Lair of the Minotaur video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmDfGkCjd4
Lair of the Minotaur songs: http://www.myspace.com/lairoftheminotaur
The media product that I have chosen is Lair of the Minotaur’s War Metal Battle Master. The overall message of this product is that this band enjoys themes of folklore, the apocalypse, and death. In choosing a CD, this assignment is a little different then choosing a movie or a TV show because bands tend to have more creative control over what they create. This is especially true for bands on Indie labels, which Lair of the Minotaur are. As far as I can tell, there are no hidden agendas to this CD. This band is creating music that they enjoy and that they are inspired by.
The intended audience for this product is male, college aged, heavy metal fans. There are a few reasons that brought me to this conclusion. First of all, the name of the band is Land of the Minotaur, so it’s no real shock to find that they are a metal band. Also, titling the album “War Metal Battle Master” lets one immediately know what kind of music they are in for. Older people tend not to enjoy heavy music, so they were obviously aiming for a certain younger demographic. After thoroughly listening to this album, I can say with confidence that this band is trying to appeal to people who have an affinity for heavy music with lyrics about war, destruction, and the apocalypse. They also frequently reference folklore, which is deeply rooted in heavy metal culture. Since the days of Led Zeppelin referencing Mordor, these types of lyrics have gone hand in hand with heavy metal. Black Sabbath would often have similar lyrical themes, and had a song called “The Wizard.” The lyrical content leads me to believe that they had males in mind when they were writing the album. For instance:
Stick a blade in his neck
I grab the one to his right
And remove his head
Impaling all we see
With sword and spear
The music is unapologetically heavy, and in fact their MySpace says that the songs on this album possess”a new emotionless ferocity reserved for an executioner.” They pull on elements from doom and thrash metal, which are two very different types of music. Doom metal is usually slow, with very low-tuned guitars, and can have a clean or harsh vocal. Thrash metal is characterized by a relentless, galloping guitar style and a shouting vocal on top.
This is a CD that I greatly enjoy. As a heavy metal fan myself, this album has many redeeming qualities. I really like the album art, which I have posted in this blog entry. I also enjoy the dynamic of this album. The band keeps a fairly constant speed throughout, but the intensity is raised when the drummer picks up the pace and the vocalist sings with a harsh vocal. A good example of this is on the song “Doomtrooper” at about four minutes in. I also like the names of the tracks, featuring such titles as “When the Ice Giants Slayed All” and “Black Viper Barbarian Clan.”
As far as what could be improved, I think that this album could have a more interesting booklet. The lyrics are really hard to read, and there is not any background information on the album or band. Overall, I really enjoy this album. This is an album made by heavy metal fans, for heavy metal fans. This is not an album tailored in anyway for the mainstream, and is a solid effort from Lair of the Minotaur.
http://www.lairoftheminotaur.com/
