Minotaur is a German thrash band. They play absolutely brutal, raw, gut-wrenching, uncompromising thrash, with a black metal undertone.
I don't know why this band is not more popular or recognized.
The guitars are a bit fuzzy, but oh-so wonderfully raw. The riffs seldom fail to make you bang your head. They go borderline black metal at times, and are sometimes even slightly similar to early death metal. The solo's are the blistering shred you'd expect from old school thrash.
The drummer isn't afraid to cross into switch-beats and blast beats. He's a tad sloppy, but the production is spot on, and considering the intensity generally perceived from metal of this caliber, minimal amounts of sloppiness are only a compliment to the music. This is the reason people hate triggered drums and drum machines - you can't get this sound and energy from a piece of fucking machinery. It's got that 80's tone to it, not overly sharp or high end sounds from the drums. The drummer plays with vigor enough to puncture the skins and smite all his cymbals. Love it.
The vocals are higher pitched, early fast-paced one-hundred-words-per-minute thrash yells, mixed with a touch of black metal snarl. The vocals are just wee bit too loud in the mix, but that's ultimately probably trifle.
Even the bass cuts through perfectly in the production, and comes out during fills. Making itself apparent during little moments of technicality, which are very well done. Such moments are very rare in this particular style, and hence greatly refreshing.
All songs flow well, and don't overstay their welcome - as there are some thrash bands that try to be epic, and fail.
Highlight tracks: Incubus, Apocalyptic Trials, Fierce Fight
Bad track: Planed Brain
Ultimately, this is blackened thrash done right. The only problem I see is that the production leads to melding the instruments together sometimes, but aside from that, all bands of this style could aim for that sound. Highly recommended for any fans of thrash, black or death metal.