God May Show You Mercy...We Will Not

Minotaur is one of those long-forgotten underground thrash bands from the 80s, that enjoyed a small regional success, but was quickly lost among the thousands of other similar bands of the period. With the recent resurgence of thrash, many of such bands have now reformed and released new albums, with varying degrees of quality. Many have adapted their style to the current trends and styles, but Minotaur has simply copy-pasted their old sound into the 21st century. The only thing that has changed is the production, which is now considerably better.

The guitars are destructive, aggressive riff-based thrash metal. Little room is left for lead playing, although it is still prevalent. The core of vicious riffs is solid and satisfying, but not on the same level as other contemporaries. The same could be said for their 80s material, which is probably the main reason why they never broke through. The solo's are sort of just there, not attracting too much attention or doing spectacular tricks. Drumming and bass were also handled well, but once again without anything truly exceptional.

What really characterizes this band are the vocals: screechy high-pitched snarls that sometimes come closer to black metal, an extremer version of early black/thrash bands such as Sodom. All in all this is a very solid release that fans of extreme thrash will surely enjoy. Still, Minotaur lacks that tiny bit "extra" to be a first-rate band and might therefore be doomed to be lost once again among many other contemporaries.