Onesidezero - Is This Room Getting Smaller

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This quintet from Los Angeles recorded a demo tape for themselves and a few friends during the summer of 2000. Like good gossip, the tape spread like fury from dedicated fan to fan. Eventually, the demo landed in the hands of the people that have the power to make (or break) music dreams: the A & R community. Onesidezero quickly signed with Maverick Records and released their debut, Is This Room Getting Smaller.

Like the calm before the storm (or the storm before the calm), vocalist Jasan Radford binds songs together with his melodic, but moody and often poignant vocal outbursts. Add equally moody guitarscapes and rhythms, and the result is a debut that sounds a lot like the work of bands such as Tool, Cold, Incubus and A Perfect Circle.

The opening songs, Instead Laugh and Holding Cell, seem to melt together, leaving the listener wondering where one ends and the other begins. The remaining tracks on the recording readily follow the fuzzy lead of the first two, except for A Point In Time, which, with a precise, original sound, stands out as providing a pleasing break from the intensity. Overall, if you are a fan of radio-friendly nü-metal, you may enjoy this release. Otherwise, it may leave you with the same feeling that it left me with: a profound sense of déjà vu.

Tracee