DARK MATTER

Well, first off, the band themselves claim that this in not an America/Bush bashing album. The songs are reflections of current events, but are not directed at any particular nation or leader. Right. I must say that I think the fit very nicely into my view of George W. Bush and his junta. But this is not about politics, this is about reviewing the music on this album.

The thing I noticed right away is that IQ is derivative on this album of their early style found on their first two albums............which is itself derivative of early Genesis and similar 70's prog bands. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, and in the case of this album I don't mind at all. Just a certain lack of originality in my opinion. Overall though IQ does have their own sound, and they seem to have refined it quite well on this album. The obvious highlights are the first and last tracks, but personally I find the shorter songs in the middle more interesting and varied than those two. Which is certainly not to say that I don't like them. They are well constructed and come across very well.

The main reason I can't give a higher rating is the homogenous nature of the writing and overall sound. There is just not that much variation in style and sound and it all starts to blend together over the course of the album. With later IQ in general, I have difficulty telling songs apart (a problem with Neo Prog in general). But I still think this album is pretty good, and when I saw the band live at NearFest 2005, Harvest Of Souls was a definite standout track. So I will go with a solid 3.5 stars. It comes close to being excellent, and if you like their other work you will certainly like this one.

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