Porcupine Tree
„The Incident“
Progressive Rock.

• 2 x LP, Clear Vinyl. 2023 (2009)
• Reissue, Limited
• Transmission Recordings
• TRANSM262LPT
• new

"Fear Of A Blank Planet" was a sledgehammer to me. Direct, powerful, and overwhelming. "The Incident," on the other hand, works more like a scalpel: less brutal, but more precise, incisive, and sometimes uncomfortably close to the subject matter. Perhaps that's precisely why, despite its differences, I always perceive the album as a cohesive work.
It may not be a classic concept album, but that's exactly how it feels to me, even though the last four songs feel somewhat tacked on to side D.
Melancholy, but also gentle hope, takes center stage once again. The songs are characterized by themes of (taboo) life: death, paranoia, birth, and sexual abuse. And Porcupine Tree once again manages to convey this with virtuoso imagery. The dynamic between loud and quiet passages amplifies this effect. The songs vary in length from 1:07 to just over 11:40 minutes. The transitions are seamless.

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 only just us who feel that Time flies, 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 he created, I take my hat off to Steven and all of his projects but Porcupine Tree 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

On The Sunday Of Life
Voyage 34 1992/1993 (2022)
Up The Downstair 1993 (2021)
The Sky Moves Sideways 1995 (2021)
Signify 1996
Coma Divine (Live) 1997
Stupid Dream 1999
Lightbulb Sun 2000
Recordings 2001
In Absentia 2002
Deadwing 2005
Fear Of A Blank Planet 2007
Nil Recurring 2007
Anesthetize – Live In Tilburg 2008
We Lost The Skyline Live 2008
The Incident 2009
Octane Twisted Live 2012
Closure/Continuation 2022
Closure/Continuation Live 2023

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

TheProgThief
© 18.12.2024
Mk 2