What do they put in the water in Chicago? It seems like the Windy City is pumping out some pretty good extreme bands these days. This mCD came to me with fresh late 80s inspired grind coverart, a nearly indecipherable black metal inspired band logo, and gothic-style spine text. After taking all this in, one would be confused as to what kind of music these guys make.
Lair of the Minotaur comes way of now defunct 7000 Dying Rats and a little help from fellow extremers Pelican. With what seems like a wall of amps that go to 13, mountains of Greek lore, and heaviness in abundance, LOTM kick this EP off with an extended mix of the excellent song Cannibal Massacre. This extended mix throws in some zombie movie fun close to the end of the track for some nice atmosphere that blends well with the atrocious cover art and images conjured up with the track’s title. The first time I heard this track, I thought I’d accidentally turned on a classic Romero movie. Horns of the Witch is my favorite track of the two on the EP. If one was not paying much attention on first listen, they would think this is an old school grindcore song judging by the speed at which these drums go. Blistering blastbeats and a hugely pounding guitar line, Horns of the Witch clocks in at just 1:05, it feels like a grindcore track as well.
The music is pounding and overly heavy, just the way old metalheads like it. Heavy riffs, pounding drums and lots of fuzz are the earmark sounds most of us have come to enjoy thoroughly in our early years of metal only to find them replaced by eyeliner and fashioncore in today’s world. LOTM harken back to a day when metal was young, frisky and had something to prove but wanted to do it with a sense of humor. One thing I didn’t like about this release was the fact that it’s a miniCD (3″ CD for those who don’t know) and thusly, will not play in any slot loading CD players like those present in cars. This meant I had to rip the CD just to listen to it in my car, which I was going to do anyway since I digitally archive my CDs so I do not lose or scratch up the originals.
This release is available from Southern Lord, limited to 2000 copies (mine was #1857!)
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