Walking down the street with Mínus

Decluttering can be sometimes a good thing. Especially when you find a sheet of paper with 10 names of Icelandic bands that you must see some day and the first on this list is… Mínus. Once I read they were a separate chapter in the history of Icelandic rock music. Or maybe I should say they still are? The band was formed as a five-piece in the fall of 1998 and inspired by bands like Converge or Dillinger Escape Plan turned quickly into a giant of Icelandic hardcore music scene. Now, 18 years later I´m still waiting for their next (fifth in the career) album that was recorded at Kolsstaðir in 2010 and supposed to be released in November the same year but apparently karma didn´t allow this to happen. Maybe it´s hopeless since we have 2016 but I still believe that one day I will see them live for the first and most likely the last time in my life. Just let me feel this explosive energy for a second, please. Having a charismatic frontman Krummi Björgvinsson that was hailed as the best singer of Músiktilraunir 1999 (a.k.a. Battle of Bands), a competition for young Icelandic talents, Mínus presented themselves in such a savagely blissful way that they won a title of the best band of the competition and reached the most valuable prize – supporting American post hardcore group Fugazi and recording a debut album entitled Hey Johnny! presenting their brutal sound and lyrics in Icelandic. Two years