the Black Hand Gang was born from a course in Musique Concrete and Electronic Music composition. In theory, random sounds were to be recorded and then forced together using software to create "music." Essentially, all songs would be written long after they were recorded.
The first 7 song EP, "Two Words" was released in April 2003 after incubating for nearly 2 years. The incubation period was directly related to figuring out exactly how this was going to work. Would there be bass, guitars, keys? Would it ever approximate a real "band?" The learning period should have been longer, as the songs were all brittle, grating, and underdeveloped. They were also truer to form Musique Concrete, featuring gun blasts, revving engines, and other non-musical tones as ciritical elements of the sound.
November 2003 saw the release of the second EP, "Shower Gifts, Not Bullets, Love-Lorn Teen." The months between releases allowed for greater attention to detail and tone, and the result was a much more listenable slab of ADD-addled punk-death-noise-rock. "Shower Gifts..." was a concept 'album' following the disasterous disintegration of teenage love and the imminent deaths of all involved.
November 2004 birthed both the third, seven track EP "There Were Dogs at our Heels and Guns to our Heads" and the epic soundtrack "...and everyday shall be sadder than the last." "Dogs..." once again presented a concept to the listener, this time recalling the War in Europe (1939 - 1946). This EP once again enhanced tone and detail, and injected a bit of new-wave into the punk-noise aesthetic.
"...and every day shall be sadder than the last" was a single, fifteen minute long piece that was intended to serve as the soundtrack for the film of the same name. The film has never been completed, but the soundtrack is there for the interested. Acoustic guitars, synths, and an enormous amount of doom fill out this behemoth, the only Black Hand disc to not feature seven tracks.
"The Great Harvest" may very well be the last from the Black Hand Gang. It was released in April 2006. This EP explores an outbreak of psychosis and the subsequent, cannibalistic descent into anarchy that follows. These seven songs accentuate all that was and may ever be in the universe of the Black Hand Gang.
A few songs from "The Great Harvest" have been posted here. You can check out additional tracks from the Black Hand Gang here .
