[1] Their current lineup includes founding members and brothers Vorphalack (Vorph) and Xytraguptor (Xy), guitarist Drop and bassist Ales.
One of the key elements that distinguishes Samael from traditional metal bands is the use of a drum machine in studio and live on stage.
Blood Ritual is released on 1 December 1992, a month later the band embarked on their first European Tour with label mates Unleashed and Tiamat.
Recorded and mixed in 10 days in Woodhouse Studios in Hagen (Germany) Ceremony of Opposites was produced by Waldemar Sorychta and released on 18 February 1994.
A few samples could be heard throughout the album and most notably the voice of Aleister Crowley on the song "Crown" and the beginning of "The Hut on the Hen's Legs (Baba Yaga)" of the Pictures at an Exhibition from Modest Mussorgsky in "Baphomet's Throne".
The band got invited by Martin Eric Ain (Celtic Frost) to play at the Lucifer Rising convention in Zurich in March before they joined the Full of Hate Festival tour headlined by Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse.
Samael co-headlined the 1997 Full of Hate Festival tour with Obituary, Entombed, Crowbar and Strapping Young Lad completed the line up.
That summer the band played for the first and only time at Dynamo Open Air in Eindhoven as well as Wacken, Grasspop, and With Full Force festival.
The gap between the opening song "Year Zero" and "Infra Galaxia" or between the Deep Purple sounding "Radiant Star" and the electronic stamped "Ways" is very wide.
With the new line-up, the band played a couple of shows before the Summer Breeze Open Air which became the core of Samael's first DVD Black Trip.
In Paleo Festival in Nyon (Switzerland) they played before Rammstein, four songs of that performance ended up on a bonus DVD for a special edition of Reign of Light.
In March 2007 Samael opened for Iggy Pop in Montana (Switzerland) where they played two new songs for the first time: "On the Rise", and "Slavocracy".
During the summer Vorph and Xy went to Sweden to mix with Frederic Nordström a side project that was recorded a long time ago.
It was described by the band as a tribute to their metal roots and they listed some of their influences on the CD booklet: Kiss, AC/DC, Venom, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Impaled Nazarene, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Bathory.
Faster and more extreme than anything Samael released previously, the album surprised the critics and fans alike but it sent the band on a 90 more dates tour.
Xy was asked by the city of Sion (Switzerland) to compose a piece of music for a sound and light show to be played in two consecutive summers.
Bass player and long time Samael member Mas left the band in November 2014, he was replaced by Drop (ex-Sybreed).