I HAIL I — The Chicago Death-Doom Warriors' First Album Since 2010
Sixteen years. That's how long Chicago's death-doom destroyers Lair of the Minotaur have made us wait for a follow-up to 2010's Evil Power. The wait ends Friday, May 1st, when I HAIL I arrives on the band's own The Grind-House Records — and Decibel Magazine already premiered it in full, which should tell you where this lands on the "significant release" scale.
The album is ten tracks in barely thirty minutes — lean, violent, and deliberately built to be heard start to finish at maximum volume. Founding guitarist/vocalist Steven Rathbone reunites with longtime drummer Chris Wozniak and brings in new bassist Sanford Parker (Yob, Eyehategod, Darkthrone, Minsk) — a man who, when he's not playing bass, produces some of the most respected records in extreme music. Parker also recorded and mixed the album at Jamdek Studios and Hypercube in Chicago.
One of the album's ten tracks is a reenvisioning of Ethel Cain's "Family Tree" — which, if you know either artist's catalog, is a pairing so unexpected it somehow makes complete sense. Gothic violence meeting gothic beauty.
Rathbone says of the record: "I HAIL I is intended to be listened to all the way through, at maximum volume on real speakers. A thirty-minute thoroughly cathartic experience."
Decibel describes it as "ten-track ripper clocks in under 30 minutes, packing as many boneheaded riffs, thunderous drum rolls, and varied vocals into that time as possible." No Clean Singing called their comeback material "a reminder of just how fucking heavy and enraged this band's music can be." This is a band that Henry Rollins once singled out — calling their track "Let's Kill These Motherfuckers" "one of the greatest songs I have ever heard."
Lair of the Minotaur formed in 2003, signed to Southern Lord one month after their first show, and built a reputation as one of the heaviest live acts in the underground. They're back at Maryland Deathfest on May 21st alongside Bongzilla, Rwake, Avernus and Black Lung, then a hometown record release show July 10th at The Hideout in Chicago.