Never underestimate the importance of Master’s Hammer. If black metal occurred in two waves, then this was the ultimate band from ‘wave 1.5’, more so than Sarcófago or Mayhem. No lesser figure than Fenriz claims “Ritual” to be the first Norwegian black metal album. He is half-joking (since they were from Czechoslovakia), but the likes of Darkthrone and Emperor are indebted to this record.
In a four-year stretch between 1988 and 1992, Master’s Hammer were arguably the black metal band. Everything they did during this period was ahead of the curve, from the hypnotic rawness of “Finished” to the near-operatic “Jilemnický Okultista”. Within this, “Ritual” is their best moment. Master’s Hammer took the ‘arty’ grandeur of King Diamond and crossed it with the raw, extreme sounds of Bathory and Hellhammer (and some German thrash). The overall feeling is one of ‘folk horror’ music; pastoral and rustic, but eerie and incestuous.
Musically, “Ritual” is a maelstrom of thick, infernal riffing. It benefits from a weightier guitar sound in comparison to most black metal. The song-writing is obscure, and the vocals are searing and demonic. It would be easy to mistake this album for death metal on first listen (i.e., the evil kind of death metal like old Asphyx and Necrophobic). Master’s Hammer doesn’t fit any death metal genre conventions though. The relative complexity of their music owes more to Mercyful Fate than it does to Morbid Angel.
Every song here (aside from the intro) comes from their demo days; five from “The Fall of Idol”, four from “The Mass”, one from “Finished”. The original LP and cassette versions omitted “Zapálili jsme Onen svět” and “Vykoupení”, which only appeared on the CD version (pushing the run-time over the fifty minute mark). I cannot imagine listening to this album without those two songs, which shows the depth of the song-writing. Of the many highlights, I would pick the oldest, fastest and catchiest number (“Jáma pekel”) as my personal favourite, with its chanting two-word chorus.
Master’s Hammer had six members at this point. Spacing the timpani, keyboards, and conventional drums into the mix would have been challenging, but this mix is brilliant. The band had used timpani since their second demo, but had never maximised its impact before. Here, it is a massive part of the band’s oppressive, warlike sound. Balancing the timpani with the drum-kit creates most of the band’s dramatic, foreboding tension. The keyboards are vital too, adding choral effects (such as in the middle of “Útok”) and extra layers at the right moments. Master’s Hammer were the first band to gave the impression of an extreme metal orchestra.
This is a brilliant, uncompromising album, and one of the best black metal records of all time. The band would travel even further into operatic, symphonic territory on their second album, which is almost as good. Master’s Hammer are one of those cult extreme metal bands where the hype is justified on every level. The cult will not die. Many more people will discover the esoteric magnificence of this album in years to come. Classic.
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