Favorite New Bands of the 2000's Pt. 9: Lair of the Minotaur

How metal can a band's name be? "Lair of the Minotaur" is just about perfect. It's haunting and malevolent. I will admit, the name is what got me to look into the band. I didn't know much about them before picking up an album. I just knew that that name absolutely fucking ruled.

Then there's the music and lyrics. This band uses a lot of metal cliches in its music, but manages to not sound cheesy. They have albums called War Metal Battle Master and The Ultimate Destroyer, yet they don't sound cliche. Their lyrics are centered around mythical battles, beasts, and warfare.

Musically, the band comes off as a thundering monster. They play a mix of doom/sludge and thrash metal. The riffs are thick as molasses, but fast and skull-crushingly heavy. The vocals are sometimes shouted, and other times screamed. This band is relentless in its ferocity. It's just a great sound.

I own three albums by Lair of the Minotaur.

CANNIBAL MASSACREThis was actually the first album by the band that I picked up. Album is a bit of a misnomer though. This is actually a mini CD featuring only two songs: the Extended Skin Reaping Mix of the title track and "Horns of the Witch". The title track is long and does feature some meandering noise towards the end, but otherwise is doomy and gloomy, and heavier than fuck. The second track is just over a minute in length and speeds by like a rampaging minotaur should. I think.

THE ULTIMATE DESTROYERThis is the band's second full-length album. I don't yet have their first. But this album absolutely kicks ass. It's very fast, dirty, raw, and explosive. Even the few times the band slows things down, it's still thunderously heavy. There definitely appears to be a Greek monster theme going on with songs referencing the Gorgon and the Hydra. I like Greek mythology, so this is all good for me.

WAR METAL BATTLE MASTERMore of the same from the band on this album. Although, it sounds like their riffing has sharpened a little bit and the vocals seem a little more aggressive. This is the band's best album to date. The band also released its first music video off of this album for the title track. Featuring lots of blood, gore, and female nudity, it's definitely a crowd pleaser. This was the album that made me a big fan of the band.

The band also released a new album this year. I don't have it yet, but I will as soon as I find it. For now, you may see a review over at my esteemed law school colleague's blog at Full Metal Attorney:

http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/2010/04/lair-of-minotaur-evil-power-2010.html