Halldor Laxness
Label: Victory
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Halldor Laxness
On their latest outing, Icelandic quintet Minus drop their hardcore pretense and attempt to crossover into alt-metal realms. Expectedly, the music is remarkably tamer than 2001’s desolate sonic onslaught, “Jesus Christ Bobby.” For the most part, vocalist Krummi’s pitch-blended screeching is gone, replaced with actual singing that ventures at times into the territory of Candlebox. And that’s not a good thing. The problem with “Laxness” is that Minus is still clinging to tight, metalcore posturing when it’s lyrically apparent the band is trying to put out a big, dumb riff-rock record. Take for example the words to “Angel in Disguise”: “You’re an angel in disguise, with a devil inside, you try to make me dance into the fire.” Ian Astbury built a career on clichés like this, but you’ve got to have the bolti (“balls” in Icelandic) to back it up. And there are simply too many breakdowns in the songs to retain any momentum; too much build up, not enough release. Call this the transition record.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2003.