Smile Empty Soul: Live…
The Bastards You Created
By: William Nadel
The Whiskey A Go Go in December is a far cry from the snow laden East. There are Preps, Goths, and every other type of party crazed hipster imaginable walking these streets in search of their sh*t. I came to this historical venue tonight to be enthralled by Seattle influenced Grunge and Nu Metal hybrid, Smile Empty Soul. I will start off by stating that this band did the house of Morrison justice.
The band played some tracks from their new album “Consciousness” and I was fairly impressed during the majority of their live performance. The lead singer, Sean Danielsen, sustains a bounty of creative melodic composition throughout the experience and really gets the crowd into the energy of it all. I really dug the meaningful lyrics, although in a few instances the message was lost because I was unable to understand the verses. No big deal. The band utilizes solid production techniques, including some ethereal guitar phasing and delay effects. I wish that all of the vocals kept up the intensity of the passionate screaming elements that are persistent throughout the performance. The drummer, Jake Kilmer, keeps up the tempo with solid and consistent beats. I always felt the driving force of his influence. Kilmer played off dreaded-dread-headed bassist Ryan Martin to create a great blend of Alice In Chains, Rage Against The Machine, and Nu Metal style male vocal sirenism.
While I was always into the vibe, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the similarities in song structure during the set. I would have like a bit more structural variety, but they did provide a decent amount of diversity for such a short set. Danielson shouldn’t fear stretches of non-screaming vocal melodies, because I think that he does a great job pulling you in with his actual singing voice. I felt somewhat of a personality conflict within some songs and a slight inconsistency in perceived motives. Do they give a f*ck? Hell no they don’t care and I think that fact can elevate them if they keep their balls and keep their finger on the pulse of what’s real. They claim to be “the people you hate”, but I bet you’ll be digging them in a big way soon.
For more info go to:
SmileEmptySoul
