Minus the Bear – Infinity Overhead

Over the course of a career, it’s not unusual for a band to shed its musical skin several times. Yet, in their eleven years as a band, Seattle outfit Minus the Bear haven’t simply let their math rock exterior slowly moult away. Instead they’ve gone for a full body transplant with album number five, Infinity Overhead. It’s hard not to think of these ten efforts as one last stab at the mainstream.

Charged with radio-friendly riffs and powerful melodies, Steel And Blood and Listing rattle out like the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the peak of their commercial powers, whereas downtempo anthem-in-waiting Heaven Is A Ghost Town is equally chart-obsessed; armed with an axe-heavy chorus and stirring jolts of melancholy. Despite Cold Company’s more daring, syncopated guitar crashing, it’s impossible to embrace this otherwise conventional and insipid collection as a whole. It seems Minus the Bear are about to discover that once the skin’s off, it’s impossible to slip back on.