Band:	Running Wild
Album:	Black Hand Inn
Style:	Heavy metal, Speed metal
Release date:	March 1994

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 The Black Hand Hill
08. Freewind Rider
09. Powder And Iron
10. Dragonmen
11. Genesis (The Making And Fall Of Man)
12. Dancing On A Minefield [bonus]
13. Poisoned Blood [bonus]

Ahoy, fellow rum enjoyers! If you’re looking for some speed, technique and melody, check this album out.

As heavy metal was dying due to the rise of grunge, Running Wild continued to make even better music than before.

Black Hand Inn is certainly the pinnacle of Running Wild, although they have many unique LPs, such as Death Or Glory. Nevertheless, the band fell into a small financial crisis as they expected much greater popularity thanks to their "most expensive" record.

The concept is that each song is a story by John Xenir and a part of his life, the fate of which is described in the prologue (the first track), the second and the seventh songs. The whole theory is explained on the German Wikipedia, if anyone might be interested. The song "Fight The Fire Of Hate" also refers to Nazi Germany, and "Mr. Deadhead" is dedicated to politicians in general.

On this album, Rolf came up another package of creative and delightful riffs, and beautiful solos. The drums of Jörg Michael and bass played by Bodo complete the songs with great efficiency, whilst the vocals sound sharp as always. Every song is dynamic and overflowing in melodies, however, the highlights are "Fight The Fire Of Hate", "The Phantom Of Black Hand Hill" and last but not least "Genesis (The Making And Fall Of Man)", where the opening and closing 1½ minutes can be skipped.

The last 15-minute killer piece of art called “Genesis (The Making And The Fall Of Man)” is heavily inspired by Sitchin’s The 12th Planet. Rock 'n' Rolf was writing this song for one and a half year, and the length and complexity made it impossible for the drummer to play his drum track in one shot. That says something.

The album was recorded in legendary Horus Sound Studio which also brought to life albums like Agent Orange, both Keepers... by Helloween, and a few Gamma Ray albums. This meant for Running Wild that they could use innovative technology (at that time pretty rare - Pro Tools) that made the LP sound perfect.

Black Hand Inn is a heavy metal masterpiece, something between thrash and power metal, and I recommend it to every metalhead.