| Tour Dates 03/18/08 Kuma’s Corner Chicago, IL
03/28/08 The Ritz Warren, Michigan[1]
03/29/08 Ravari Room Columbus, OH[1]
03/30/08 Peabody’s Pirate Cleveland, OH[1]
03/31/08 Melody Inn Indianapolis, IN[1]
04/01/08 The Note Chicago, Illinois[1]
04/03/08 Mojo’s Columbia, Missouri[1]
04/04/08 Cactus Club Milwaukee, WI[1]
04/05/08 Triple Rock Minneapolis, MN[1]
04/06/08 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA[1]
[1] w/ Today Is The Day, Mouth of the Architect and Complete Failure
|
So here's one for the headbangers among us. Chicago's Lair of the Minotaur are dropping their new album, War Metal Battle Master on March 25th.
Described as “a concept album about solving conflicts with a big
fucking axe,” each of its eight tracks have been carefully engineered
to split your skull with brutal thrash!
“Horde of
Undead Vengeance” starts off the album in fine form. Fast, thrashy,
with some definite death metal influence on the guitars, held together
with surprisingly technical drumming, sludgy bass, and a good range of
high and low vocals.
The obvious first single (for which the video is being premiered at a listening party in Chicago on March 8th)
comes next. “War Metal Battle Master” starts off fast and never lets
up. The guitar riffs are reminiscent of a slightly rawer Mastodon, and
the vocals go back and forth between lows and highs in a sort of call
and response with themselves. Even at three and a half minutes, this
track feels incredibly epic.
“When the Ice Giants Slayed All” recalls Master of Puppets
era Metallica. Slightly (but only slightly) slower than the first two
tracks, but just as heavy, with plenty of sludge to give weight to the
track's three minutes.
The vocals
really shine on “Slaughter the Bestial Legion” with more call and
response between the lows and the highs. This is also the longest track
on the album so far at a little over five minutes. The little bit of
extra time goes a long way toward giving the track that epic feel that
this band creates so well. The head-crushing breakdown at the end is
pretty wicked.
This is
followed up by a shorter track, “Black Viper Barbarian Clan,”
highlighted, appropriately, by serpentine guitar lines and spastic
drumming that almost sounds punk rock in places. Throw in a few time
changes, and some of the best vocals on the record, and more of that
sludgy-ass bass, and you've got one a stand-out track.
Next is
“Assassins of the Cursed Mist,” which is just slightly longer than
“Slaughter the Bestial Legion.” Most of the track kinda sticks to
mid-tempo, catchy riffing, and more sludge, occasionally breaking down
to a bass and guitar drone to catch its breath. The last minute makes
this song for me, with the guitar highlighting a slight tunefulness in
the vocals.
Next is the
album's centerpiece. “Doomtrooper” is an almost ten minute, sludgy,
doom epic, starting out with an atmospheric keyboard (at least, I think
it's a keyboard) before the band comes in, slower and sludgier than
anywhere else on the album. The pinch harmonics on the guitar, while
pretty common on every other track here, really get the spotlight here,
as does the lower end of the vocals, and the actual skill of the
drummer, and that awesome punchy bass sound. Six minutes in, it breaks
down to just a guitar, joined by another guitar, followed by the rest
of the band, and a more aggressive couple verses. Then they bring it
back around, break it down, and end the song with the same sludge that
started it. This is definitely my favorite track on here.
It leads
directly into “Hades Unleashed,” which opens with a guitar line
reminiscent of Iron Maiden, and then it's out the gates with a
Slayer-like aggression on the vocals and guitars, interspersed with
sludgy riffing and lyrics about the apocalypse! A fitting end. Almost
every song on this album is a miniature epic on its own, and even at a
svelte forty minutes, the sheer sludge gives it the weight of an album
twice as long.
This album comes out on Southern Lord on March 25th,
three days before the band heads out on a US tour with Today is the
Day, Mouth of the Architect, and Complete Failure, followed by a
European tour. There's a listening party at Kuma's Corner in Chicago on
March 8th, at 10 PM.
They'll be premiering the uncensored video for the first single there,
and the limited edition version of the CD will be available for
purchase. The CD will feature illustrations by Jeremy Mohler and a 20
page booklet with illustrations for each song (and hopefully lyrics,
because they sound pretty cool, despite the fact that I don't have them
in front of me as I'm writing this). This is a damn solid metal
release, and I'd definitely say it's worth picking up, especially if
thrashy death and doom influenced metal sounds like something you'd
like.
02/27/2008 08:57:18
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