Member:
jethro fish
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by jethro fish)
Date:
9/12/2003
Format:
CD (Album)
The Seventh House released in 2001 was, from what I understand, a little disappointing to some fans. This is something that I find totally surprising. The only reason I can see for this is perhaps that the two prior studio releases, Ever and Subterranea were such masterpieces and possibly hard acts to follow.
However, IMO this offering is almost on par with the two albums mentioned. TSH offers the trademark melodic orgies that IQ keeps on offering their listeners and the thing I find so fascinating with the latter IQ albums is that they are always top notch all the way through. There are absolutely no weak tracks on there. The band remains focused all the way and never loses track of the melodies and the compostitions on the whole.
I've heard that TSH was frist and foremost Mike Holmes's baby due to the fact that Martin Orford were tied up in other projects at the time but the album does not suffer in any way as a result of this. The production is razor sharp, the playing is impeccable and Martin's wonderfully lush keyboards are ever present.
One thing that strikes me is Peter Nicholl's vocals. He sounds less "whiny" (for lack of a better word) than on previous records. It can take a while to get used to Peter's vocals (I sure know it did for me, I didn't like them at all at first) but they grow on you and quite frankly now I love them. He has a sense of melody and feeling in his singing that few others possess.
I give this album my warmest recommendations and if you like Ever and Subterranea but haven't purchased this yet, please do.
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
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