Taking a nod from the Refused's 1998 juggernaut "The Shape of Punk to Come," Icelandic hardcore outfit Minus (who formed that same year) sound as if they've juxtaposed 15 seconds of every Don Caballero, Today Is the Day, Slayer and Jesus Lizard song into one album on "Jesus Christ Bobby," their second full-length. Bludgeoning, calculated guitar riffs grind and bend with Helmet-like precision around erratic, bass-driven rhythms on the chaotic opener, "Chimera," and continue form until "Arctic Exhibition," the album's awkward but apt acoustic moment.
Buried deep beneath layers of distortion and the occasional electro-noise upsurge, the wraithlike vocal rants detail a bleak and desolate existence in a cold and isolated country. Fellow Icelandic anarchist and former Sugarcubes frontman Einar Orn completes the record's subtly ironic undercurrent when he takes a turn screaming on "Modern Haircuts" -- best listened to loud.
