Czar

8 OUT OF 10: Brain and Brawn: …Czar still aspires to be brainy, arty Isis/Pelican-ish metal, but Novak’s past as chief Acumen Nation (and DJ? Acucrack) tunesmith means he can’t kick melodies and hooks cold turkey. Truth is, he and his bandmates don’t have the attention spansfor the vast experimentation of bands like Jesu, an obvious influence, but Czar turns that into a positive by meeting in themiddle. “In Defense of Pluto,” “Goregon Trail” and “Slave to Evacuation” compile the best aspects of all the aforementioned bands but stuffed into four minutes instead of strewn across 10.
It’s thinking man’s metal for those that strive to be onlyslightly smarter than the average headbanger.
-OUTBURN
- Outburn Magazine

This is sure to be one of the most exciting EP releases of the year, and hints at even more powerful future offerings. With touches of Mastodonic riffing, melodic movements that would make Fear Factory proud, exploratory guitar work akin to that of Daylight Dies, and expertly tight drumming capped with very flattering production, Czar’s EP is as engulfing as an imploding star.This EP is an essential listen for fans of understated technical progressive metal and carries considerable force even without many vocals. The sonic elements in the background are also noteworthy for discerning listeners. I’ll be damned if my favorite album of 2009 isn’t even a full album, but this EP. This is 24 minutes of spacey, luxurious, and melodically sensible metal you won’t want to miss.
-METALUNDERGROUND.COM
- Metalunderground.com

This local art-metal trio is a side project of Chicago industrial institution Acumen Nation—vocalist-guitarist Jason Novak and drummer Dan Brill are both in that band too, and guitarist Brian Elza, formerly of epic indie-rock outfit Chiral, joined them for a spell in 2003. Czar have only been gigging since late last winter, and in May they released a self-titled EP on their own Cracknation label. Its five tracks include a rich diversity of guitar sounds and textures, riveted in place by inventive percussion; To my ears Czar have a great deal of promise but no fully developed identity yet; they seem to have realized that highly structured, panoramic landscape metal is fun as hell to play, but because they're still unloading their entire arsenal of songwriting tricks on every tune, none of them ends up with any particular character.
-CHICAGO READER
- Chicago Reader

Top 10 Bands to Watch in 2010: #1: CZAR... a mutant fusion of brooding, heads-down post-rock, freewheeling, angular noise, and some surprising melodic passages. Vocals are kept to a minimum as its menacing rock morphs from a disjointed and spastic cacophony to a tightly coiled groove with the drop of a jagged chord. You can hear traces of Pelican in the murky, blast-furnace metal of “Depthless Paradise Of Terror” and the epic, billowing ebb and flow of “Above. Below”… mixing economical but sludgy riffs a la COC with blackmetal and Mastodon’s ambition.
-ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER
- Illinois Entertainer