| Ritual. | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Master's Hammer |
| Cover: | Ritual (Master's Hammer album) cover.jpg |
| Released: | February 1991 (Czech Republic) 1994 (worldwide) |
| Recorded: | 5–9 December 1990 at Studio C |
| Genre: | Black metal |
| Length: | 40:03 (vinyl) 50:25 (CD) |
| Label: | Monitor (Czech Republic) Osmose Productions (worldwide) |
| Producer: | Miloš Doležal |
| Prev Title: | The Fall of Idol |
| Prev Year: | 1990 |
| Next Title: | Klavierstück |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
Ritual. is the debut album by Czech black metal band Master's Hammer, initially released through independent label Monitor in 1991. It was later distributed elsewhere and re-released in CD format by Osmose Productions in 1994; Osmose's version contains two bonus tracks. Many tracks of the album were re-recorded from their 1990 demo tape The Fall of Idol.
The track "Jáma pekel" would eventually be re-recorded for Master's Hammer's 2009 album Mantras.
Music videos were made for the tracks "Černá svatozář"[1] and "Géniové".[2]
The track "Útok" was dedicated to Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey.
Polish blackened death metal band Behemoth covered "Jáma pekel" on their 2008 EP Ezkaton. Their version counted with a guest appearance by Root vocalist Jiří "Big Boss" Valter.
The band once claimed that Ritual. sold over 25,000 copies in the Czech Republic alone.[3] It is considered to be one of the major albums responsible for defining the early Czech black metal scene of the late 1980s/early to mid-1990s, alongside Root's Zjevení (1990) and Maniac Butcher's Barbarians (1995).
Rock Hard magazine featured Ritual. on their list "250 Black Metal Albums You Should Know".[4]
Fenriz of the band Darkthrone called it "the first Norwegian black metal album, even though they are from Czechoslovakia".[5]