Finished

Are there any metal recordings from 1988 as sinister sounding as this Master's Hammer demo? I'm not sure. "Finished" was a significant leap forward from "The Ritual Murder". That first demo showed the band's unfocused musical talent, where they had not integrated their influences into anything evocative. This second demo is a different proposition. Master's Hammer created something consistent, extreme and atmospheric. Later black metal bands would credit Master's Hammer as an influence, and this demo is the birthplace of most of the band's innovations.

Master's Hammer expanded from a trio to a five-piece here, adding a new guitarist and a timpani player. Timpani would later become central to the band's orchestral pretensions. On this demo, the timpani is little more than a 'proof of concept' and I can barely hear it above the racket. What a fantastic racket it is though. The sound on this demo is about five years ahead of its time. This lo-fi buzz would be fetishised by countless second-wave black metal bands in the years to come. The thin, cold guitar tone is a precursor to what Darkthrone would achieve on "Under a Funeral Moon". It marks the departure from the hot, thick tone of earlier bands like Bathory and Hellhammer. If you're looking for the missing link between these eras, this is it.

The songs are strong. Sometimes they retain the simplicity of earlier black metal, on "Lucifer" for instance. Elsewhere, the band’s sound is more esoteric and epic. Some songs have repetitive, ritualistic riffs that Beherit would borrow. The early version of "Jáma pekel" is not far from the version that would appear on their debut album, but not as crushing. My favourite song might be "Za smlouvou pekelnou". It begins with a bizarre introduction that leads into bell chimes and gurgling. The middle of the song hits a Bathory-esque stride, but it ends with a blistering solo. This marks the beginning of avant-garde black metal weirdness and is source material for bands like Sigh. "Přivítej smrt" is another awesome song, a slow, crawling epic with mistimed riff-changes that Darkthrone later adopted.

I recommend this demo without hesitation. This is singular music, out-of-step with the sleeker death and thrash metal of the late eighties. Anyone who likes any of the bands mentioned above will need to check this out. Of course, Master's Hammer would improve on it. Their next demo, "The Mass", would benefit from a heavier, thicker sound and improved song-writing. The band’s legendary first two albums would then bring the band’s 'demonic orchestra' to fruition. Still, "Finished" is quintessential black metal and has that elusive sound that the second wave of black metal bands worshiped. It might be the band’s most prescient moment.

I first heard of this demo in one of the few interviews the Nifelheim-Bros did in the end of the nineties. I think it was Tyrant who told the interviewer, that he recently had been fortunate to lay his hands on an original copy of Master's Hammer's "Finished" demo and that it was worth the fortune he had to trade it for. Since then I myself searched for this piece of vilest Black Metal ever recorded. Some years later I had luck in finding a person, who could trade me a copy of the tape. What came, when I first listened to it even surpassed my really high expectations: The sound of pure Hell!

Introduced by some kind of Bathory-ish winds and bell tolls, "Duse Nesmertelmjch" soon unleashed a violent Black Metal storm that immediately had me in its grasps. It's almost impossible to increase the amount of aggressiveness and pure evil this track emanates. The sound is total underground, with a strange buzzing on the guitars, that adds to the overall feeling of the music. Seen from afar on a mere technical view, the sound is really shit. But just turn it on eleven and you will not be able to withdraw yourself from the black magic the demo wraps around your soul.

The other tracks are in the same vein and are probably the best Black Metal released in 1988 (and yes, I know Anno Domini by Tormentor, which comes close but does not reach it). Master's Hammer went onward after this demo, releasing another 3 demos and a total classic album ("Ritual") in the history of Black Metal, but the vile intensity of this piece of utter darkness is unreached even by them. The demo is not perfect (its a demo after all), yet perfect in its impact on the listener. Therefore there's no way around 100 points.

I hope that this demo (and the other ones from Master's Hammer as well) will see the light of day in a proper format again (LP and CD). It would be a shame if they would only be available on bootlegs and mp3 trades.