1- MUSIC OVERVIEW...
Hard ‘N’ Heavy, Feb 2001: “It’s impossible not to notice the qualities of these French musicians. Oscillating between modern thrash and sonorities close to the Swedish sound of Göteborg, Lyzanxia delivers a type of music that kicks rather serious ass.”
Metallian, April 2001: “The compositions are meticulous, powerful and always melodic, using excellent riffs, keys and arpeggios.”
Hard Rock, February 2001: “The guitars rip your face off as though razor blades over a rhythm section that delivers surgical precision.”
Lyzanxia’s music is all about diversity and creativity based on an astonishingly energetic, aggressive and melodic style boasting the incredible chemistry of two vocalists-guitarists (David Potvin - lead and Franck Potvin - rhythm). Beside delivering mindblowing riffs and enraged guitar solos, the talented brothers give Lyzanxia their trademark addictive, dueling vocals in every range imaginable from thrash to death to clean to heavy and much more. Add to this an implacable and powerful rhythm section (Gaël Ferret - drums, and Eguil Voisin - bass), a sound quality that is not hing less than amazing, and impeccable arrangements, and you have Lyzanxia.
2- THE STORY SO FAR...
From ashes to a new skin...
DAVID POTVIN formed LYZANXIA in 1996 from the ashes of his former band OVERLOAD. Moving on with incredible motivation, a first combo rapidly saw the light of day: bass, drums and two guitars, with FRANCK POTVIN stepping in to play rhythm guitar and offering additional vocals. To gain first -hand valuable experience, the band took straight to the road and started playing at clubs and in festivals. Thereafter, LYZANXIA entered the studios to record their first demo “RIP MY SKIN”, which turned out to be a great showcase of the band’s potential and a tremendous way of getting the ball rolling. It was acclaimed both by the fans and the local radio stations, who kept spreading the word of mouth.
“Lullaby”
Hard ‘N’ Heavy, May 1998: “Lyzanxia will be enjoyed both by demanding listeners and technicians who won’t fail to notice how diverse the structures of the compositions are”.
In 1997, LYZANXIA recorded their first full-length, 11-track demo album entitled “LULLABY”, which they self-produced in view of a release all over France. This time, the band could rely on strong support through the creation of the association SLAM PRODUCTIONS, get their music across thanks to an independent distributor (AGI), and benefit from efficient promotion via the metal press, which embraced the album. The underground world (fanzines, FM radios, etc.) showed great interest for the band. As a result, LYZANXIA played more gigs at well-known venues such as the FUZZ'YON (La Roche s/ Yon) and the OLYMPIC (Nantes), and opened for EDGE OF SANITY, DISFEAR, LOUDBLAST, OVERSOUL, HEADLINE, NO RETURN… LYZANXIA showed such an impressive and powerful stage presence that they quickly got themselves their own audience.
“Eden”
Hard Rock magazine, February 2001: “Absolutely every single track is rich and meticulously built. Honestly if an American band had released this album, everyone would be in utter awe. So don’t miss this otherwise you would be missing something huge.”
Not only did LYZANXIA get signed by Trepan Records for a 10-song full-length album but they also managed to get one of the most acclaimed producer of European metal to work with them: FREDRIK NORDSTRÖM. After listening to the demos of the upcoming album, he agreed to work with the band and came all the way to the Backstage Studio in Lyon, France. At that time, LYZANXIA’s line-up became permanent with the arrival of musicians GWELTAZ KERJAN (Drums) and EGUIL VOISIN (Bass). Then came the time for mixing and mastering, so off to the FREDMAN STUDIO in Sweden!
Worldwide release...
Hard ‘N’ Heavy, February 2001: “Brutality, melody and impeccable technical approach, all the ingredients of a great album. Listen to this at all costs.”
The band’s label, TREPAN RECORDS, entered negotiations to find the best possible distribution and secured license deals with Japan, Canada, the USA, Italy and France. The album was entitled “EDEN” and released in 2001. The album has been unanimously acclaimed everywhere, both by the fans and by the media (6/6 Hard Rock : France, 84/100 Burrn : Japan, 9/10 Metal Mania : Canada…). To further promote the release of the album, LYZANXIA embarked on a French tour in the spring; and later in 2001 they made two music videos (“Bewitched”, and “Dream Feeder”) that got aired on French TV and in several distributed countries.
New album in 2002...
The songs for the next album “Mindcrimes” were written in September 2001 and the demos recorded in December 2001. The new LYZANXIA album was recorded in March 2002, once again with Fredrik Nordström and Don Romano 666. Mixing and mastering took place at the Fredman Studio and the Mastering Room in Göteborg, Sweden, in May 2002. Since drummer Gweltaz Kerjan could not play because of a broken foot, Lyzanxia asked their friend DIRK VERBEUREN to play the drum parts on the new album. As for future gigs, GAËL FERRET will be on drums.
“Mindcrimes” release...
Japan was the first country to release “Mindcrimes”. It came out on King Records on 2nd October 2002 and was immediately embraced by the Japanese media and fans. “Mindcrimes” received the impressive score of 86/100 in the highly respected Burnn! Magazine, which put the band in the top five scores out of seventy releases reviewed in that issue! To support the album, a video of a new track, “Silence Code”, was in the works around the same time and then was filmed in November with director Yohann Jouin ; it is now ready to be aired everywhere.
The European release of “Mindcrimes” is set for March 10th 2003 through distribution label Wagram, and it should be followed shortly by the North and South American release on a different label...
