Hailing from Crete, residing in Athens, Greece, female/male bass/drums duo Hand & Leg offer a perplexing full-length that weaves post-punk, goth and noise rock into a unified vision.
Hand & Leg opens with “Tie,” which boasts chanted vocals over a motorik beat, pretty much summing up the group’s ethos. “Bananas” follows with an unusual Breeders sense of melodicism, one that repeats in several later songs, but then “Silly Boy” comes across as a Fall rave-up. “Dogshit Country” and “Lester Bangs” (“car-byu-raider dunk” anybody?) draw dearly from death rock until “Bloody Hole” ends it all with shamanistic drone that builds to a ritualistic frenzy a la Goblin’s Suspiria. It’s certainly one of the more unusual releases you’re likely to hear this winter.
Though Hand & Leg will leave you scratching your head, you won’t regret the experience. In fact, you’ll be drawn to them again and again, trying to decipher their uncanny code until you either end up in the Arkham Sanitarium or summon the beastly gods from beyond. Flip your coin.
