RESISTANCE

The perfect album to listen to during lockdown. I adore Frequency album and Road of Bones are both masterpieces of prog and I did not think they could be bettered. Resistance is yet another masterpiece, making IQ one of the most consistent prog bands of recent times.

Resistance is a very dark concept and yet very uplifting. It begins with beautiful synth lines and builds into an aggressive power riff with pounding bass and drums; IQ in full flight are a wonder to behold. A Missile starts the album with a blaze of prog time switches and segues into one powerhouse track after another. Stay Down is a glorious track with emotional vocals from the amazing Peter Nicholls. Shallow Bay is absolutely incredible musicianship and it ends with the mindblowing For Another Lifetime that has a running time of 15:22 and takes us on a soul searching journey with astonishing musical excellence and some chilling vocals.

CD 2 opens with the magnum opus The Great Spirit Way which is just short of 23 minutes long. It is a masterful multi movement suite with shades of light and dark and by the end I was moved to tears by its emotional power. Fire and Security and Perfect Space are excellent also, leading to the epic 20 minute finale Fallout. This last track is brilliant, and the sweeping keyboard passages are so moving and majestic, absolutely beautiful music.

Peter Nicholls, Michael Holmes, Neil Durant, Tim Esau and Paul Cook are outstanding and IQ are one of the best bands out there. I look forward to what else they have in store. Their music is about as good as it gets.