Jesse Smith & The Holy Ghost – Self Titled

This is West Virginian Jesse Smith‘s latest project, he has now been in the music business for over two decades, in bands such as Zao and Gods. Jesse Smith & The Holy Ghost originally formed as a live collective with a constantly changing line up, but over the years the line up has been refined, and they have now assembled an impressive roster of musicians, alongside the eponymous frontman are drummer Brandon Joy, bassist Ralph Moyers, and guitarists Breyer White and Dakota Walker. Together they have established a formidable reputation as a live act, now they have bought us their self titled debut album.

This is alt rock as it should be played, it carries the beat and attitude of traditional rock but it’s imbued with a fierce independent streak that carries influences from the best bands that have defied description and been lumped in with the alt rock tag, think of Nick Oliveri era Queens Of The Stone Age, Muse‘s less indulgent songs or The Cult at full tilt, all played with a hard edge and hunger that comes from having lived life on the rollercoaster of the music industry for over two decades. Mystic River opens the album with mellow guitars that steadily build up to the brutal pounding riff of 826, following this is my personal highlight, the speed fuelled Son Of Nomad. This is an album that switches effortlessly between brutal alt rock, blues influenced rockers and amphetamine fast numbers, this is a very impressive debut that never take it’s foot off the gas until the brief Outro eases you out of the album with its hypnotic chant.

Album’s like this are part of the joy of being a reviewer, occasionally you get to discover an album that might well otherwise have passed you by, this is one of those albums, and hopefully I’ll be successful in trying to ensure that a few people don’t make that mistake. This is a brutal, yet melodic, album of alt rock that I would recommend to anyone who likes their music on the dark side. It is the result of the years spent honing their live act, finding the right combination of members and getting signed to a label, in the recently re-launched Standby Records, that allows you to record the album you wanted to make. The only problem that Jesse Smith And The Holy Ghost will have will be surpassing this release when they come to record the sophomore album.

Jesse Smith And The Holy Ghost‘s self titled album can be purchased from Standby Records here