THE ROAD OF BONES

After repeated listens over the last 2 weeks, I feel now I have a had a chance to properly digest this epic work by (probably) my favorite prog band in the world today. The first thing I noticed is that this album didn't hit me immediately as with their previous albums. The first cd especially seemed like a new direction for the band, with much more in the way of heavy guitars, something which initially had me a little disappointed. In fact there seemed very little in common with traditional IQ on this disc, with the exception of the very familiar voice of Peter Nicholls, who, by the way, sounds better than Ever(pun intended).

On the first disc, the mood is dark and somewhat gloomy. Most of tracks start off softly and almost lull you into complacency. But eventually the driving rhythms, heavy riffing, synth swells, and liberal use of the mellotron choir really gets the blood flowing. The centerpiece of disc 1, "Without Walls", clocks in at 19 minutes. It gets going a few minutes in and eventually builds up to a section of organized mayhem, with walls of sound coming from every direction. It then transitions into a wonderful melodic closing part. Really goosebumps material here.

Disc 2 is more in the traditional IQ style, with the track "Constellations" the best example. All in all, another fantastic release from IQ, which is a sure contender for album of the year. One thing, as I discovered, especially if you're an IQ fan already, you need to give this album time and plenty of spins. I think it will grow on you as it did on me. 11 great tracks in all, great songwriting, great musicianship, and great production. 5 stars all the way.