8/10
IQ has been kicking it for nigh on three decades now, releasing records about as frequently as Thomas Pynchon offers forth a new tome. (Actually, maybe with slightly more regularity––but barely). Anyway, the five year wait since Dark Matter has been worth it, at least for IQ fans. The real gift of this record is that each instrument is allowed breathing room––John Jowitt’s bass splurts and splatters and generally sounds supreme whilst Michael Holmes offers up some of the best six-string licks you’re likely to hear in the prog realm this year. And if you don’t care much for Mark Westworth’s Dr.Who ivory tinklings or Peter Nicholls’ relatively indistinct voice (somewhere between Jon Anderson and James LaBrie but with a purity that ultimately robs it of character), it’s OK. They grow on you to the point that imagining any other voice or any other twittering on tracks such as “Life Support,” “Stronger than Friction” and even “Ryker Skies” and the obligatory––and pretentiously titled––epic “The Province of the King” is simply impossible. If you’re a longstanding IQ fan (and they are many) Frequency won’t disappoint; if you’re a prog stalwart who wants to hear everything under the sun released in the genre this year, Frequency is also for you. Not an instant classic but a pretty damn good stab at it. In the end, it’s an undeniably charming record from a band that doesn’t recognize its limitations or give a damn about them.––––––––––––––––––––––Jedd Beaudoin
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