The Minority – To Serve Man LP

The Minority is the Dutch melodic hardcore punk group with band members emanating from both Amsterdam and Nijmegen. The members are no strangers on the local scene, and previously they performed in groups such as 1000 Miles Ahead, Progress, The Retreat, Ten Threats, and The Indoor Park. To Serve Man is their latest offering to the broader auditorium, and The Minority previously released Send In The Troops, an extended play comprised of six banging punk rock tunes. Judging by their description on social media, The Minority cherishes emancipation and preservation of common sense through education. The group advocates the downfall of capitalism and preaches human rights through powerful music and intelligent lyrics.

The Minority profoundly examines foundations of melodic hardcore punk music through tight guitar shreddings, energetic rhythmical sequences, and appealing chants. Besides melodic hardcore, the group covers a wide array of other genres and occasionally adds up compelling elements of skate punk and metal music. Therefore, To Serve Men levitates somewhere between relentlessly vigorous hardcore punk sections and well defined melodic punk rock segments, carefully implemented to fit the entire scheme. The band sounds confident, stable, and compact throughout the complete recording without being repetitious and monotonous. Elements of metal music are hearable during the album, but they come more as delicate accentuations that are enhancing the overall listening experience.

The guitars are liberating thoughtfully arranged harmonizations through various dualities. The rhythm guitar continuously shreds through well-defined chord progressions, while the lead guitar delivers dozen of appealing thematics through different challenging technics. Despite being entirely melodic, guitars are sounding completely tight throughout the album. The bass guitar comes somewhere in between these dualities, but it’s hearable just enough not to spoil all the fun. The complete drumming performance goes beyond comprehension, and it’s nearly impossible to grasp all the acrobatics at once. The Minority appears as fully energized machinery, ready to wipe off everything in the broader radius.

If you’re looking out for a more profound examination of their sound, their music resembles some renowned heavyweights, such as Good Riddance, Pennywise, Comeback Kid, With Honor, Propagandhi, Cigar, Have Heart, and Kid Dynamite. However, The Minority are doing their thing that certainly appears as a bone-crushing mixture of melodic hardcore and skatepunk. The groups spent some time searching for a perfect formula that will satisfy their inner cravings, and that search certainly paid off through phenomenal debut. To Serve Man is currently available at streaming services, but I hope this material will eventually show up on vinyl or compact disc. Until then, enjoy in To Serve Man at their Bandcamp page.