Band:	IQ
Album:	Dark Matter
Style:	Progressive rock
Release date:	2004
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Sacred Sound
02. Red Dust Shadow
03. You Never Will
04. Born Brilliant
05. Harvest Of Souls

IQ is a band that has been in the Prog scene for decades now, the band has a loyal fanbase, and this is their eight full length album, and first one in four years.
For those that are not familiar with this band, they play Progressive Rock in the vein of Marillion, Arena and Genesis (Peter Gabriel era), anyway, this new release follows the style of the band: flawless compositions, creative songwriting and lengthy songs.

"Sacred Sound" starts the album with a marvelous Hammond organ marking the pace of the whole album, the 11 minute opener show us what are this guys capable of, next we slow things down and listen "Red Dust Shadow" a great acoustic song, listening to this I can imagine where Dream Theater draws some influences. Right after that is "You Never Will" at first the song matches the tic tac of a clock, then becomes a good song, but frankly, nothing impressive, "Born Brilliant" has this Pink Floyd-ish sound to it, but this four songs are just a preview for the 24 minute epic closer of the album, "Harvest Of Souls", divided in VI parts, each one with a different moods and atmospheres, truly a magnificent piece of song.

IQ won't disappoint any fans with this album I'm sure, and I'm sure they never disappointed any with any album they released, what I read they always release high quality material, and I can prove that they done it again.
Progressive Metal fans, take a look where all your precious bands go for some inspiration, Progressive Rock bands, you don't need me telling you to buy this album, you probably have this at home and already listened many more times than me.