IZZ

'Live At Nearfest' presents an excellent IZZ performance from the year 2007. Firstly, let me assure that they belong to my favourite bands over hell of a long time. Founded by Galgano brothers Tom and John they are of an exceptional singularity, thus I often come back to them, especially when I'm in a pleasant mood. I like their convenient combination of trickiness and warm-hearted harmonies - additionally the (polyphonic) vocals are a special trademark. Musicianship is wide-ranged, John Galgano for example handles bass, guitar and keyboards, and they have two drummers respectively percussionists aboard, who complement each other.

Won't claim that this is something like a best of collection exactly, but the compilation surely makes it big, sounds rounded due to a perpetual shift back and forth between charming and propulsive moments. They start with Swallow Our Pride - a testimonial, which made it on the next coming album 'The Darkened Room' then. My River Flows is somewhat exceptional while given with two guitars involved, speaking of Paul Bremner and John Galgano perfectly complementing on this very dynamic song. Now the operating temperature is achieved in a minimum of time.

The symphonic Assurance shows them hanging back then with charming moments at first, but - not really surprising - in between the horses break into a gallop of course. Wonderful vocals and sparkling piano lines are the attraction on where the studio version of Late Night Salvation seems to be better as for my impression - eh ... sorry ... if at all I'm talking about nuances here, you should know. I still find this an exceptional feature included - just take care of the female vocals and the drum solo performed by both percussionists.

The atmospheric Where I Belong is showcasing Anmarie Byrnes and Laura Meade in front - and then Star Evil Gnoma Su follows as their showpiece per se. Every time I listen, I'm still impressed about the virtuosity - a masterpiece of progressive rock indeed. The live version even seems to work slightly better. Chapeau! Funny - after years I finally realized, that the song title is a (simple) pun. This live album is a perfect introduction to the IZZ world, if you still are not familiar. Furthermore you shouldn't miss their studio output.

The style of the band did not change a bit, despite the presence of the new guitarist, and follows the lines of modern Symphonic/Neo Progressive Rock with glances in the past but a quite contemporary sound.GENESIS, YES, KING CRIMSON and GENTLE GIANT influences along with THE BEATLES touches remain the main components of Izz'es music, which actually sound like a second incarnation of SPOCK'S BEARD.Next to the usual prog instrumentation Izz use a bit of samplers and loops, trying to add some more originality in their music.The result is very satysfying to say the least.Emphatic contemporary Progressive Rock, which ranges from atmospheric soundscapes to rich and full-blown passages, based on the slightly distorted vocals of Tom Galgano and the intelligent arrangements, which contain both melodic and more challenging parts.Excellent soaring synthesizers combine with discreet organs and smooth piano interludes and all these are blended with John Galgano's and Bremner's guitars, which excercise the possibility of the coexistence between melody and complexity.The material is extremely memorable and well-crafted with some very good compositions among the fifteen pieces displayed on the CD, while the full instrumental textures are highly adventurous and fairly complicated.

Another nice album in the Izz discography.Extremely balanced, modern sounding, challenging and melodic at the same time.Highly recommended.

Crush of Night (2012) is not that different, sonically speaking, from The Darkened Room (2009). As it is supposed to be in a second part of a story, it's a continuation of their previous work.

One of the things that I like in IZZ since the beginning is the bass lines that John Galgano brings to their music, always clever. Also, the vocals are here too, at this point a trade mark of the band. It's quite normal on their albums to hear two voices at the same time, sometimes even three, which is a very original feature of the band.

'You've Got A Time' is the opening track and it's a typical IZZ track, superb quality with a little pop accent. The second, 'Words And Miracles' is more complex in the beginning. Lots of guitars including the mentioned Gary Green participation and great vocals by Tom Galgano (he's also the keyboard man). Anmarie Byrnes is the female voice on the track three, 'Solid Ground', but the electronics and the 'blips & blops' of the track bother me as hell! Especially because I know the track could be really better with a different arrangement. To compensate for 'Solid Ground', IZZ brings to the table the superb 'Half The Way', melodical and beautiful keyboard driven song. A great guitar solo by Paul Bremner is included! In the sequence we have the 'Crush Of Night Suite', as the readers of Progshine already know I'm a fan of long songs, this is one of them, but unfortunately it was divided into two tracks. Together they spam over 26 minutes. The Suite starts with 'This Reality' and a wonderful bass line by John Galgano. Around 3 minutes the electronics come along again, and it bothers me again, especially knowing the band has two drummers' I don't think it fits their music at all. The first part of the Suite is a bit weak in my opinion, it lacks the epic feeling that I know the band could deliver. In the second part of 'The Crush Of Night' we have once again Gary Green as a Special Guest in the guitars, but the overall feeling continues to be not that good. To me the song doesn't go anywhere, I know the band could do much better. Only after the 9th minute of the song I could feel the real IZZ in it, like I know they can be, which is kinda sad.

'Almost Over' finishes Crush of Night (2012) with one more guest, Greg Meade on the guitar solo, a great bass line, nice doubled vocals and a nice riff. Not enough to make me feel that the album is worth a million listens. In fact, I feel a little bit disappointed, cause I really like the band.

My overall feeling about this new IZZ album is that they could have done better! It's a good album, but it's not so remarkable as The Darkened Room (2009). Some pieces seem out of place, especially in the Suite. I will wait with my best high hopes for the next album, that will finish the trilogy!

Words And Miracles features a guest appearance of Gentle Giant's guitarist Gary Green - a guitar dominated tune with great dynamics but also a semi-acoustic part by way of variation. Solid Ground convinces me completely due to the catchy main melody and wonderful polyphonic vocals. The balladesque Half The Way comes with sparkling piano leading into the album's 26-minute centerpiece, represented by two immediately consecutive and extended songs. The solemn This Reality with proper symphonic fundament and then the epic title song are showcasing several twists and turns. First this reminds me of german band RPWL a bit. Some sweet melodies follow, finally even jamming approach inclusive of guitar solos and synth excursions backed by a groovy background - the song-writing abilities are simply great here!

No filler to discover! With 'Crush Of Night' the band has delivered an excellent workout again in 2012 - definitely something to enjoy. Strong musicianship all the way through. I wouldn't say this is significantly differing from previous efforts, except an improved accessibility of the compositions maybe. As for that not really spectacular, one or two may say - however the songs certainly prove mature, can convince me absolutely. So I'm sure this one will be an excellent addition to every well-sorted prog music collection.

Izz second album fom 2002 named simple I move is a kind of album that I don't like at all from the first spin, this is pop with crossover prog elements that sounds like Radiohead or Porcupine Tree with some Yes influneces here and there and is disguised as symphonic prog, uhh, not for me. I'm agree with Marty that I've expected something really symphonic prog here, not some modern tra la la band that incapsulates so many styles that even they don't know what they play in the end. I like my old kind of symphonic prog, really. Back to this album, besides an awfull cover art, the music is less intrsting, the first half of the abum is forgetable at best, purly produce, of course well played, but the ideas suffer in solid songwritting, this is mediocre. No true songs here to really put my finger on and said this is the best from the album, all are almost the same with no attitude. To me this album is boring like hell, I can't give more then 2 stars

The second part is taken from a show in 2002 at the ProgWest festival. Here we have a 3 camera shot with a audience bootleg sound. After the excellent quality of the main feature, this is a big step bakcward. I am glad that we have only 4 songs on that show.

The third part is more interesting with a live-in-studio webast of one hour with one camera and a decent sound. Here we have some Izz's songs and some songs taken from solo's cds of different members of the band. There is a some nice songs again here, showing a band that know how to write good compostions.

The fourth part is like a rehearsal of the band in studio. Nothing exceptional, but interesting to see another side of the band.

In conclusion, the main feature is worth the price of the DVD alone, it's just too short, but at that time, the band had only 3 cds on the market. It's a nice addition to any progressive fans.

I was wondering why they were labeled as symphonic rock and not crossover, but listening to this CD with atention you´ll find that they are indeed quite symphonic and the music is far more complex than I initially thought it was. Their elaborated and varied compositions (specially on the CD´s second half) are really excellent and hints even a few Yes-like passages, with very fine keys and several Chris Squire-ish bass runs. I loved the exquisite keyboards timbres, the brilliant guitar passages and the sophisticated vocals (the two girl backing vocals are very good!)

The album was very well recorded and produced. Highlights? Try the 12 minute Late Night Salvation and the cool Where I Belong, but Live at Nearfest has no weak tracks. They are a real tight band.

Conclusion: very interesting and original sounds. If you want to hear something new in the prog field, this album might give you some pleasant moments. RAting: something between 4 and 4.5 stars. A band to watch for!

To my knowledge, this is the fourth album by these US proggers. A band with a very good reputation and alledged one of the better bands from the new generation of US prog bands.

Their music is a mix of grunge, technical prog metal, AOR, rock and some symphonic prog. The music is complex and heavy at times. It is also stripped down other times.

The instrumentations is both vintage keyboards and more 20th century type of studio wizards keyboards. There are a lot of groovy rhythm guitars and nice guitar solos too. The bass and drums is also pretty much in the fore of the sound. The vocals are a bit stucked in the back of the mix.

And what the heck is the point of having a drum solo on a studio album ?

I am not overawed by the vocals here. Neither am I overawed by the music itself. The music feels a bit forced. Based on two listenings, a one star review would had been in order. But the album grows on me, but without really becoming a hit album. The lack of any real great tunes here is a major problem. The sound is also a bit twenty-by-the-dozens for me to really get engaged in this music. For me, this is a reasonable good album and nothing more. This being my first Izz album, I hope their back catalogue has more to offer than this album.

3 stars

Album highlights: 1. "Swallow Our Pride" (5:16) (8/10); the EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER-like classically-tinged 4. "Can't Feel the Earth, Part I" (4:39) (8/10); the female-vocal-laden, AYREON-like 6. "Can't Feel the Earth, Part II" (10:37) (9/10); 9. "23 Minutes of Tragedy" (7:00) (9/10), and; 10. "Can't Feel the Earth, Part III" (5:08) (9/10).

4.5 stars, almost a masterpiece but in reality an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection.