RITUAL

I have been running through these albums again which I have stored for many years without even giving them a second glance. Then PA arrived and I have to review them....... Life could had been worse.

I have got a lot of new respect for this band. This album though, Ritual as it is called, is their debut album and the fare here is thrash/speed metal bordering to death metal. Nothing fancy here. But you can still hear the band really pushing themselves. Pushing themselves and the envelope, that is. Within the strict confines of thrash/speed metal, Master's Hammer is operating on the fringes, trying to escape from this genre. In the process, Ritual got a sound which the melodic branch of the Norwegian black metal scene copied and made popular under the black metal umbrella. And I am talking about bands like Dimmu Borgir. Ritual was released in 1991. Dimmu Borgir copied it's sound and released their first two albums some years later with great success.

In short, the music on this album is both brutal and slightly melodic at the same time. The vocals in their native language is the usual black metal shrieks and fitting for this music. The quality is not that good though. The sound is great though. But for an old timer like myself, this is a pretty enjoyable album from a great band. Enjoyable for a short period, that is. But this album is for collectors only, I am afraid. Get the other Master's Hammer albums instead of Ritual.

2.5 stars

Share this MASTER'S HAMMER review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to toroddfuglesteg
• Report this review (#455248)
• Buy MASTER'S HAMMER music online with PA partners
• Show all MASTER'S HAMMER MP3/Stream
• Go to MASTER'S HAMMER page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Ritual page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for MASTER'S HAMMER related discussions