SUBTERRANEA

Back on the progressive path with "Ever", and just like their Genesis referents with "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", IQ fulfilled the dream of the double concept album with "Subterranea", the band's sixth. The enigmatic story of the teenager Kaspar Hauser, who appeared in the German city of Nuremberg back in 1828 without having had direct contact with other people, a famous character of scientific study related to human behaviour in situations aseptic to social relations and murdered in unclear circumstances in 1833 at the age of 21, is the source of inspiration for this massive and somber work of more than 100 minutes.

Divided into two parts of generous mileage, "Subterranea" presents IQ's fictionalised version of Kaspar's various experiences in the world that opened up before his eyes, using a generally intimate and complicit narration by Peter Nicholls and wrapped in intriguing and intricate walls of sound that both the guitars of Mike Holmes, the wide range of synthesizers and their infinite effects of Martin Orford, the rugged and imposing bass of John Jowitt and the more active participation than usual of Paul Cook on percussion, build.

Carefully crafted pieces flow harmonically without pause or haste, like the thick, hypnotic half-time instrumental "Overture", or the Genesian "Sleepless Incidental" and "Failsafe", or the beautiful and moving "Speak My Name" with Nicholls lulled by Orford's luminous keyboards and a delicate acoustic plucking by Holmes (one of the band's best ballads), or the aching melancholy of "The Sense In Sanity" overlaid by Orford's atmospheric synths, and the bridge that the instrumentals "State Of Mine" and "Laid Low" build to cross over from the first to the second part of the album, where the suffocating "Capricorn" and the emotive sax of guest Tony Wright, the electronic experimentation of "The Other Side" and the heartbreaking "High Water" with Holmes' melancholic guitar stand out, but above all the substantial 20 minutes of the epic "The Narrow Margin" that runs between classic elements of the genre, nods in its middle section to the jazziest Camel and shades of futuristic insanity, and whose denouement unleashes an excellent guitar solo before closing the piece and the album with gentle acoustic notes, a gem.

"Subterranea" not only cemented IQ's progressive comeback, but positioned them as one of their greatest exponents of the nineties onwards.

Very good.

4 stars