The highly anticipated debut album from the alt/metalcore woman is finally releasing this coming Friday. The album, and by extension Izzy, has been described to me as ‘bold, eclectic and rebellious’, so I have to admit I’m pretty excited to check it out! Plus, having heard a couple of the singles from it, I’m definitely liking what I’m hearing. All of it sounds like it should be right up my street, so let’s dive right in!
‘The Sunken Place’ sets the tone for the album perfectly. An industrial-synth beat gives way to Izzy’s hauntingly beautiful vocals over the simple beat. It builds perfectly into a massive chorus, the drums, synth and guitars adding so much to the sound. It actually reminds me the most of THE DEFECT, which I am not at all against. I love the alternating play between the vocals and heaviness in the second verse, sounding awesome with all the dynamics. The dynamics throughout the whole track, for that matter, are incredible. We somehow get an almost dubstep breakdown in the middle, Izzy’s screaming finally being showcased and sounding just as fantastic as her cleans. It’s an awesome opening track and, if this is the quality of the rest of the album, we are in for something truly special!
Izzy’s incredible voice is once again the focal point of the start of ‘Phobos’. It almost has an operatic, symphonic metal feel to it, like it would feel just as at home over an orchestra as it does the synths. It once again builds up to a massive sound, the riff under the vocals being filthy, giving big modern metal vibes like Sleep Token or Spiritbox. The mix on this whole album is incredible, everything feeling so impactful when it comes back in after dropping out, and it’s never more evident than here. Her screams come back out for an AWESOME breakdown, ending the track perfectly. This is an amazing song, and one that easily makes our playlist!
‘Broken by Design’ has a touch of a different feel to it, having a bit more of a groovier beat. It builds up pretty similarly to the previous tracks, though, into an arena-filling chorus. Regardless of the similarities, it’s impossible not to like as her vocal delivery and writing keeps things so intriguing and fresh. This one feels a little more Motionless in White than the others in the best ways. It’s another great song on an album so far fill with them!
Outside of the more clubby stuff in ‘Pandora’s Box’, it again follows a similar vibe. However, I did enjoy the lower, effect-heavy vocals, suddenly turning the track into a more Skynd-like one. Plus, it’s catchy as anything! The heaviness builds up through the second verse and chorus, somehow getting even more Skynd. And of course the breakdown is pretty tasty, as expected at this point. It’s honestly another unexpected highlight of the album for me, and another that gets a spot on our Spotify! It’s catchy as anything and a lot of fun to listen to. It’s one of the ones I’d love to see it live the most!
Just as I was starting to get a little burnt out, ‘Bird of Prey’ immediately punches you in the face with that riff and scream. Yes, it still drops down to the simple electronic stuff in the verse, but it was at least a nice slight change of pace. It’s another huge, catchy chorus, and the dynamics again are just as great as before. And it does have the best breakdown on the album, it being pretty fantastically brutal. It’s another big highlight of the album, and it’s actually crazy to me that it wasn’t one of the handful of singles released before the album dropped, it’s THAT good.
Sadly, as I said before, this was where I started to feel a touch burnt out with the release. There are six more tracks on the release (granted one is an interlude) and only one or two stood out above the rest. ‘Your Entertainer’ is maybe my favourite track on the album, combining elements of Muse and Ice Nine Kills masterfully; really capturing that theatrical edge that she was going for masterfully. It’s really well crafted too, with an infectiously catchy chorus and melody, and plenty of interesting moments and awesome heavy screams. Then you have the Poppy-esque ‘Sandman’ which is another banger, having very much that modern/industrial metal edge to it with a truly awesome chorus.
However, I found the other three tracks a little samey compared to a lot of the album. That certainly isn’t a bad thing; it’s very rare to get an 11-track album packed full of completely different-feeling bangers, but it does make it harder for me to talk about from a review standpoint. And heck, it’s hardly an issue. They’re good songs still in their own right, other songs on this collection simply do it better. It’s a very minor gripe to have, if I do say so myself!
Overall: I really enjoyed this album! I went in pretty blind and ended up loving it a lot, and becoming a big fan of Izzy in the process. There’s so much awesome stuff on here that really fits in perfectly with the current scene and climate. Izzy is going to go incredibly far, and this will very much be the jumping off point when people look back at when it started. I do think, given the way it was billed to me, it does play it ever so slightly safe at times, but for a debut album this truly fantastic. Yes, I have my little problems, but in the grand scheme of things the positives FAR outweigh any of that. And, most importantly, I simply had a good time listening to it, and I would recommend it to absolutely anyone into this modern rock/metal style that she is playing very well into. I’ll certainly be spinning it a lot in the coming weeks and months!
The Score: 8/10
All hail the queen.