THE SEVENTH HOUSE

After hearing 4 masterpieces of IQ, Ever, Frequency, Road of Bones and Resistance, i am drawn to hear their entire catalogue so eventually I heard The Seventh House. Basically its their seventh release but for me it did not live up to the masterclass virtuosity of the mentioned albums. On a personal level it did not strike me as hard as the newer albums perhaps because the band actually improved over the years and have raised the bar so high those newer albums are a tough act to compare to. Yet The Seventh House was an earlier release so my expectations may not have been so high had I heard it back in 2000.

It starts off well enough with the blitzkrieg force of The Wrong Side Of Weird, a mini epic at almost 13 minutes. Erosion follows that is nothing special to my ears but improves with the dynamic structure of The Seventh House, at 15 minutes it simply grasps me and doesn't let go. Zero Hour shoots by unnoticed by me but I adored Shooting Angels with its incredible musicianship and Peters vocals. A definitive highlight. The album finishes with Guiding Light and its a great closing number.

So overall this is a bit of a rollercoaster for me, with great heights and sweeping lows. However as usual when it comes to IQ the quality is outstanding and even though it didn't measure up to the lofty heights of the trilogy of masterpieces in the latter years, there is no denying the power and glory of the music of IQ.