SLIVER OF A SUN

This is a band best heard live. Their studio works are very good, however, they come off best in a live setting. IZZ combines many different prog elements as well as pop, and Celtic. Keith Emerson, Steve Howe, Genesis and King Crimson influences ring throughout. IZZ music keeps you moving, it's energetic and inspired, never flat and non engaging. "Assurance" is worth the price of admission and "Double Bass" is a classic Prog instrumental.

Following this release, Phil Gaita, bass,left the band and multi-instrmentalist John Galgano took over the bass role. Paul Bremner, guesting on "Sliver" will become a full member on the second release, "I Move."

The American band IZZ's debut CD contains a mixture of styles. Their experimental progressive rock is mixed with Celtic, classical, funk, fusion, jazz and Latin with memorable melodies. The music is a blend of The BEATLES, DREAM THEATER, EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL, GENESIS, IQ, JETHRO TULL, KING CRIMSON, MARILLION, Paul McCARTNEY, PINK FLOYD, The POLICE, RITUAL, RUSH, SANTANA, SPOCK'S BEARD, STEELY DAN, TALKING HEADS and YES. Their composing skills are very good and the CD contains such songs as: - the opening "Endless Calling" - the catchy and varied "I Get Lost" - the folky "Lornadoone" - the ballad "She Walked Out The Door" - the intriguing "Assurance" - the commercial "Take It Higher" - the instrumental "Double Bass" - the acoustic and poppy "Just A Girl" - "Meteor" - "Razor" - The closing epic "Where I Belong". All in all it's a very strong debut although the production leaves a little to wish for. Recommended!

IZZ are a tough band to classify. Their songs have musical structures that are obviously inspired by having grown up on a steady diet of Yes and King Crimson (and especially Yes). But they also employ lots of vocals and have a tendency to wander off on different paths including Celtic (“Lornadoone”), west-coast soft rock (“She Walked out the Door”), neo-prog (“Assurance“) and even pop (“Just a Girl”, “Take it Higher”), which keeps listeners on their toes and guessing as to what’s coming next.

Unlike many symphonic rock bands, IZZ seem to have a strong preference for lots of vocals in their music, and indeed just about every song centers around Tom Galgano’s singing. He sounds more like an indie artist than the Jon Andersons, Greg Lakes or even Ian Andersons that most folks associate with traditional symphonic rock. But the vocals shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking these guys don’t have the chops to lay down some serious and complex musical structures, which they prove on the energetic and ambitious opening track “Endless Calling”. If it weren’t for the vocals and the relatively short length of this song I’d almost mistake it for something the Tangent would do (and that’s a compliment).

“I Get Lost” has a simpler arrangement, a few power chords and again Galgano’s vocals that combine for a decidedly more modern sound than the opener, while “She Walked out the Door” is the kind of lost-love piano tune that you might find on a Paste magazine sampler CD alongside the Everybodyfields or the latest Johnathan Rice single. I personally like a bit of that sort of music once and a while, but it is a bit of a jolt to the senses here. “Assurance”, which follows, is in a similar vein except Galgano brother John shows serious talent with intricate though understated guitar fingering just to remind listeners that this is in fact progressive music.

The band keeps going down odd paths on “Take it Higher”, whose title and opening rhythm make me think this is some sort of Greg Kihn cover but which quickly morphs into a funky pop tune with a mix of acoustic and electric guitars and pleasant guest vocals courtesy of Danielle Altieri and Michele Salustri. “Just a Girl” is the other pop tune, but even here the band sets themselves apart with an acoustic guitar riff provided by guest musician Paul Bremner.

“Meteor” features a heavy synth riff that sounds really familiar but I can’t seem to place it. The band has a knack for turning their keyboard arrangements into funky, toe-tapping affairs that make the music highly listenable even when it strays far afield from its opening track’s sound.

The lengthy and closing “Where I Belong” is far too mellow and ambient for my tastes, but Danielle Altieri’s vocals are striking and this ends up reminding me of Marcela Bovio’s Ambeon project ‘Fate of a Dreamer’. Good music, but again a bit out-of-place on this album.

I really like this album, but whenever I play it there is a strong sense of it being more like a sampler or ‘various artists’ CD than something one band put out. Partly this is thanks to the guest vocalists and guitarist, but more so it’s a result of the many varied sounds the band experiments with. Variety is good, but in this case it’s at the expense to a certain degree of an album that whose tracks will all appeal to the same audience. If you like your music varied and don’t mind the occasional surprise, you may find IZZ to your liking. I think this album deserves three stars, but if you’re expecting anything resembling the kind of symph prog you grew up with you may be in for a surprise.

peace

This band is not easy to categorize.

While they sound intricate during the excellent opening track which is on par with some KC numbers, they perform more straight-forward and melodic rock music, almost AOR style during I Get Lost. I admit that it is quite difficult to switch from the one to the other.

The mood changes again for Lornadoone which sounds as a folkish tune, with lots of vocal interventions. This album is a journey through some very well known bands like Floyd (She Walked Out The Door) but this is just exaggerated while playing Assurance. This long piece of music switches from influence too many times (the usual suspects: Floyd, Yes, Genesis) and therefore is rather a kaleidoscope of short parts rather than a song on its own.

The instrumental Double Bass is an hymn to Chris Squire, doubled with ELP-ish keyboards. The same hesitant approach persists. The band is again inspired during the very good Razor: it is one of the most complex songs from this album and it is flirting again with the Crimson repertoire. It is one of the (two) highlights. This is a good debut but the band should decide which way they want to go for further releases. Three stars.

IZZ are a NewYork-based band and can be considered as one of the promising hopes of modern progressive rock.The adjectives ''modern'' and ''classic'' seem opposite to each other,but in the case of IZZ that's what they deliver in their debut ''Silver of a sun'' from 1998.Their influences by GENESIS,YES,GENTLE GIANT and E.L.P. are carefully filtrated through the modern sound of rock and,as a result,you can taste an album filled with nice vocal melodies,enough complexity and great arrangements.Some tracks sound like if GENESIS or YES were born in the 90's with elaboarated symphonic orchestration,some others contain complex interplays between guitar/piano/keyboards in the vein of GENTLE GIANT and obscure guitar work reminiscent of ROBERT FRIPP,while there are also some light pop introductions and fusion elements added for good measure.Complexity and accesibility/modern and vintage are nicely ballanced,making ''Silver of a sun'' an easily recommendable release...4 shining stars!