DARK MATTER

I've been following the band's fortunes, and misfortunes, for 21 years now, ever since I bought my original copy of the old blue-covered "Tales From The Lush Attic" LP. Through the years, the band has had a few ups and downs, especially in the middle years (remember Paul Menel ?), but ever since Peter Nicholls rejoined, each album that they have produced has kept them in the "up" zone ! "Ever" brought the band back to the real progressive sound of their early days. "Subterranea" was to follow, thought by many to be the ultimate IQ masterpiece. The album itself and the incredible stage show that illustrated it received both critical and fan praise. Let it be said that it can be quite difficult to follow such an amazing piece of work, but the band kept on going forward and did not make the mistake of trying to repeat the "Subby" formula. "The Seventh House" is quite a great piece of work in its own right, but it has often been underrated simply because it DID follow "the masterpiece" ! Now, here comes the new IQ album, "Dark Matter". If ever there was a challenger for the title of "ultimate IQ masterpiece", this is it !!! I'm not going to go through all the songs on the album, you have heard them just as I did, but I will say this : get yourself a copy of the album, fix yourself a nice drink, sit comfortably, put your feet up, and let IQ take you away into a world where intelligence and melody takes precedent over anything else. "Dark Matter" is a great album, perhaps their greatest so far, laced with mellotron and madness, and beautifully crafted most of all. But don't be too quick to stick the "ultimate IQ masterpiece" label on it. The band is still very much alive, and you never know what the future holds ! "Dark Matter" and "Subterranea" are BOTH masterpieces. Let us hope that the band will stay around for a long time to come, and that they will keep on offering us fans such wonderful music !

To your health ! Richard Hebert