Master's Hammer

Master's Hammer are a black metal band from the Czech Republic.^[1] They were founded in 1987 and produced several demos, before releasing their debut album Ritual in 1991, which sold more than 25,000 copies in the Czech Republic according to the band.^[2] Two years later they completed The Jilemnice Occultist (often misspelt as The Filemnice Occultist due to a typo on the booklet).

Their third album (Šlágry in 1995) was a drift away from the previous work incorporating many styles outside the metal genre, and the band announced "that Šlágry II and a forthcoming CD-ROM will rely more on professional opera singers and orchestra players",^[3] although this following album was never released.

In 2009 Master's Hammer reformed and released Mantras, their first album in 14 years. In the late 2012 was released fifth album called Vracejte konve na místo. The album was awarded as the best hard and heavy album in the Czech music Awards and Břitva awards for 2012.

Musical style

In Kerrang!, Master's Hammer's style was described as "fusing Thrash with classical themes", and The Jilemnice Occultist was called "an operetta in three acts featuring such extraordinary titles as 'That Magnificent Deer Has Vanished In The Bush' and 'I Don't Want, Sirs to Pester Your Ears'".^[4] Götz Kühnemund from German Rock Hard magazine compared the concept album The Jilemnice Occultist to King Diamond although Master's Hammer's style was "considerably more uncompromising", but the vocals "sound like a mixture of deep King Diamond voices and Quorthon's guttural grunts", Bathory being an obvious influence although Master's Hammer have a sound of their own including keyboards, classical instruments and orchestral passages.^[2]

Speaking of "Ritual" Fenriz, the drummer of the influential Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone, noted that the album "is actually the first Norwegian black metal album, even though they are from Czechoslovakia".^[5]

On Šlágry, the band "virtually abandoned the operatic black metal of previous releases in favor of modernist electronic music" and "shares publishing credits with Carl Czerny, Otto Katz, and Giuseppe Verdi, mixing bits of metal, folk, and musique concrète into a style based on the classical avant-garde".^[3]

Members

Current line-up

• František Štorm - vocals/guitars, bass, synthesizer
• Tomáš Kohout (Necrocock) - vocal, guitars
• Honza Přibyl - drums
• Silenthell - tympanum

Former members

• Miroslav Valenta (drums)
• Ferenc Fečo (drums)
• Míla Křovina (guitars)
• Ulric For (drums)
• Bathory (Milan Fibiger) (bass)
• Carles R. Apron (drums)

Discography

• The Ritual Murder (demo, 1987)
• Finished (demo, 1988)
• The Mass (demo,1989)
• Live in Zbraslav 18.5.1989 (1989)
• The Fall of Idol (demo, 1990)
• Ritual (LP, 1991)
• Klavierstück (EP, 1991)
• Jilemnický Okultista (demo, 1992)
• The Jilemnice Occultist (LP, 1992)
• Šlágry (CD, 1995)^[3]
• Ritual / The Jilemnice Occultist (2CD, 2001; re-release of the two albums)
• Ritual / The Jilemnice Occultist (4LP, 2009; re-release of the two albums)
• Mantras (2009)
• Vracejte konve na místo (LP, 2012)
• Vagus Vetus (CD, 2014)

References

External links

• Official webpage
• 2010 Master's Hammer Interview