Minus The Bear - Infinity Overhead

Seattle, Washington's Minus The Bear are back with their brand new studio release, Infinity Overhead. The follow up to 2010's Omni finds the band taking some elements from their prior effort and combining it with components of albums that came before it, most notably 2005's Menos el Oso and sees the band continuing to diversify their sound and bring in fresh new followers in the process as well.

The album kicks off in high gear with "Steel and Blood", prominently displaying the lead vocals of Jake Snider and featuring rattling guitar riffs interspersed with electronic synth arrangements that give the song a nice, polished touch and show that the band are continuing to evolve their sound with each and every album they make. "Lies and Eyes" is a melodic, consistent jam with the aforementioned synth arrangements once again weaving its way into this one that has more of a groove than the last one displayed, an extremely diverse sounding track heard here. My favorite track off the album is "Toska", a groove laden jam that features Jake's familiar vocal refrain pouring into the song and molding together perfectly with smooth and sleek guitar riffs and those clever electronic elements making its way into this song and contributing a great deal to this song standing out from all the rest. "Listing" is a more toned down number featuring a steady guitar riff and a pounding drum beat brought to you courtesy of Erin Tate who contributes a great deal to the band's melodic thunderpower and the band's ability to match the tone of the song on target.

The disc's second half features "Empty Party Rooms", a markedly downtempo number from the ones we heard on the first half and sees the band implementing different musical techniques to entice the listener and keep their attention all the way throughout. "Zeros" contains more prominently displayed electronic elements that meld in together nicely with the standard issue guitar melodies and intricate instrumentation well shown on all the songs featured on the disc. We start to usher in the album's end with "Lonely Gun" a whining, electric filled track featuring dazzling electronic rhythms that give off a rush of energy that is indicative of the genre of music they play with a rush of dazzling ferocity put forth before you. The album concludes with "Cold Company" an eerie, well polished number featuring a cavalcade of guitar riffs that put a proper stamp of approval on the finished product that best expresses the band's unique musical mission that has been carried out with a reasonable degree of success put forth here. I first saw Minus the Bear in concert about 4 years ago at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston and was amazed with the performance they put on, which culminated with balloons being dispersed from the ceiling during the album's encore and just seeing the audience's reaction was extraordinary to me and just goes to show you how powerful of a following this band has both in Boston and all across the country.

In summary, a well executed and mapped out effort from Minus The Bear, who have clearly demonstrated that they know how to express their musical desires to a captive and attentive musical audience and have an intense devotion to their sound and hold on to every word that emanates from their musical presence.

                                                                                                                             Album Score: 3.5/5

Track Listing:

1. Steel and Blood
2. Lies and Eyes
3. Diamond Lightning
4. Toska
5. Listing
6. Heaven Is A Ghost Town
7. Empty Party Rooms
8. Zeros
9. Lonely Gun
10. Cold Company