Lair of the Minotaur – Evil Power

There was a time somewhere between the late ’80s and early ’90s, where mythology and the ancient gods were the hippest lyrical topics within the metal community, a feature that got lost throughout the years and very often branded as nerdy. Not for Chicago based trio Lair of the Minotaur whose releases always revolved around mythology, more specifically the Greek one.
With a cover that looks like a drawing from Conan the Barbarian comics, their fourth and latest release ‘Evil Power’ not only revisits that specific era lyric-wise but sound-wise it also presents a crusty thrash attack that remounts back to Celtic Frost and early Entombed.
Lair of the Minotaur brings back to life the crusty and straightforward riffing of Tom G. Warrior, meld it with the vile and vicious impetus of old Swedish death-metal and then add a healthy dose of punk-rock fury. Tracks like ‘Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers’ and the title theme exude that sound signature with great and immediate results. Most of the songs are short and done in concise form, without ever succumbing to lengthy and often pointless noodling and over-done jamming. It’s pure, straight and good metal free of gimmickry, trends or fads. There is, however, a downside to that formula as some of the ideas and riffs get constantly repeated throughout the album and that drags ‘Evil Power’ into monotony on some occasions. But that’s merely a minor flaw ‘cause on the whole ‘Evil Power’ is a solid release elaborating on some pretty entertaining musical ideas. Plus how often can you shout along to a line like ‘let’s kill these motherfuckers’? (7/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/lairoftheminotaur
Label info: www.thegrind-houserecords.com