Master's Hammer

 You have to admit, MASTER'S HAMMER is one of the coolest names in black metal!  Not sure if the 'master' in the band name is Satan, but I have always thought it was a very creative name.  Hailing from Czechia (Czechoslovakia when they formed in 1987), Master's Hammer played a pretty raw form of old-school black metal back in the 1980s.  They released a series of important demos, beginning with 1987's The Ritual Murder.

From their 1987 demo, The Ritual Murder

Despite forming in 1987, and becoming widely known in the black metal underground, Master's Hammer didn't manage to release a full-length studio album until 1991.  But by that time, they had released demos in 1988 (Finished), 1989 (The Mass), and 1990 (The Fall of Idol) before that first studio album.

The 1990 demo, The Fall of Idol, in its entirety

The 1991 album Ritual is one of the true gems of late first-wave black metal.  Many of the bands who emerged in the late 1980s began putting out full-length studio albums in the years 1990-1992, and Ritual is one of the classics.  Master's Hammer always had a sound that managed to combine the rawness of the old school with a truly epic and atmospheric feel.  With an aura of evil mysticism that few other first wave black metal bands achieved, Master's Hammer is one of the best bands to come out of the former Soviet bloc.

"Jama Pekel" is maybe Master's Hammer's most famous song...

It was with the 1992 album The Jilemnice Occultist that Master's Hammer really shocked the metal world.  It was a fairly radical change of pace from Ritual.  Still containing elements of the old-school black metal style, they managed to incorporate keyboards, odd melodies, and guitar riffs that verge on the progressive.  It was an album that alienated many black metal purists, but it showed an inventive, adventurous side of Master's Hammer.

An example of their sound from 1992's The Jilemnice Occultist

"Hlava Modernista"--off of 1995's Slagry--shows the band's further experimentation

After that 1992 album, they put out an album in 1995 (Slagry) before breaking up.  But they reunited after the new millenium and have put out new albums in the last few years, most of which are a continuation of the experimental sound of Slagry....

Select Discography:

The Ritual Murder (demo) (1987)

Finished (demo) (1988)

The Mass (demo) (1989)
The Fall of Idol (demo) (1990)
Ritual (full-length)  (1991)
Klavierstück 7" (1991)
Jilemnický okkultista (demo) (1992)
Jilemnický okkultista (full-length) (1992)
Šlágry (full-length) (1995)

Next time: OBSCURITY (and other first-wave Swedish bands)