Customer Reviews

The Darkened Room

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are chops a'plenty on this nicely-produced disc; the band skates over interesting time changes in a very musical way (as opposed to the 'look at what we can do' feel that some other bands have when they play outside of 4:4#). Think Yes or Genesis for the sounds and sensibilites, though IZZ's lyrics run a tad darker than that--even when contrasted, nicely, with major chord vocal harmonies, as in "Ticking Away."

The vocals are out in front where they should be, and the engineering is absolutely terrific. The instrumental "Day of Innocence" is lovely, and a slightly-surprisng, though pleasant, departure from the rest of the album. As the previous reviewer said, the more you listen to this album, the more you'll love it.

On my first few listens, what I appreciated the most was the technical skills of both the players and the sound guy--after that, I simply abandoned myself to the music (as you will also), sang at the top of my lungs, and played the steering-wheel-drums like the 40-year-old teenager that I am. Give IZZ a try, you won't be diappointed.

It's hard to describe the music of Izz. One minute they can sound like The Beatles with great melody and vocal harmonies, the next minute they can bust out into some killer instrumental breaks with stellar playing, but most of the time they have their own sound. I liked this disc right off the bat, but the more I listen the better it gets. Everything about this disc is quality - the musicians, the vocals, the production, the songs.

This disc is the first part of a two-disc conceptual project that supposedly has a central theme. I'm not sure what it's about (if anyone does - leave a comment please), but I do know I'm really digging the music. If you've never heard this band this is the perfect beginning, if you're a fan pick this up and enjoy!

While I own the last couple of outings by Izz, until now I've been a half-hearted fan. But The Darkened Room shows steady improvement on many fronts: harmonically, lyrically, and instrumentally. This has turned out to be one of those albums that grow on you the more chances you give it.
Check out both the great guitar work and the drumming on Swallow Our Pride. Thrill to the strong percussion on Day of Innocence. Dig the excellent prog of Stumbling. Be mesmerized by the Porcupine Tree-like harmonies that open 23 Minutes of Tragedy and be floored by its searing guitar work. And finally, relax to the soaring Can't Feel the Earth Part III with its virtuoso keyboard wizardry. Now I don't like everything on this CD, Ticking Away simply does nothing for me. But overall, The Darkened Room has been and will be a frequent pleasure.
The CD comes housed in a standard jewel case and is accompanied by an insert containing a few pictures, album and band info, and most importantly, the lyrics. If you haven't heard Izz yet, I can't think of a better way to discover them than to get The Darkened Room. If you love prog, you should love this.

To me, there are three things that stand out about this album and group. First, the three vocalists give the album great harmonies. Second, the dual percussionists gives them a unique beat and feel. The rhythm is insistent. Third and final, they put effort into their performance. I'm not a judge of whether they are virtuoso performances, but even I can tell they are good. When I saw them live last week, they played most of the album and the music was excellent, note for note.

Fresh progressive rock is a treasure when you find it. I still remember the thrill I had first listening to albums like "Fragile," "Dark Side of the Moon," "Hemispheres," "The Wake," "Images and Words," "Stardust We Are," or "Beware of Darkness." I had that same feeling when I heard IZZ's previous album, "My River Flows." This latest is even better.

Well, I reviewed Izz's other disc "I Move" and gave it 5 stars. The only negative I saw in that disk was the music styles seemed to be a little TOO diverse. It ran the gamut from 80's synth pop to classic 70's prog and light jazzy, fusiony and proggy pop ditties in between. It just wasn't too thematically or stylistically coherent other than EVERYthing was stunningly recorded and performed, and I liked 90% of the disk anyway despite the style-differences.

Then I got a hold of "My River Flows". This release was a lot more consistent than "I Move" style-wise, but some of the material didn't seem so well thought-out for song construction...like it was rushed a little bit. Also it seemed like the band didn't quite know how to incorporate 2 drummers and 2 female vocalists in the whole mix. Still "My River Flows" had some great stuff on it, and there are 3 or 4 tracks I like a lot from it.

And then there's "Darkened Room"! Finally the band seems to have put together a very coherent, well-written, thematically-related disc that seriously captures their performance and writing skills in a nice little package. The disk comes across a little darker than the afore-mentioned disks, but the musicianship and vox nicely feed into painting a picture with a consistent theme and feel. The backing female vocals have finally found a nice supporting, but complimentary roll, the drums marry into the arrangements nicely, and though there's definitely some showmanship in the performances, it's done so in a way that's dependably in tune with the whole effort. The mood of the disk is more in the Porcupine Tree vein, a comparison I would have NEVER made on their previous works, but still with very slight jazzy and pop-like touches. Add a dash of early Evanescence (the female vox) and ebon spicing (but not-quite gothic) and you have a great little stew of shadowy, proggy, rock. And lastly, I STILL am a huge fan of the guitarist, Paul "Brems" Bremner. I almost wish the CD had given him more to do, but kudos for the where-needed restraint and contrasting, balls-to-the-wall delivery when cutting loose was required.

What can I say? I was seriously blown away by the disk. Where I felt "I Move" was a weak 5-stars, this thing is a solid, busting at the seams 5-stars. I haven't so thoroughly enjoyed an entire CD from start to finish since I bought Simon Says' "Tardigrade". Great work guys...keep it up!

Last time I heard IZZ, it was when I got their "I Move" album back around '02. The band impressed me as something of a neo-prog band with similarity in style to Neal Morse & Spock's Beard and some nice harmonies with touches of Beatles influence here and there. Well, I guess I've missed their progression by not getting the 2 or 3 albums between that one and this one, so I was really expecting to be blown away by The Darkened Room. While it's a fairly solid effort from a production and technical performance standpoint, I feel the band still hasn't quite perfected a formula that will pull them out ahead of the pack of modern day prog bands. For instance, I love their harmonies on a couple or so tracks here and I wish they would focus more on that side of their compositions by perhaps pulling back a bit from the prog and heading in a more power pop direction or at least finding a way to merge the two styles: that is to say do less of the quirky, odd time signatures, classical leanings and move to a rockier, more commercially accessible sound. Of note are a couple of odd things about this album: track 2 is an instrumental and it just seems like a strange position for an instrumental - it would be more at home at track 7 or 8. And, the very fine closing track, "Can't Feel The Earth, Part III" - maybe the best track on the CD - seems like an odd choice for a closing track...it feels like there should be another track after it. I know I'm in the minority here with the rest of the reviews but I really like IZZ and I think their best work is still to come.

Picked this up after reading some encouraging reviews and listening to a few snippets. Look, it's certainly not bad stuff. Then again, it's not particularly good either. The song structures are mostly half-formed ideas that really want to go somewhere but never do. You can tell they don't quite know what to do at times as motifs and lyrics are repeated frequently on many of the songs. The lyrics are fine, but the signing is very thin. There are some fine harmonies, but the lead singer is entirely undistinctive with limited range and no real depth to his tone. Izz clearly has technical chops, but they don't have much in the song writing department. C+ stuff at best.

As a thirsty progressive geek looking to expand my prog rock heap, I was caught into the attention of three (for me) new bands: IZZ, MOTH VELLUM and DIN WITHIN.

I just can't got into DIN WITHIN (please see my review), nevertheless I found MOTH VELLUM's debut album as a very smooth and nice work, worth to buy it ! and IZZ's DARKENED ROOM a very, but very elegant and refined neo prog proposal. Why?, because whereas you listen to evident influences of legendary prog rock bands (Yes, for example) in the way these guys play their instruments, you will find in a amusing fashion, that the rythm and the arrangements used to compose and produce the whole album, are very modern ones and a kind of mainstream oriented.

I think that we are hearing a sort of YES meets Bjork ! maybe the comparission is not well suited, but regardless of the originality of these guys, the wallsound you hear is something like that.

I gave it only one single spin to it, and as soon as I finishing hearing it, I realise that I was in front of a good band that can evolve into a legendary one.

It is fresh, it is (once again!) original and it is prog !

Hope this review helped you !

This is best new prog music that I have heard in a very long time! Highly recommended.