Album Reviews

On their sophomore album, ‘Gainsayer,’ Bridge The Gap tear through 14 tracks worth of melodic punk rock with reckless abandon. Though there is no shortage of solid riffage, blistering solos and pummeling drums, the band decided to focus on melody over technicality on this one. Overall, the songs on ‘Gainsayer’ ended up sounding like a more melodic incarnation of Strung Out with echoes of Bad Religion, Zero Down, No Use For A  Name and Good Riddance ringing throughout.

On their sophomore effort Gainsayer, Bridge The Gap tear through 14 tracks of melodic punk rock with a raw, unrelenting energy. Though there’s no shortage of fiery riffs, scorching solos, and thunderous drums, the band leans into melody over sheer technicality this time around. The result is a more tuneful take on the skate punk blueprint—think Strung Out, but with echoes of Bad Religion, Zero Down, and Good Riddance ringing throughout.

After a tentative, alt-rock-tinged intro, ‘Gainsayer’ kicks into gear with the one-two punch of the title track and ‘No Profit In Peace.’ Things ease into midtempo territory on ‘Broken Language,’ take a poppier turn with ‘Brothers,’ and charge full-throttle into Rise Against territory on ‘Useless Organs.’ While their influences are worn proudly on their sleeves, Bridge The Gap manage to craft an album that's both familiar and refreshing—though a bit more variety wouldn’t have hurt.

Bridge The Gap is a group of friends who’ve been making music together since the 1990s. But when life happened, they put their instruments down in order to start families and pursue careers outside of music, before rekindling their connections around 2020. Following the release of their debut album, ‘Secret Kombinations,’ the band decided to start working on the follow-up right away and were back in the studio with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore 20 months later to record what would become ‘Gainsayer’.

Gainsayer tracklist:

1. Gainsayer
2. No Profit In Peace
3. In The Throes
4. Dustbin
5. Broken Language
6. Brothers
7. The Weight
8. Walking Wounded
9. Babylon
10. Dixie Downer
11. Useless Organs
12. Always
13. Something Fierce
14. Without Fail