Since we're talking about our introductions to IQ, here's mine.
When my family and I moved to Grand Rapids, MI back in 1992, my Dad and I discovered a record store called Vinyl Solution, that was probably the best record store I've ever experienced. I discovered a lot of bands through them, and found a lot of really cool import CD singles and vinyl. They had a pretty good prog section, with a quick write up on each band. They had a cool write up about IQ and basically described them as, "what if Fish had rejoined Marillion?". Anyway, I always kind of kept them in the back of my mind. I was part of the ytsejam and Marillion mailing lists back then as well, and I remember there was a pretty big buzz about Subterranea, especially on the Marillion mailing list (I think it was Freaks?). Anyway, I bought the album when it came out, and I wasn't really impressed. For the subject matter, the music, in my opinion, didn't really feel as "dangerous" as the lyrics needed it to be. My overall opinion is that it was poor attempt at ripping off The Lamb, and so I ended up exchanging it for something else. They did stay on my radar, though, and so, when The Road of Bones came out, and I kept hearing how great the album was (and the sound samples I had heard really intrigued me), and I felt I wanted to give them another chance. Other things took priority at the time, so I think I finally ended up buying The Road of Bones in 2018. I wasn't sure of it at first, but I knew I liked it more than Subterranea, and I kept listening to it and liking more and more of it. From there, I bought The Seventh House, and then Frequency, then Dark Matter, and then the Ever remaster. And then, when Resistance came out, I was totally hooked. Resistance has everything I want in a modern prog album. It rocks, it's epic, it's dark, and they managed to find new wrinkles in their sound that I really enjoyed. After that, and because of the IQ survivor (and this thread!), I ended up completing my studio album collection of theirs. I really feel like they hit on their sound with their later material. I'm generally not a huge fan of the early material, and I definitely do not think much of the Paul Menel albums, but Ever is fantastic, and everything from the Seventh House on is brilliant as well. They've become one of my favorite bands in recent years.
Topic: The IQ Thread (Read 61759 times)
