2007 Suicide Squeeze Records
Indie, Progressive, Pop-Rock

5 out of 5

With their penchant for quirky tounge-in-cheek titles, Minus the Bear could have with complete honesty named this album We're Not Just a Party Band. On their sixth release they have taken a sharp turn both lyrically and musically away from the happy-go-lucky vibe of their older work and expore darker territory while still retaining their knack for infectious pop melodies.

Mostly gone are the songs about tipsy drives around the lake and accounts of youthful love and lust. In their place, Minus the Bear becomes reflective, examining the aftermath and disallusionment with a life as one big party. The music reflects this change in mood - it's darker, more subtle in places, more frantic in others.

Where the band's previous disc Menos el Oso, brought a funky modern-yet-lo-fi quality to their signature indie-prog sound, Planet of Ice takes the departure one step further. While staying decidedly modern effects-and production-wise, the band has also channeled the best tricks of classic psychedelia, including bluesy fuzzed-out guitar solos and an acoustic arrangement on "Pt. 2," which could almost be mistaken as a long-lost B-side from The Wall.

Within the overall darker mood of the record, the band explores many different avenues, the bouncy yet driving first verse of the opener "Burying Luck" sets the pace for a record that merges classic and modern influences into an entirely original result in a way few bands can pull off. The band has more or less abandoned the bubbly math-rock guitar that defined Highly Refined Pirates. The first single "Dr. L'Ling" is built around probably the heaviest, grinding blues riff the band has ever laid down while "When We Escape" and "White Mystery" provide the soundtrack for all things sensual with their smooth faux-seventies prog-funk grooves. At a couple times the band throws in rhythmic twists and turns and guitar freakouts reminiscent of the Mars Volta or later RX Bandits.

Planet of Ice maintains the band's technicality, featuring more guitar dueling and much flashier drumming than in the past. Guitarist Dave Knudson still employs frequent difficult tapping melodies, but they lock in with the rest of the band and give the sense that they were more carefully thought out to support the hooks instead of just to make people go "shit, did he really just do that? Is this guy really playing in an indie band?" Anyone who doubted their mastery of their instruments based on the apparent simplicity of their past songwriting will be pleasantly surprised by the impressive but tasteful display of chops here.

Though their entire catalogue has been impressive, it is safe to say that this is Minus the Bear's most mature if not their best album to date.

Sounds like: Late Dismemberment Plan, a proggier Modest Mouse
Standout tracks: Double Vision Quest, Pt. 2, Burying Luck
Best moment: The end of Double Vision Quest.