MASTER’S HAMMER, a band known for its own blend of first wave Black Metal, has released last year an album that could be described as a blend of Industrial, Darkwave and maybe Disco which is a term the band uses to describe this album. They also use the Post-Metal descriptor, but depriving it of its mainstream meaning, which has become its own specific musical genre. I think by being Post Metal they mean whatever the ’90s era Black and Death Metal bands were doing when those genres became oversaturated with bands and they had to develop some sort of originality by introducing elements from non Metal musical styles like Post-Punk, Goth Rock, New Wave or Synth Pop. Think of ATROCITY, PARADISE LOST, THE KOVENANT, SAMAEL and any other band that changed its style to something appealing more to the masses. Checking their discography you’ll notice that they tried this in their first era too with the album “Šlágry”, so I guess you could say they’re back to their old tricks, after releasing a few comeback albums in the initial style they are known for. Right from the first song you can hear what the album is about: synthesizers, soft Rock tempo drum machines, synthy sounding distortion power chords in the style of Industrial Metal bands like RAMMSTEIN, and even autotune effect on the vocals (used aesthetically and not with the intent of correcting the vocals, think of CHER). The synth sounds on “Maldorör Disco” are a lot smoother than the ones on “Šlágry” which like most synths from the ’90s at the moment sound dated if not in a Dungeon Synth context (where they are intentionally dated). Given that the tags used on their Bandcamp page include bad taste, disco and karaoke, I’m pretty sure these guys don’t take themselves too seriously, or maybe they do and they look down on what they perceive as elitist old school Metalheads who’d expect a traditionalist output from the band. I’m convinced this isn’t a sellout album like their ’90s counterparts had released in the past, but some sort of musical mockery defying the listener’s expectations. The songs themselves are alright, there’s not intentional bad song writing and they could pass for some more modern LAIBACH releases, but I’d just recommend you listen to actual LAIBACH or maybe DEPECHE MODE if you’re into Electronic music. Or dare I say something more underground with the same level of mockery like BAYACOMPUTER. More info at: www.facebook.com/mastershammerofficial, www.facebook.com/darknessshallriseproductions