The year 2010 seems like a million fucking years ago. We lost Ronnie James Dio that year. “The Walking Dead” premiered. A pair of devastating earthquakes ravaged Haiti. Viktor Orbán took control of Hungary for a second time, something that he would not lose until like 5 minutes ago. It also was the last time we got a full-length from Lair of the Minotaur.  

All this time later, the world has completed changed, mostly for the worse, but Lair are back in action with “I HAIL I,” their fifth album and fitting successor to 2010’s “Evil Power.” The band—guitarist/vocalist/synth player Steven Rathbone, bassist Sanford Parker, drummer Chris Wozniak—unleashes 10 tracks over 30 minutes that dig back into Greek mythology (with one notable exception) and their cauldron of bubbling black doom that leaves massive abrasions. It’s a much welcome comeback for a band that made its mark in a different era but has plenty of firepower to amass a new legion of followers.

“Emperor of Dis” opens and immediately attacks, wasting no time as doom and hardcore fumes mix, trudging as the shouts punish. The energy increases as screams batter, everything coming to a smothering end. The title track is urgent and bloody, mauling through a gritty pace, the simple, yet barbaric chorus landing blows. Layers of chaos envelope as the drums melt down, and forceful barks gurgle blood. “Enthroned in Violence” opens amid a great, sinister riff that sticks in your brain, and thick thrashing mounts an attack that is barbaric. Guitars scorch as the vocals are more like a scream/yell hybrid, smearing and mashing as the guitars chug. “Fucked Inside Out” is fast and ferocious, a relentless pace spiraling and making the room spin out of control. Ugliness compounds and forces soot into your mouth, decimating and coating with noxious fumes. “Deepest Hell” also is a quick, yet muscular blast, the howls gutting over a rubbery pace, the guitars staggering as if having ingested whiskey, acidic wails peeling rust from metal.

“Saturnus Reign” is enthroned in chrome, blistering as the bass chugs, bathing everything in heat and might that chews at flesh. Wails slither as the grime thickens, the pace drubbing as wails boil, and the final moments bludgeon anew. “Prowler Twin Sister” is sludgy and muscular, barked howls causing the ground beneath you to shift, the easy chorus doing its damage and infecting your mind. The fury continues to burn as it stomps through the mud, sending cinders flying. The most unexpected moment of the record is the cover of Ethel Cain’s “Family Tree” from her album “Preacher’s Daughter” (which is incredible, by the way). They take a track that’s awash in tragedy, bloodshed, and secrets and turn it into a metallic punk anthem, delving just a bit into black metal. It’s interesting.  “Vulture Worship” basks in weird synth and echoed growls, weirdness seeping out of every crevice, an immersive bridge to closer “Tartarus Apocalypse,” the longest track, running 7:23. It’s doomy and slow driving at first, the growls dragging, the guitars increasing the heat in what’s an already sweltering space. The playing even feels glorious in spots, adding some glimmer through the filth, the last part hitting harder and heftier, deliberate fires allowed to burn until they consume every element.

While it’s been a long while since we had a visit from Lair of the Minotaur, “I HAIL I” is an ideal way for them to re-burn their mark on the metal world as well as their campaign to conjure abject heaviness. The album is lean and mean, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t fill you to the brim with ferocity. This jam-packed half hour likely is to result in even more volatile live shows and their reclaiming their spot among doom’s bloodiest.

For more on the band, go here: https://lairoftheminotaur.bandcamp.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070415107918#