To help start the new week, here are some new songs and related news that I came across over the weekend.

MASTER’S HAMMER

The Czech band Master’s Hammer began recording music in about 1987, with a 14-year hiatus between their third album in 1995 and their fourth one in 2009. Their sound evolved over those many years. In Darkthrone’s biography (here), Fenriz has referred to the band’s debut album Ritual as “actually the first Norwegian black metal album, even though they are from Czechoslovakia”, but later releases incorporated wide-ranging styles of music, including folk and classical.

Yesterday Master’s Hammer released their sixth studio album, Vagus Vetas, through the band’s own label, Jihosound Records, where it’s now available for order. Physically, it’s a very attractive release (some photos of the CD and the 12-page illustrated booklet that comes with it can be seen here), and it includes 12 songs. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any one of them on-line, but I do have a teaser video. Continue reading »