The Bare Minimum – Doomed City EP
“Doomed City” is the latest release by The Bare Minimum, an outstanding Canadian band based in Toronto. It’s their brand-new extended play, arriving after “Is A Gateway Drug,” a critically acclaimed full-length released in 2022 that you should also check out as soon as possible. Heavily promoted by “Fare Inspector,” an excellent standalone single that vividly showcases what you might expect from this material, “Doomed City” packs all the dynamics, groove, power, and melody you need from a modern punk rock band. It’s a cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed piece of music suitable for even the pickiest music enthusiasts. Through these songs, The Bare Minimum channels all the frustration, absurdity, and bitter wit by exploring various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances. Therefore, it’s a highly relatable extended play material that will immediately resonate with a broader audience. Sonically, perhaps The Bare Minimum explores modern punk rock, as the fundamental elements of this genre are most dominant in the mix, but you’ll notice how they incorporated some other styles like hardcore punk, skate punk, pop punk, alternative, garage, and metal into these songs. They use various approaches, techniques, and directions to do so, using them as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift the entire material on an entirely new level while remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. “Doomed City” leans towards modern sound, as the band included qualities that meet all the trends in contemporary music production, yet there’s a subtle touch of nostalgia lurking around, evoking late ninteties and early noughties punk rock sound. This style suits them well, as the band feels and plays comfortably from scratch to finish. Therefore, these experimentations with various approaches, techniques, directions, and styles resulted in four energetic, powerful, catchy, memorable, and addictive tracks that will not only resonate with punk rock fans but anyone who appreciates cleverly written, tastefully composed, and expertly performed music.
Photo by Carlos Coronado
This epic sonic journey commences with heavily distorted basslines of “Weirdos In Basements,” an excellent introductory track that vividly showcases what you might expect from the remainder of this material. The band expertly blends melody and aggression through carefully crafted guitar work. You’ll hear how the interplays between rhythm and lead guitar shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. On one side, you’ll notice all those catchy, memorable, engaging leads, themes, melodies, and harmonies, while the other side resonates with raw, aggressive, powerful riffs. The impressive, passionate, soulful vocal performance acts as a centerpiece here, guiding listeners from start to finish, commanding attention, and elevating everything to new heights. The Bare Minimum keeps up the same energy, rawness, and pace at the next track, but with more anthemic sing-alongs packed during the choruses. “Fare Inspector” was published as a standalone single for a reason. It carries everything you ever needed from a modern melodic punk rock track. The aggressive yet melodic shouts spread the message, powerful riffs and addictive melodies construct a lush soundscape, the intricate basslines deliver more warmth and groove, while the exceptional drumming performance keeps everything in line with precision and finesse. It’s one of those tracks that immediately wraps around your listening apparatus, grabs you by the collar, and transports you to a sweaty basement show, packed with punk rockers singing along. The rhythm section shines on the title track. “Doomed City” brings those impressive drumming acrobatics upfront, with all the beats, breaks, and fills leading the way. In the meantime, those profoundly detailed basslines rumble beneath the guitars, contributing heaviness, clarity, and depth while binding together the mentioned instrumentations with rhythmic patterns. The guitar players deliver another exceptional performance with all those interplays sounding as progressive as possible. It’s nearly mindblowing how the band keeps the fast, energetic, groovy pace from beginning to end. “We Can’t Bring Drums” carries the same amount of energy as the first track, but it certainly leans more towards rock ‘n’ roll sound thanks to all those magnificent, detailed riffs, themes, and leads. The vocals are soulful, passionate, emotive, raw, and fierce, decorating each segment with such precision. The rhythm keeps everything in line while dictating groove and tempo. Each hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over the hi-hat, and splash of the cymbals cuts the ambiance, making this track even more powerful and complex. It’s such an adequate closure of such a marvelous extended play release, worth spinning over and over again.
Once again, The Bare Minimum showcases their tremendous experience, knowledge, skills, talent, and creativity. Their songwriting and composing abilities go beyond comprehension so many times throughout the entire EP that you’ll gladly spin this material until your speakers fall off. Each track is packed with sincere emotion, tremendous aggression, and relentless pace, and The Bare Minimum unquestionably showcases how melody and grit can always go hand in hand. “Doomed City” is packed with four brilliant modern punk rock songs that will immediately become a staple on your playlist. You should immediately place it on your music radar. Head to your favorite streaming platform and check it out!
https://open.spotify.com/album/34ePtx3fmh4DUjemBPKHyd?si=tgr8Z5QLQkyr6EHFWx63Rg
#ALTERNATIVE #garage #HARDCOREPUNK #melodicPunkRock #MUSIC #POPPUNK #PUNKROCK #REVIEWS #THEBAREMINIMUM
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