Lyzanxia "Unsu" (Listenable)
By Taylor Green
Thursday. Nov 09, 2:14 PM
Melo-death with little vision or creativity.

In 2003, Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles said of France's Lyzanxia that the band were "the possessors of what are quite possibly the best thrash riffs in the business." While I have never heard the album in question, Unsu certainly isn't that album and this certainly isn't that band. In fact, it would be difficult to describe Lyzanxia as anything other than generic melodic death metal that's been treaded 100 times over by countless In Flames and Soilwork carbon copies.

In a nutshell, that's what Unsu is. Musically, the map was laid out in the late ‘90s and frankly, it was done better then too. And while the dual riffing and dual vocals of brothers David and Franck Potvin aren't lacking, the accompanying rhythm is too slow and simplistic to hold anything together. Overall, this is heavily pieced together melo-death with little vision or creativity. It just sounds like a record a band would produce after listening to Soilwork and In Flames for three months straight.

The one glimmer of hope is in the dual vocal approach of the brothers Potvin. From the first words of "Wise Counselor," the multi-layered vocals attack the ears with a velocity and ferociousness that is rare in the melodic death scene, more typically found in thrash or faster metalcore. This is a potential leftover from the band Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles referred to in their review three years ago, but that band is not the same one that recorded Unsu. This album is derivative, lackluster, and extremely forgettable.
www.lyzanxia.com
www.listenable.net

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Taylor Green

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