IQ - Ever (1993)

amazon.com
Reviewer: "rael1970" (Santiago, Chile)
IQ are supposed to be "neo progressive". Which means that they do "simpler" prog rock. Musically and lirically, "Ever" couldnt be considered "simple". All the formal (melodic, harmonic, rhytmic) development and complexities from the genre are present here, and not just for the sake of being clever or hard-to-listen. Theres real emotion in every track. Some moments are real classics. I just couldnt think of a better way of opening an album than the opening in "The Darkest Hour". And then you get gems like "Leap of Faith", with the Cinema Show-like structure (beautiful song, then a brilliant guitar-keyboard interplay section, with each instrument replaying and adding to every melodic line that the other has just exposed, without really being a counterpoint, its rather a dialogue than a canon or chorus), and "Further Away": IMO the best composition IQ has ever crafted. Many people regard "The last human gateway" (the obligatory twenty minutes suite for every prog band) as the best, but "Further Away" is dense in good ideas, concise (yes, you can be concise in a 14 minutes piece of music, if you have a lot to say and play), emotionally intense, never a cliche. Enough said. If you are into prog, and do not have this one, GET IT. If you dismiss neo prog as a [sick] or sold-out form of prog, do yourself a favor and GET IT. Or, simply, if you like music that takes some risks, and if you want to LISTEN to music, and discover something new with every listen, instead of just putting the CD in and let it play in the background... GET IT.



Track Listings
1. Darkerst Hour - IQ, IQ
2. Fading Senses: I After All/II Fading Senses [Instrumental] - IQ
3. Out of Nowhere - IQ, IQ
4. Further Away - IQ
5. Leap of Faith - IQ
6. Came Down - IQ


links:
part1
part2


this is a must-listen !! have fun...