Asheville, NC. (Top40 Charts/ Glass Onyon PR) - The progressive community is buzzing with anticipation of the upcoming release by New York prog ensemble IZZ. In the past decade the group has released several highly acclaimed albums and have acumulated a large dedicated following in the process. The band's newest CD The Darkened Room is scheduled for release on November 17th and is part of an ongoing series. "This is sort of a 'Part One' of a two-part album series," says John Galgano, who plays bass with the band. "We have already started recording on the next part. There is a concept but we'd prefer to let people take from it what they get out of it, without the influence of our explanation."
"There are many new bands out there in the prog rock scene who try to recreate the spirit of the good old Seventies. I for one always thought that IZZ isn't simply one of them. Yes, they may have lent some aspects of that retro sound but IZZ is a truly special case here. The term 'recreating' doesn't really cover their potential of the band, so 'reinventing' could be a better one instead." - DPRP
Although IZZ has its own unique sound there are several influences: "Each person in the band brings a different aspect of music with them, but there is certainly a shared passion for The Beatles, Genesis and Yes," says Brian Coralian, who with fellow drummer Greg DiMiceli makes up IZZ's potent double-drumming duo. "But as individuals, our musical influences and experiences run the 'genre' gamut from jazz to musical theater to classical to latin to celtic." Some individual artists/bands who influence the members of IZZ are Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, King Crimson, Jonatha Brooke, St. Vincent, ABBA, Ben Folds, Marillion and Dave Brubeck just to name a few.
IZZ's new studio album, The Darkened Room, offers the listener music which is at once both adventurous yet still uniquely IZZ. "Each band member gives amazing performances on this new record," says guitarist Paul Bremner, "but each of us really keeps the song and melody at the forefront of our minds and I think that is evident throughout the entire album."
The current line-up for The Darkened Room is:
Tom Galgano: keyboards, vocals
Greg DiMiceli: drums and percussion
Brian Coralian: electronic and acoustic drums and percussion
Paul Bremner: electric and acoustic guitar
John Galgano: bass guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, vocals
Anmarie Byrnes: vocals
"I think with IZZ, the message is first and always about the music and more specifically, the melody," says Tom Galgano, keyboardist, vocalist and the band's producer and engineer. "The band members share a common passion for developing melody and feel that much of the great music of the past has a common thread - a memorable melody. So, one of our goals is always about attempting our best to bring forth memorable, catchy, interesting and creative music."
"Without question one of the brightest lights on the American symphonic prog scene, IZZ melds classic and modern prog influences, strong melodies, and stirring guitar and synthesizer solos into a familar yet refreshing musical stew. The new IZZ album album My River Flows, their third full-length recording, shows the band's full musical palette: from accessible yet complex songs mixing their Yes, Beatles, and Gentle Giant affinities with a Radiohead spice to a dynamic, spiritually uplifting multi-part symphonic suite." - NEARfest website
Even before the release of IZZ's new opus, the band is back in the studio recording the second part. "What is probably more a focus at this point is completing the recording of Part 2 of this album series," John explains. "We've already started the recording process and hope to have a follow up to The Darkened Room soon. However, since all the members of IZZ consider the band to be a band that you need to experience live, we will definitely sprinkle in a good amount of live performances to promote and play out material for The Darkened Room."
In other news, IZZ was recently featured in the 2008 3RP Festival DVD along with the Flower Kings, Neal Morse, Spock's Beard, California Guitar Trio and others. The DVD is available to purchase on the 3RP official website www.3rprogfest.com. In addition, IZZ is starting work on their own DVD that would include the band's electrifying performance at NEARFest 2007. IZZ's The Darkened Room will be available from Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes and your favorite online retailer. Vist the official IZZ website at www.izznet.com for the most updated information.
