Lizzard are relatively new to me, so I’m pleased to be catching these France-based alt-rock/prog chameleons in their natural habitat. The O2 Islington has always seemed like a unique and slightly odd venue, given that it’s located with a shopping centre in Angel, and it feels even more surreal when I remember that there are two gig venues here, upstairs and down. Given how many folks wearing colours there are queuing for downstairs compared with the black-clad legions upstairs, I don’t really need security to confirm in which venue Lizzard are playing tonight.
I think I prefer the smaller, upstairs venue as the relative intimacy counteracts the inevitably slightly-soulless feel of these corporate venues, and, as I enter, it’s certainly got tonight’s support Godsticks sounding crisp and polished. Hailing from Cardiff, Godsticks play very melodic grunge-leaning prog rock. Unfortunately, I only catch the last two songs but they’re clearly the perfect support choice for Lizzard, with a sound that’s as accessible as it is innovative. There’s quite an array of guitars on stage tonight, as well as an eight-string bass making a rare appearance out in the wild. While it sometimes sounds a little too clean for my ears, I do wish I’d seen the whole set to allow time for that huge sound and those powerful melodies to settle in properly.
Lizzard take up less space on stage, refining their similarly melodic alt rock to three members with no huge rack of guitars up for grabs, but produce an equally grand and powerful sound. Watching them live, you can’t help but be caught up in the sense of passionate enjoyment which radiates from each member. This is especially the case with drummer, Katy, whose beaming smile is constant as she smashes away at the kit like a protégé of Dany Carey, while Will moulds his dexterous bass melodies around the beats.
Frontman Mathieu is a low-key guitar wizard. Low-key because he’s clearly mastered a range of style and techniques, but only uses them in service of the song: the right part at the right time, rather than demonstrations of virtuosity. This is perhaps most notable on ‘Blowdown’ where he plays a catchy tapping melody, singing the chorus over the top, while the bass player changes notes underneath.
When they launch into the slippery, grinding groove of ‘Unity’ from their latest album Mesh, I feel like I’m back in time, watching a classic band like Biffy Clyro or Muse at a small show about to make it big. Lizzard’s sound has certainly moved on from the Undertow-era Tool sound of their early material, becoming a little cleaner, more nuanced, yet still heavy, still strange. There’s still plenty of grinding metal in here, but alongside parts of the textured soundscapes of post-rock, the dirty groove of stoner, and a certain something that is only Lizzard. In a world where – outside of the underground – the life-span of guitar music is continually doubted, we need more bands like Lizzard who combine emotive melody with power and imagination. So I hope that, next time they play London, we get to traverse the Angel shopping centre once more and go see them play the downstairs venue like they deserve.
