THE SEVENTH HOUSE

IQ faced some kind of a challenge when they had to write the successor of the highly acla Subterranea album. And how the guys succeeded!! In my opinion The Seventh House is without doubt the best album they delivered in their carreer thus far. Every song is simply very strong, has catching, sometimes haunting melodies (especially the title track is phenomenal), mysterious lyrics that fit extremely well with the music and throughout the six tracks the listener is taken through a high variety of moods. The album starts off very strongly with the first of the two 10+ minutes tracks. I witnessed the debut of this song when IQ played the Boerderij venue in Zoetermeer, Holland and the roof really fell off! The song is beautifully crafted, works towards a grasping climax in the last 2 minutes or so and leaves you behind with a feeling of WHOAhh! Erosion is somewhat quieter but keeps playing in your mind once you have got used to it. It's a very good song but because it falls between the two epics of the album it tends to be overlooked. For the real gem of the album is the title track. IQ plays it live ever since the album was released and the song is always accompanied by a haunting, sometimes depressing slideshow. It easily holds the attention for the full 14 minutes, takes you on a sort of rollercoaster towards romantic, violent, depressing and melancholic moods but never fails to touch you. The guitar, the keyboards and most certainly the bass playing is so good on this song, it really illustrates what a fantastic band IQ is (and always has been!). Zero hour is a beautifull quiet song, very necessary after the intense listening experience of The Seventh House. Angels is the most straightforward rocksong on the album, albeit that it starts off with a very quiet, 'poppy' keyboard. But let it take you away! Guiding lines closes the album in a great style because it also has epic-proportions and characteristics. Yet it does not reach the full quality of The wortng side of weird or The seventh house but is is a very good song indeed. On the whole I think that the singing on this album is even (far?) better than on the Subterranea album.

The Seventh House is IQ's best, at least that's my opinion!