CoC : Izo - Sons of Izo : Review

Izo - _Sons of Izo_
(Independent, 2007)
by: Quentin Kalis (6.5 out of 10)

Despite some dubious pseudonyms (the bassist is either extremely stupid or extremely brave to call himself by the urban sounding "L-Dog" tag), Izo present ten entries to the realm of thrash filtered melodeath. The threat of overly saccharine melodies is omnipresent, but their broody approach largely prevents this possibility from arising, imbuing their numbers which much needed bite and intensity. (Maybe it's their Teutonic thrash heritage filtering through!) Occasionally, they tend to be a bit too predictable -- for example, the emergence of a cleanly picked arpeggio, followed by clean out of key vocals is a recurring motif, whilst some melodies sound like variations of those that have been heard many, many times before. The fact they are off-key is not a major problem, as this is a constant, thus making it bearable, if not quite enjoyable. Overall, their downbeat approach in a genre which is often far too happy works in their favour, but a tendency for repeating the same tricks works against them.

Contact: http://www.sonsofizo.com

(article published 27/4/2008)