a Germany tour with Grave Digger . In addition, the band completed several summer festivals in 1995.
Track list
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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- The Curse - 3:15
- Black Hand Inn - 4:32
- Mr. Deadhead - 4:02
- Soulless - 4:57
- The Privateer - 4:21
- Fight the Fire of Hate - 6:38
- The Phantom of Black Hand Hill - 6:25
- Freewind Rider - 5:15
- Powder & Iron - 5:18
- Dragonmen - 5:42
- Genesis (The Making and the Fall of Man) - 15:18
bonus tracks of the new edition: - Dancing on a Minefield - 5:00
- Poisoned Blood - 3:44
All songs and lyrics were written by Rock 'n' Rolf. It was the first ever Running Wild album that Kasparek had composed entirely without the help of his fellow musicians - a trend that was to be repeated on the band's later albums.
concept
The album, introduced by the intro "The Curse", tells a story that acts on several levels. First, the intro describes how young John was sentenced to death at the stake by inquisitors as a heathen and devil worshiper in the Middle Ages . John declines the possibility of confession because he is not aware of any guilt and does not see the real evil in himself but in the Inquisition. After the cremation, John's only left hand is a charred hand, so the place of his execution is soon known as Black Hand Hill .
Years later, a former privateer built an inn on Black Hand Hill , the so-called "Black Hand Inn". John's charred hand is on a board above the door. The privateer is gifted clairvoyant and can find out the truth about John's death with the help of his crystal ball. In doing so, he exposes the inquisitors as fanatics driven by prejudice ("Mr. Deadhead"), whose evil nature has endured all time ("Soulless").
In the meantime there is a flashback to the pirate's past: His clairvoyant talent and the crystal ball allow him to always successfully attack and capture ships (“The Privateer”, “Powder and Iron”), but he learns that his destiny is actually somewhere else namely, he should put his talent in the service of good ("Fight the Fire of Hate").
John, who refused confession, is now a ghost on Black Hand Hill ("The Phantom of Black Hand Hill", "Freewind Rider"). There he wants to wait for Judgment Day and see whether good or bad wins in the end ("Dragonmen").
At the end of the story, the privateer finally uses his talent and discovers the origins of humanity. He also prophesies their downfall in July 1999 through the return of the old “God of Wrath” and the beginning of the end of the world (“Genesis (The Making and the Fall of Man)”). This conclusion of the story is clearly inspired by Zecharia Sitchin's theses on the origin of man as well as by the prophecies of Nostradamus .
reception
The album was extremely well received in the trade press at the time and soon received the status of a band classic. Above all, the new drummer Jörg Michael was praised, whose influence in rock hard brought the album comparisons to the Judas Priest album "Painkiller":
“What Jörg Michael, sometimes already setting the pace live with the pirates, has put together on this disc is the simple hammer. Above all, it is thanks to him that the "painkiller" syndrome has apparently also reached the Hanseatic privateers. "
The status of the album is shown by the fact that in the respective reviews of all follow-up albums "Black Hand Inn" was repeatedly referred to as not being achieved:
"The fact is that Running Wild surpassed their last record, but couldn't catch up with the" Black Hand Inn "masterpiece."
"[...] even if" Masquerade "is not as awesome as its predecessor" Black Hand Inn "."
"" The Brotherhood "cannot come close to albums like" Black Hand Inn "(in my opinion the best RW album)," Pile Of Skulls "or" Masquerade "."
In the German album charts, the album reached no more than 54th and stayed in the top 100 charts for a total of 18 weeks. In Switzerland the album came in at number 50.
The title track and “The Privateer” of the 2003 best-of collection “20 Years in History” were released from the album. The song “Soulless” was recorded for the live album “ Live 2002 ” and the live DVD of the same name.
Web links and sources
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT
- ↑ Review of the album in Rock Hard No. 84
- ↑ Review of the album Victory , Rock Hard No. 153
- ↑ Review of the album Masquerade , Rock Hard No. 130
- ↑ Review of The Brotherhood at powermetal.de
- ↑ Chart tracking at musicline.de ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
