Artist: Minus the Bear
Album: Planet of Ice
Label: Suicide Squeeze
Purchase: Smart Punk
Release Date: August 21, 2007
Overall: 7.0
Music: 8.5
Lyrics: 6.5
Production: 9.0
Minus the Bear has been consistently labeled as the “band that should’ve†ever since they burst onto blogs in 2001 with the EP, This is What I Know About Being Gigantic and quickly built a strong following. Through subsequent records the band has continually been criticized for their sound remaining stagnant. The band attempts to fight this label as they release Planet of Ice on August 21, featuring a new member and a new sound.
The new album is almost a complete departure for the band, as the long titles so prominently displayed on Highly Refined Pirates as well as their EPs has finally vanished for better or for worse. Gone as well are references to adventures east of the Atlantic, which were featured on both LPs, in songs such as “Pachuca Sunrise†(from Menos el Oso) and “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse†(from Highly Refined Pirates). Instead, inside Planet of Ice one will find moody, atmospheric pieces evoking comparisons to Pink Floyd.
Planet of Ice begins with Jake Snider’s familiar low pitched delivery. His deep shrills are set over a backdrop of complex guitar riffs. What is immediately noticeable in the opener “Burying Luck†is the increased presence of the synthesizer (played by newcomer Alex Rose). Another thing that is easily found within “Burying Luck,†as well as Planet of Ice in general is another Minus the Bear signature- an overabundance of choruses.
This brings up Minus the Bear’s most continual flaw; a lack of innovation within an album. While Dave Knudson tries adamantly to keep things interesting, pulling out epic prog rock-like solos and working expertly with Snider to create an amazing dual guitar sound, ultimately the songs on Planet of Ice begin to run together. This is not to say that the album is not enjoyable, but rather the entire album carries such a similar sound that one can at times hardly distinguish song from song, and you end up with instrumentation that sounds more at home as a symphony with ten movements, rather than an album with ten songs.
Even with the noticeably similar sounding songs throughout, some gems do emerge. One of the two tracks which are currently available for download, Dr. L’ling is by far one of the most engaging Minus the Bear songs yet, combining the tone and atmosphere set by the rest of the album with some of the more intriguing lyrics and the stand out performance by Erin Tate behind the drums. Snider croons “Don’t give me no hand-me-down love/It don’t wear the same/I want love that looks good on/With a fit that screams my name†eventually yielding to awe-inspiring guitar.
At times throughout the album displays great strides in musicianship, but in the end this album becomes a new face to the same problems which have plagued Minus the Bear from being a stand out act. While this album may contain some of Minus the Bear’s most musically accomplished songs, it also contains some of their most forgettable.
Track Listing
1. Burying Luck
2. Ice Monster
3. Knights
4. White Mystery
5. Dr. L’ling
6. Part 2
7. Throwin’ Shapes
8. When We Escape
9. Double Vision Quest
10. Lotus
wow that was amazingly written… you sure know a lot about your topic(s) of interest… and that will work wonders for you as long as you keep putting those music/writing skills to good use! 🙂
I cant stop listening to this new MINUS THE BEAR RECORD. I downloaded it like 3 months ago and it has been in my constant rotation ever since. It is dumb writers like you that piss me off. Learn to write about music. Have you even listened to this record?
damn you’re a snazzy writer.
I definitly agree with Matt. Planet of ice is a well produced and amazing album. For people that KNOW good music, and don’t dwell in mainstream “music” politics, know that this is REMARKABLE music. The guy who wrote this has absolutely no clue.
The guy has no clue? He covered some of the good and bad sides of the album, is there wrong in that? Just because you fully indulge in the liking doesn’t mean everyone does, and it certainly doesn’t mean the album isn’t good if he pinpoints some of its flaws.
i can kind of see some of the points made in this review. but i still love this album…a lot. i wouldn’t really classify any of the tracks on it as forgettable though. still, very well written. to each their own.
A good songwriter would help this band. Music is about the song really, that is if a band wants to be successful and get national…and, if the band wants people to remember their music. Frankly, this album is full of forgettable music that is performed probably as well as it could be. So the while the talent may be there, the composition isn’t.
i think that the new cd is an amazing ode to the ideas of yore. though adventures in the south seas may be absent, listening to this cd made me realize that the only way to escape the life that im leading is to go to the south pacific and begin to open my eyes to the fantastic planet of ice that we live on. yes. this album is actually a code for a scientific breakthrough that the lead singer made while studying music theory at Cambridge. our planet is rotating on ice, frozen by certain harmonious strands of sound waves. the reason for global warming is that these ancient strands of music are disappearing from modern life.
Just a correction to the review, once you see the new songs live, you’ll notice that the “epic prog rock-like solos” are at the hands of Jake Snider, not Dave Knudson.
the review is good, but i have to disagree that it contains their most forgettable songs. a lot of people have been complaining about the lack of rock and laid back vocals but i think that’s what makes this album so addictive. it has an overall groove that prior albums lacked. i just saw them last week and it was ridiculous. minus the bear is one of the few bands left that still know how to make good music.
two more things, trobar obviously knows little about music and i have to also disagree that dr. l’ling is one of the best minus the bear songs, it’s the one i tend to skip over sometimes.