The Incident

Oh, how I love Steven Wilson and his band Porcupine Tree.Here's another winner, full of sound and fury, full of moment and (appropriately enough) incident, with as usual so much going on - so much to - well, listen to.Wilson is a superb singer, a wonderful songwriter who is also a genuinely good lyricist, and a guitarist of rare taste and power, two attributes that don't always go together. A raunchier Steve Hackett...?This 76-minute feast of varied and richly imagined music is in the form of a suite of fourteen songs called The Incident, plus four other songs at the end.As I say, there is always so much going on in any PT/SW album, and this one is no exception. It sounds like a slightly more thoughtful, even downbeat, effort than some other Tree recordings, but with the uplift of Wilson's trademark potent and often downright beautiful guitar passages, and Gavin Harrison's customary inventive percussion. What a tremendous asset Harrison is, a truly great British drummer!I came absurdly late to the Tree and Steven Wilson, but I'm having a whale of a time making up for it. Trying to keep up with the man's prolific work rate is getting to be a lifetime's occupation, but there are far worse ways of spending one's time and money.I haven't yet heard a PT or SW album that's less than enthralling, at least on some level. I get the impression that Wilson takes such care, and puts so much of himself into each project - and they do seem more like projects than mere albums - that such careful attention pays rich dividends. Lucky us!If you're already a Tree fan, I can't see how this would disappoint, and if you want to hear a stupendously good band at their peak, this 2009 beauty isn't a bad place to start (though In Absentia or Lightbulb Sun might be even better for a PT novice). This one has grown on me, and I love it.Wilson writes about his childhood, having been "born in 67, the year of Sergeant Pepper and Are You Experienced" in the 12-minute track Time Flies:It was a suburb of heavenYeah, and it would have been foreverIt all seemed to make so much senseBut after a while you realiseTime fliesAnd the best thing that you can doIs take what comes to youIt may not be Keats or Dylan - but in the context of the music it sounds more profound than mere words...A beautiful record.

Steve Wilson's tenth and last album under the Band Name Porcupine Tree before he went solo, and for me this is one of his best releases.The whole production is superb with no filler material.Standout track is I Drive The Hearse, simply beautiful it may move you to tears.If you have any interest in complex, intelligent progressive rock music these guys are the pinnacle, never been bettered.Shame they may never do another band album together, but what a body of work he left behind in their 10 studio albums and numerous live releases.Simply Stunning this is an essential five star purchase.

Their preceding album FOABP was a hard act to follow, yet PT came up with this, which though just not quite as good still warrants a five star rating. With CD 1 being a concept piece the band ebbs and flows through the soft/hard dynamic to great effect, and round off the album with a favourite song of mine “I Drive the Hearse”, which as the title suggests, is a rather melancholy piece of music. The second disc contains four tracks totally separate to the concept of disk 1 and they enhance the package overall. A superb release from the band.

Okay I've been listening to this regularly for about a year now and it took a good 4 or 5 listens to really sink in and even longer for it to rate as highly as I regard it now.This album seems to have divided fans of their earlier albums and I have seem some extremely negative comments here and elsewhere - something I feel is a bit undeserved. I think a lot has to do with expectations; porcupine tree marketed this as a '55 minute long concept album consisting of a single song cycle' - something that immediately conjures up such words as 'epic'. Porcupine tree have always managed to effortlessly create stunning 10-20 minute long 'epics' before, so perhaps people were looking for another 'anesthetize' or 'arriving somewhere' etc.On first listen I was unsure of what I heard - musically it sounded disjointed and conceptually it sounded unfocused. Personally I don't care too much for concept albums but it has always worked for porcupine tree in the past, even if the concept is a little vague ('deadwing' was based on a script for a ghost story film that never got made...). Well the 'concept' for this album is much less about a story and more a theme that unites the individual tracks that make up the 55 minute long song.Musically it actually sounds more like a collection of short tracks making up a larger piece (which I suppose is what it is anyway...). What I mean is that it does not flow with the same ease that the individual parts is 'anesthetize' for example did. Instead, for every 'song' there seems to be shorter instrumental passages that aids the flow of the tracks. Also, it is much quieter than their last few albums (albeit with a few loud raw guitar riffs in a few sections). In-fact, there is a new 'semi-acoustic'sound to their music that, while not truly new to the band, has never been so apparent as in this album.As I became familiar with the flow of the album, I started enjoying it a lot more. Parts that stood out as 'jagged' i) - Occam's Razor, the end of vi) the incident)sounded more natural and the album started to take shape as a single piece to be enjoyed in once sitting. This I believe is how it was meant to be heard (an indeed all porcupine tree albums). Rather than simply enjoying individual tracks, highlight for me became several song sections ( for example a particular favourite of mine is the section from xi) - octane twisted to xiii) circle of manias). I started to notice that tracks complemented each other ( vii) your unpleasant family and viii) the yellow windows... acted as a build up to the albums central moment and definite highlight - 'time flies').The second disc (yep theres two!) are songs that the band did not feel fitted into the concept but still felt strong enough to release. After the lack of any real interest in 'nil recurring' (its amazing by the way), the band opted to not release another EP, but instead release these tracks as part of the album. This was a wise move for me because I feel that disc 2 contains some of the bands most fresh sounding material. 'Black Dahalia' does not sound like any porcupine tree song I've heard before and 'Bonnie the Cat' is heavy song that fans of the bands more metallic sound will appreciate.To summarise, this is perhaps Porcupine Tree's most varied album (other than perhaps lightbulb sun). It is very much a 'grower' - but PLEASE stick with it! I DONT rank it higher than their last few releases but that is hardly a reason to dislike it. I respect people opinions but the songwriting is still in top form and I cant see why people who liked deadwing, or fear of a blank planet do not like this. Infact people who liked their earlier, more psychedelic albums, will actually find this an easier listen than their previous three efforts. This is not the first time the band has split its audience (stupid dream was the start of a poppier sound and in absentia, a more metallic sound), so perhaps this is the start of a new direction for porcupine tree?. Steven Wilson even stated recently that he wanted to move away from Metal so perhaps this is a bridging album and we can expect something truly new for their 11th release.