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 soup my♥posts lairoftheminotaur.com myspace