Mini review of IZZ, “Everlasting Instant,” 2015.  Released today.

I promise to provide a much more in-depth review of this album in the coming weeks.  It arrived happily this morning at the Birzer estate in Longmont, Colorado.  The sun is shining, the Rockies radiating, and some of the best music of the progressive rock era (about my age, as it turns out) is playing for the third time.  As most of you know, “Everlasting Instant” is the conclusion to the trilogy that began with “The Darkened Room” (2009) and continued with “Crush of Night.” (2012).

As this is merely a mini review, let me state a couple of things.

• First, the album is absolutely outstanding.
• Second, while it is an excellent piece of art on its own, “Everlasting Instant” successfully incorporates themes (lyrically and musically) from the previous two albums, thus closing the trilogy with a profound sense of accomplishment.
• Third, the music surprises me a bit—only because it’s as melodic as all IZZ albums, but its minimalism at points and its equally hard progressive aspects jarred me several times during the initial listens.  Frankly, this album is far more prog than the previous two, and it’s gone well beyond what I expect of IZZ.  All to the good!

As proggers, we should all rejoice with the release of this gorgeous album.

As American proggers (those of us who are), we should raise our fists in victory.  This has been a VERY, VERY good year for American prog: Glass Hammer, Neal Morse, IZZ.  Please, keep them coming!