Metallica may have reduced the idea of a merger between thrash metal and the traditional power ballad to a formula, and then driven it into the ground, but that doesn't mean other groups can't find new life in the form. One that does is the Chicago quartet Izel's Spiral.

Over the last five years, on a strong EP ("As You Burn") released last August and on several demos before that, vocalist Carlos Paz, guitarists Ralph Gomez and Joe Trtan, bassist Louie Salgado and drummer Roger Guerrero have breathed new life into the sweet/sour, hard/soft merger, if not quite living up to their boast of conjuring the sound that would have resulted "if Metallica and Stone Temple Pilots had a child, it would've had Bush for step parents and Breaking Benjamin as a distant cousin."

Over the last five years, on a strong EP ("As You Burn") released last August and on several demos before that, vocalist Carlos Paz, guitarists Ralph Gomez and Joe Trtan, bassist Louie Salgado and drummer Roger Guerrero have breathed new life into the sweet/sour, hard/soft merger, if not quite living up to their boast of conjuring the sound that would have resulted "if Metallica and Stone Temple Pilots had a child, it would've had Bush for step parents and Breaking Benjamin as a distant cousin."

Sample the band's sounds and keep an eye out for upcoming gigs on its Web site, www.myspace.com/izelsspiral.

Sample the band's sounds and keep an eye out for upcoming gigs on its Web site, www.myspace.com/izelsspiral.