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Oh
man, how has time flown! It seems like it was only
yesterday when my asshole neighbor and I were listening
to tenth generation copies of Minotaur’s 1988 debut
Power of Darkness. The audio quality was so poor we
could barely make out the music but our fervor more than
made up for it. It has been almost twenty years since
then and following Minotaur’s inclusion in the 2006 four
split Don’t Burn the Witch (which also included Toxic
Holocaust, Evil Angel and Goat Messiah) comes the band’s
second full-length ever.
Time has
apparently taught these Germans nothing. Considering how easy
it is to achieve a polished yet potent sound with modern
equipment these days, it surprises to find that God May Show Your Mercy…We
Will Not features the type of rustic thrash metal recording one
was bound to get from Noise Records and other old independents
of medium budgets back in the day. It serves them well though.
The songs have this raw, in your face live feel that’s so looked
down upon by digital recording freaks. Plus, the music is so
sloppy, the riffs are so hectic and the whole album seems to be
hanging by a thread of common sense. In other words, it rules.
Thrash metal was always supposed to be this dirty genre.
Minotaur are still some dirty krauts.
Minotaur is
still led by guitarist / vocalist Andreas Richwein. Along for
the bumpy ride are bassist Alf Diehl (who played in Horus back
in the 80’s and 90’s) and drummer Jörg Bock from Torment, who
are legends of their own. I know we live revivalist
times, but Minotaur have such an authentic and pure Germanic
feel. This album rivals any of the early records
by the likes of Sodom, Kreator and Destruction. God May Show You Mercy…We Will Not
proves that there is so much more to Teutonic thrash beyond the
popular triumvirate
From the
primitive riffage of opening cut “Armegiddo” and the lack of
solos that pervades the whole album (with the exception of one
song) to the classic drum starts
of “Full Speed Ahead”, from the sexy jumpiness of “Princess of
Hell” to the blast beats of “Cannonballfire”, this album has it
all. Including vocals that seem to come from a man that blew his
chords at least ten years ago and a cover of Wasp’s
“A.N.I.M.A.L. (Fuck Like a Beast)” that makes Blackie Lawless
sound like Pavarotti. This record rules.
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