I became familiar with the British symphonic rock band IQ halfway the nineties. Every concert I visited there were numerous people wearing T-shirts of this particular band. At that time my interest in music shifted swiftly form popular music to progressive and symphonic rock. A friend of mine recommended the album “Ever” as the best introduction to the music of the band. But after a few times of listening I had to conclude that I wasn’t up for these ever changing melodies and the high pitched vocals of their lead singer. A lot has changed since then. My taste for good music developed and I got more and more familiar with classic symphonic rock. When IQ released Subterranea in 1997 I decided to give the band another try. I was immediately blown away by the intensity of the music on that particular album. Dark Matter is the new album by the band and it is no surprise that the IQ fans will not be disappointed.

Innovation is a word that is not in the IQ dictionary. Dark Matter is simply a culmination of all the previous releases, the main difference lies in the extensive use of Mellotrons, Moogs and a Hammond organ which gives the album its distinctive classical sound. The band states that the attitude and aggression of the new cd is reminiscent of IQ’s early days. This might be so, but the feel of the album is in my opinion more in the line of the title track of their previous album The Seventh House. Dark Matter is a little bit more melodic and is therefore a perfect album to get acquaintanced with the band. A small point of criticism is that the 24 minute epic “Harvest Of Souls”, a great track in itself, is a bit dominating, especially considering the fact that the album features just over 52 minutes of music.