After six years in the wilderness, OneSideZero return to show everyone how it’s done. Again.On 2001’s Is This Room Getting Smaller? album, OneSideZero dropped an album of immense melody and intense musicianship on a relatively unsuspecting music scene. Different from the vastly popular and over-populated Nu-Metal scene, they peddled more melodies in one song than many band of the day had on an entire album.
Now back with their eponymous sophomore release, it’s really like they never left. “Carry Your Gun” opens proceedings with a bang, blending all the elements we’ve come to treasure (soft, husky melodic parts and more angst-ridden verses). This would make a very good single.
One of the best things about this band is that they defy comparisons – there really is no one else out there that sounds like them. True, they have certain elements that might sound (if only read about) pretty standard, but when you actually hear Jason Radford’s vocals, how he is able to switch effortlessly from a clean, almost angelic sung vocal to a rabble-rousing cry for revolution (“Breath”) is refreshing to say the least. Think Tool if it was fronted by someone who could not only write a decent melody, but also stick with it for long enough for everyone to care, mixed with the instrumentation of Jimmy Eat World or Strata at their harshest. Perhaps not the best description, but that’s the image my mind conjures when I think about it.
While for a long time we only had lead single “My Confession” to whet our appetites in the lead up to OneSideZero’s release, the song is another microcosm of OSZ’s sound, with its rousing choruses and harsher middle-eight, if you like the single, you will definitely like the whole album. It has become a heavy-rotation song on my stereo and playlist (actually, it’s on there twice, to make it more prevalent).
It’s not all balls-to-the-wall metallic melody, though; “Levitation” brings things back to a more calm pace, a moment of calm respite after the three opening cuts.
While I wouldn’t go as far as to say the album as a whole is perfect, it has a clutch of near-perfect songs to make it a necessary purchase for anyone who loves metal, and also for those who are perhaps tiring of the metalcore and emo scenes. OneSideZero contains enough to hold the attention of devout fans of both genres, and they would benefit from getting their paws on this great album.
