July 13, 2007
Capsule Review: Minus the Bear's Planet of Ice
Minus the Bear Planet of Ice (Suicide Squeeze)
There is so much angular guitar work on Minus the Bear's third full-length, it’s like navigating through a triangle factory. The problem is, however, stumbling down hallways full of scalenes and equilaterals makes it all too easy to snag an elbow on a sharp 60 degree angle, and the record has a high burnout rate. Thankfully, the synthesizer helps diffuse the sometimes jarring guitars.
They’ve come up with a blend of pangy, well-worked guitar lines, warm melodies and a rhythm section prone to smart time changes that’s, well, unmistakably Minus the Bear. And if being yourself is all one can hope for, then this band is good, real good. They found a recipe that agrees with them and they’re sticking with it. All of the diehard MTB fans out there can rejoice that they haven’t deviated. For everyone else, a few of the download-worthy tracks are “Burying Luck” and “Knights.”
Whatever happens, they should definitely resurrect the practice of giving their songs atypical names. There’s no replacing “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse” and “Lemurs, Man, Lemurs.”
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The problem with Planet of Ice is not about talent and performance. It is about uninteresting and monotone songwriting. There is nothing here that sparks excitement and remembrance. Also, the comparisons to Pink Floyd and King Crimson are of no help because those two groups do this kind of stuff and get a lot more interesting results.
Frankly, Minus the Bear is minus good composition. They need a good songwriter.