Italian progressive Heavy Metal band Icycore was formulated in 1998 at the technical university of Pisa, where guitar player Tiziano Romano and drummer Alessandro Bracaloni were both students of computer science.
Together with Alessandro's girlfriend at that time, Lisa Oliviero, they founded the core of the band, which initially pursued a thrash direction. Subsequent additions would be singer Valerio Voliani, second guitarist Davide Alberti with keyboards on hand from Andrea Petracco.
Wetwired is the follower of a new star in progressive Metal. In spite of the stylistic variety, which characterizes Icycore and the highly skilled level of musical artistry, their compositions sound unique and never cranky. With Wetwired, Icycore deliver an album you could easily compare to early Dream Theater releases.
Icycore perform power progressive metal in the vein of Dream Theater and Eldritch. As you noticed Eldritch's new bass player Lisa Oliviero is part of this metal act.
Memorable is also the fact Icycore contributed their take on Gutter Ballet to the 2000 Savatage tribute album Return Of The Mountain King. You can also hear the vocalist of Eldritch, Terence Holler, as guest appearance on this album release.
Speaking about the songs now... Icycore's compositions remind me of Dream Theater and Queensryche at their best and I think this is a huge compliment for them. What we have here is complex rhythms mixed with the massive sound of dual guitar work and Voliani's superb vocals. The Net, Visions Of Numeric Life, The Hollow Men, Watchdog & Virus, Chrome (Eldritch's Terence Holler contributes on this one) and Watch Me Now are definitely the highlights of this release.
Underground Symphony decided to invest in Icycore by financing their debut album (other than their first demo Altered Feelings). Unfortunately years went by and promises weren't kept due to various problems. When the material for Wetwired had been lying on the shelves for about three years, the band, with Francesco Caprina on second guitars instead of Alberti in the meantime, decided to part ways with Underground Symphony and got picked up by Limb Music Products. All songs were re-mastered by R.D. Liapakis (does it ring a bell?) to give the material an up to date sound.
Icycore is a band not many of you must have heard of before, but I am sure that after  hearing Wetwired you will love them. Albeit these songs are like three years old Icycore proves that the Italian progressive metal scene is strong and has many to offer. I hope this band has the hardihood to compose new songs soon despite their problems with the record labels. Well done!!!