Jesse Smith showcases his talents with promise in this, so-close-to-really-good, CD. Imagine the child that would be produced from the combination of the Deftones and Dear Ephesus. Sounds weird, yes, but the result is actually quite pleasing. The music is often melodic, Jesse uses a lot of acoustic guitars, while he sings a la Chico Moreno (Deftones). That is then contrasted with blasting screams (using the annoying broken phone effect, but still screaming nonetheless) and heavy guitars. The hooks run more in the hard rock/alternative vein, never really touching on metal.
The big disappointment for me was the production quality. Jesse Smith is a fine drummer, extremely talented, but the mix successfully botches any hope of this album being great. His drums are muddy, almost like you were listening to the drum track with cotton in your ears. You can make them out, but they're not distinct. Not only that, but he never really does anything. I was unimpressed with his playing on the album. The guitars are good, very prominent, clean, then distorted, and raging as the song requires. The vocals are great too, save for the fact that often times, you can't hear Jesse's singing too well. This isn't true for all the songs, but it is for too many of them.
Overall, I enjoyed this CD. It's a good bridge between raging hardcore and artsy emo/rock. A balance of singing and screaming, something which is hard to find these days (It seems that you either get one or the other). Even as I enjoyed this album, it isn't the greatest one in the world. I can't honestly say if it's worth ten bucks. And I think Jesse should definitely stick with ZAO, or at least get a full band behind him next time he goes solo. This album very much fits the old Milk Cow rating of being good, but not as good as it could have been. I really want to see Jesse get back in the studio with better production.
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #79Reviewed by Doug Van PeltWhat has Jesse Smith done? Did Brett Detar's departure for The Juliana Theory get to him? Did it make him sing, "Anything you can do, I can do better?" This solo project is lush full of dreamy vocals, deceptively trance-like raw romping that lulls you to mellowness one minute, then slams you with brick wall distorted vocals and guitars that buzzsaw your brains out. What a wonderful project!…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by ConradI wasn't sure what to make of this album. This album ranges from one extreme to another. On one side its intense, slow, quiet rock, then all of a sudden the song kicks in with distorted screaming vocals, then it gets soft again. This to me is good background music - it creates a feel, and intense feeling. I've actually had it on in my room when I was just hanging out doing whatever. This album at…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by TimThis album makes me anxious. From the slow boring music to the hard annoying music, it just frustrated me. The distorted vocals were just not that great. However, they do have a few really good guitar riffs. Overall, a lot of people will enjoy this, and a lot of people will hate it....It all just depends on what mood you're in. CDecapolis 1999Reviewed by Tom BastianThis CD kind of got on my nerves. Some of it's pretty cool, and stylistically it's kind of all over the place. But they seem to always want to mess many of the songs up with this like distorted screaming vocals. They even mess with their guitars on a few songs and distort them all up at times too. A few cool riffs thrown in throughout the CD help to make the CD a little more enjoyable. I did like…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Joe RockstrohDrummer extraordinaire for Zao, Jesse Smith has blessed us with his first solo album. While every Zao fan knows that Smith can play the drums, he also proves he can do a decent job on the bass, guitar, and vocal end of the musical spectrum by playing all these instruments on this album. While you might expect a metal album from the drummer of a popular metal band, Jesse Smith serves up something…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Josh SpencerWith the much-anticipated side project of Zao's drummer Jesse Smith, we're treated to something I've never heard before: the quietest of emo indie rock laid next to a hybrid groove/metalcore sound. It's exhilarating. Sometimes the two sounds take turns caressing and pummeling your ears, and sometimes they're tracked simultaneously in the mix so that you hear melodic strumming and whisper vocals…Similar sounding releases
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