The Oath of Blood

This demo has some songs that would give Dark Angel's “Darkness Descends” or Slayer's “Reign in Blood” a run for its money. One major difference is that most thrash bands are just VROOM VROOM VROOM and they play lightning fast the whole time and it sounds good, but there is not a lot of variety.


This is particularly noticeable on “Tales of Terror”. The song starts off with a semi-fast acoustic guitar. The other instruments layer in and then the song instantly switches from a slow ballad to a ferocious thrash tune. The other thing about this track is how it changes, yet flows so fluently. The band is in speedy thrash mode, and then goes to some fast clean chords with a swing beat and then goes to some crazy early Slayer-ish Solo. This track in particular really shows the bands skill.


The other tracks “Total Decay” and “Daddshal” sound like a typical German thrash song, but what grabs the listener is the tightness the band has. Most thrash bands at the time were choppy and weren’t together, or the production sucked, or the band themselves sucked. Yet on their first demo, Minotaur shows that they can really play. The opening riff of “Daddshal” for instance. I haven’t heard a riff like that on any bands first demo. “Total Decay” is just a typical meat and potatoes speed thrasher, but what stands out on this track and on the whole release is the soloing. The soloing on this demo is very good; I’d dare to say that Ulf Kaiser could outsolo nearly any thrash band out there today.

On a side note, I think “Sacrifice of The Unbelievers” just functions as an intro, because all the song is is some piano/organ chords.

This demo is pretty hard to find, but if you get your hands on it it won’t disappoint.