Iceland's Minus unleashed a psychotic breath of progressive metalcore fresh air with their 2001 effort "Jesus Christ Bobby", but little has been heard from them outside of their native country since. When listening to their latest offering "Halldór Laxness" (Named after a revered Icelandic writer who won the 1955 Nobel Prize for his literature), one can see why there was such a seemingly long period of silence. A complete reinvention of their sound, the band have forgone their chunky metal past and slipped comfortably in a world of bong hits and rail riding with a style that now recalls the Queens Of The Stone Age, The Hives and other retro rock 'revolutionaries' rather than the devastating days of old.

Rife with a sleazy back to basics sound, the band saunter and swagger through hard rocking grooves that are equal parts stoner and indie with a strong emphasis on sneeringly melodic vocals and vividly colorful lyrical content. While the songs begrudgingly lack the presence of big vocal hooks to rope in any estranged listeners, they do possess a distinct quota of charming guitar riffing that keeps the momentum on track with edgy, aggressive fury. Make no mistake about it, the bulk of this effort is a straight-up barebones rock n' roll affair, but the bands lust for evolution is still present here in faint doses. Experimenting with muted tempos, horns and droning repetition, they come up with some inspired results on the alarmingly catchy "The Long Face", or the Portishead like "Last Leaf Upon The Tree", which features guest vocals from Katie Jane of Queen Adreena. There's also the cheeky "My Name Is Cocaine", which has lyrics so absurd ("My name is cocaine, call me coke for short. I enter this country without a passport") that it's hard not to instantly be singing along.

But while "Halldór Laxness" makes great strides in an entirely different direction and does so with a surprisingly sure footing, the fact remains that many of the bands fans who fell in love with the sound on their last outing will be none to pleased upon listening to this release. It's a shame to see them abandon the brutal yet uniquely heavier vision they once had and make this move, and yet when judging by the songs on hand, it doesn't seem to be a case of the ever dreaded 'selling out". Instead, it just seems that they've grown up and wanted to move on and thankfully the songs sound do authentic as a result, possessing a lot more depth and instrumentation than most of their peers who currently cloud the mainstream media. If "Halldór Laxness" is any indication, Minus aren't going to become MTV darlings anytime soon, and are indeed in for a wave of backlash from their old school fans. But there's still no denying that the material present here is from the heart and an honest representation of what these self-proclaimed "noisy boys" are currently feeling and its hard to really fault them for that.