From Iceland — Brain Police - Beyond the Wasteland

Published October 6, 2006

Veteran rockers Brain Police return with their fourth studio album, sporting a new guitarist, Búi Bendtsen. The result is more guitar heavy than past albums without losing their distinctive stoner-rock sound. The band is as tight as Baden-Powell’s Boy Scout knots – especially the connection between drummer Jónbi and bass player Höddi. Seen live Brain Police are a tough act to follow and Beyond the Wasteland captures that well. So a great album? Almost, but not quite. The problem with Brain Police is their monotonous sound – it’s easy to spot their songs on the radio – but it’s harder than hell to pinpoint which song it is or from what album. Beyond the Wasteland shows improvement in that department. Evidently, Brain Police are developing their sound. So if you’re not anal about musicians constantly coming up with new ideas (hell, AC/DC have made over 15 great albums that all sound pretty much the same) and just want a good, solid, rock album then Brain Police has your medicine. PH