IQ: Dark Matter// a review
This is my first venture into <b>IQ</b>, another neo-prog band from the '80s of all places. I got this at Amazon after reading good things about it. Well...I have to say that the first and last songs on this disc are very good right from the get-go. The third track, 'You Never Will', is pretty good too, but the tracks 'Red Dust Shadow' and 'Born Brilliant' seem a little contrived, and just aren't as interesting as the rest of the album. Surprisingly, the two best songs on the album are the longest; 'Sacred Sound' and 'Harvest Of Souls' clock in at 11:40 and 24:29 (respectively) and are the most prog-like. They sound like a mixture of '80s <b>Marillion</b> and late '70s <b>Camel</b>; only with a heavy choral-like keyboard flourish that washes over at times. These guys have no problem with long epics, mixing different movements ranging from etherial to heavy to whimsical, without sounding clumsy or over-rought like alot of neo-prog bands can sound sometimes. I have read that there is a big Gabriel era <b>Genesis</b> influence. Maybe so, musically speaking, but it isn't as derrivative of that sound like <b>Spock's Beard</b> is/was (and the lead vocalist isn't as enamoured with the sound of his own voice like Gabriel was at the time). I don't know anyone at this site that would own this that doesn't already, so I don't know if I'd recommend to anyone but a proghead, but I like this album way better than <i>The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway</i>, which I've owned and listened to for a few months now (and I don't find I like it as much as some of you do). But I think <i>Dark Matter</i> is a keeper and may sway me to look at the rest of this band's canon.