Progressive rock has always felt like more of a European genre than an American one—which makes it all the more notable when a homegrown American band makes a mark in the genre.
I’ve seen Izz live twice in two years opening for Big Big Train, in 2024 as a trimmed-down trio, and then again in April 2025 with their six-strong full lineup. The latter performance steered me straight to their merch table to pick up Collapse The Wave, the New York-based group’s eighth and latest studio album.
Together since the late 1990s, the cheekily-named Izz (for Jason Isringhausen, the New York Mets’ star relief pitcher at the time) has featured a remarkably stable lineup over the years. Brothers Tom (keys, vocals) and John (bass, vocals) Galgano, Paul Bremner (guitar), Brian Coralian (drums and percussion) and Greg DiMiceli (drums and percussion) have been there since the group’s 1998 debut, and vocalist Laura Meade first sang with Izz on their second album back in 2002.
Seeing the full Izz lineup live for the first time last month was a revelation; their version of prog is rich in both melody and complexity, an ever-shifting sound that’s nonetheless refreshingly direct and accessible at times. As with Big Big Train, the ability to deploy multiple lead-quality vocalists on a single song—whether for tradeoffs, counterpoints or harmonies—creates all kinds of textures and possibilities, as does their dual-drummer configuration; at the gig I witnessed, Coralian and DiMiceli got up and switched kits mid-set (one was a more traditional drum kit, while the other was more percussion-centric).
Musically, the word that feels like it captures Izz the best is “active.” Taken as a whole, Collapse The Wave manifests the density of sound and at-times frenetic energy of Drama-era Yes, even as featuring both male and female vocalists adds a fresh wrinkle. Kickoff track “We Are The 3rd” cements this impression with a driving opening sequence and downright busy arrangement that jumps from idea to idea, which ends up highlighting a mid-song breakdown with just piano, bells and vocals. “So Many Voices” offers a welcome contrast, a lower-key interlude focused on piano and percussion. 
They get right back at it, though, with “Brace For Impact,” the heaviest, knottiest track here, with more than a little King Crimson in its urgent foreboding. This only sharpens the contrast with the delicate piano-and-Laura-Meade-vocals opening of “Deep Inside,” a thoughtful mid-tempo number exploring a toxic relationship. When Bremner adds gently rippling guitars on the bridge, it takes on an almost Renaissance feel, before the song begins to gain steam, expanding toward a satisfying conclusion.
The seven-minute title track—an album highlight—features a bouncy, complicated opening (if there’s a 4/4 beat anywhere on this album, I couldn’t point you to it) that’s knotty yet cool in a classic-prog way, with abundant energy and trade-off between guitar and keys as the rhythm section bounces all over the place underneath. Vocals arrive late in the third minute, interweaving scientific principles with interpersonal ones before a brief, emphatic reprise of the main themes.
“Sometimes Sublime” opens with Bremner on acoustic and Meade on vocals, a yearning moment that builds into a big sound and jam before circling back. Album single “There’s Hope!” follows with a wonky keyboards-bass-drums theme that ultimately breaks down into a sort of jazz-funk, male-female-unison-vocals bit that feels a little like “Steely Dan tries prog,” if that’s even a thing. The clever lyric focuses on simplifying our lives (“Do I have what I need? / Do I need what I have?”), building toward an especially Drama-like closing jam and vocal section.
Coralian and DiMiceli have a moment with “Brethren,” a brief dip into ELP territory with heavy drums and ominous synths, and then we’re into the bold, emphatic “It’s Not About Me.” Almost immediately there’s a lot going on, jumping back and forth between vocalists and active, complex rhythm section work. Bremner offers some pleasantly squirrely guitar in the third minute, before things get downright frantic in the late going; it’s a 5:11 track that feels like it contains multitudes.
Penultimate track “Soak Up The Sunlight” is the closest thing to a mainstream rock track here, combining a sunny feel with abundant drive; it’s almost early-Chicago at times in its thrumming insistence. The album closes strong with the tight (3:44), powerful “And We Will Go,” bold and busy, with John Galgano’s bass and Tom’s Hammond organ pushing and pushing. Everyone in the band gets in on this one, with complex percussion, multiple electric guitar textures and the three vocalists jumping in and out to the point where it becomes almost dizzying.
While the Galgano brothers are the primary songwriters, everyone contributes, which helps give this album range as well as unflagging energy. Izz is a lot of things here—melodic, virtuosic, variable and clever—but never, ever dull. Overflowing with enthusiasm, Collapse The Wave is full of bravura performances and powerful moments, bold, entertaining and full of life.