Porcupine Tree
The Incident
Gatefold, Limited, Clear Vinyl. 2023 (2009).
Progressive Rock.

What else can one say about Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson's creativity? Two years after "Fear Of A Blank Planet", "The Incident" surprises us more like a scalpel than a sledgehammer. It is not a concept album, but it still comes across as one piece, even if the last four songs somehow feel tacked on to side D. Melancholy, but also gentle hope, takes over again. The songs are shaped by themes of (taboo) life. Death, paranoia, birth and sexual abuse. And Porcupine Tree once again manages to convey this in a masterly way. The dynamics between loud and quiet passages reinforce this "effect". The songs vary between 01:07 and just over 11:40 minutes. The transitions are fluid.

The LP makes crackling noises and has a wave. Normally the quality of PT's records is excellent. It's a shame. The structure of the songs is such that I always perceive this album as a concept album and I treat it as such. "The Incident" starts off with a bang. The heart of this album, however, is "Time Flies". It's not just us who are standing still, Steven Wilson feels that too. He can only squeeze a limited number of albums into his creative time. And even though I don't like everything, I take my hat off to Steven and all of his projects. Porcupine Tree, however, is unmistakably Porcupine Tree and yet always different.

I would also like to highlight "I Drive the Hearse" and the three-part block "Great Expectations", "Kneel and Disconnect" and "Drawing the Line". The music flows together wonderfully, the lyrics resonate and PT always creates the right mood and that creates images in my head. "Degree Zero of Liberty" takes up the sound of "The Incident" and flows wonderfully into "Octane Twisted". Side D sounds a bit out of place, but is no less good. I would like to highlight "Black Dhalia" about the real murder (femicide) of Elizabeth Short and the versatile, beautiful and yet dark "Remember Me Lover" as a closer.

The end result is a multi-dimensional album. Mood is created, the songs are varied on their own and sound even better together. I'm leaving out side D because they sound too independent or, like "Black Dahlia", too contradictory. But that doesn't mean that the songs are bad, quite the opposite. Conclusion: Great prog rock album. Once again.

After the following live album “Octane Twisted” in 2011, Porcupine Tree officially took a break for an indefinite period. Ten years later, a new album was released with Closure/Continuation.

Colin Edwin – Bass
Richard Barbieri – Synthesizer, Keyboard
Gavin Harrison – Drums
Steven Wilson – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard
John Wesley – Backing Vocals

Signify 1996
In Absentia 2002
Deadwing 2005
Fear Of A Blank Planet 2007
The Incident 2009
Anesthetize – Live In Tilburg 2008
We Lost The Skyline Live 2008
Octane Twisted Live 2012
Closure/Continuation Live 2022

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.