Bizarre, odd and unafraid to explore new boundaries, that’s what what I love about the very early 90s black metal. During this period many different bands, from different regions, were taking first wave black metal and producing their own regional spins on it. Czech bands (and other Eastern European metal acts in the late 80s and early 90s) had frequently strange and uncommon styles which are often very dissimilar to what most most metal fans expect. In that context, Master’s Hammer from Czech Republic, were making very unique occult & synthy black metal that as the album names hints, is very ritualistic in nature.

If you’re a fan of (old-school) black metal then I believe you’ve come across Master’s Hammer before, but for those of you still unfamiliar with this act I’ll provide a short introduction here. Thus, the band was formed as early as 1987, and quickly making a name for themselves with their demo releases. In 1991 they released their iconic 11-tracker full-length, Ritual. Most of the tracks from this album are featured on this double-disc’ live compilation, which I’ll present further on.

In 2024 this iconic Czech black metal horde returned with a retrospective live compilation entitled Live Occult Rituals. It’s been released through Darkness Shall Rise Productions as a CD double-disc, double-cassette, and triple 12” LP. Although released more than three decades ago, landmark albums such as Ritual (1991) and Jilemnický okultista (1992), featuring vocals performed in their native Czech, have not lost an inch of relevance and are still essential pillars of the genre today. This live performance, recorded in Brno, shows that the band still has a lot interesting stuff to bring to the scene.

Back to this career-spanning live performance; it contains 21 tracks (including an ‘Intro’), clocking in at over an hour and half. The band hammers through tracks from their iconic and aforementioned Ritual album from 1991, over Jilemnický okultista (1992) and all the way up to 2018’s Fascinator.

Tracklist:

CD 1:
1. Intro
2. Mezi Kopci Cesta Je Klikata
3. Geniove
4. Cerna Svatozar
5. Estetika Dabla
6. Ve Vezi Ticha
7. Psychoparasit
8. Linkola
9. Pad Modly
10. Zapalili Jsme Onen Svet
11. Typograf

CD 2:
1. Vecny Navrat
2. Panuska
3. Nordfrostkrampfland
4. Vracejte Konve Na Misto
5. Vracejte Konve Na Misto
6. Ja Mizerii Osudu Jsem Pronasledovan
7. Sucharduv Dum
8. Kazdy Z Nas
9. Utok
10. Jama Pekel

I’ve always considered Rituals to be an album way ahead of its time and an absolute pinnacle of the genre. That in mind it will not come as a suprise to you if I say that I mostly adored tracks from that absurdly awesome album, while the songs from other era of the band’s career are equally good. All in all I think the selection of the live songs presented here are near-perfect.

The vocals are wretched (yet clean and distinguished) sounding, the guitars have great presence sounding incredibly sharp and precise, the drums are the driving force moving the tracks forward and finally the bass which sounds flawless and blood pumping. The biggest pros for this particular release are a high caliber production and mixing. This is essencial especially when dealing with a live compilation.

If you listen to this double-disc release (jewel-case with 16-page booklet!) you’ll also understand why this five-piece is still widely hailed as one of the most important formative black metal bands. I simply cannot think of anything about it I dislike, everything is just coming together near-perfectly. It makes Live Occult Rituals is a classic from beginning to end for me.

Live Occult Rituals is an essential album for anyone who claims to like black metal, as this is probably one of the best black metal releases from Darkness Shall Rise Productions, where you can still order this double-cd https://darknessshallrise.de/product/masters-hammer-cz-live-occult-rituals-2cd-pre-order/?v=0ecbf9426bcf