FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET

The band's next album, Fear of a Blank Planet, was released in early 2007. It focuses on topics like the isolation brought about by technology and the over-prescribing of drugs. Such bleakness is reflected in the sound of this album. It sounds cold and austere, and the metal riffs have grown even more encompassing.

The title track opens the album. It's an urgent, distorted piece centered around an off-kilter guitar riff and masterful drumming. If I were asked to demonstrate Porcupine Tree's metal sound, this is the song I'd trot out as an example. Many of their better-known songs are effectively art-pop with a heavy metal chorus, but this track is metal through and through. "My Ashes", which follows, is one of the lighter moments on the album, but it's dark and morose. The gloomy keys get some good contrast from sweet-sounding strings.

At the core of this album is the 17-minute suite "Anesthetize". Broken into three distinct sections, it opens with rolling drums and minimalistic guitar and keys. Wilson sings deliberately, acting like a parachute, keeping the overall pace of the song down. Greater distortion enters near the end of this first movement, and it closes on a beautiful, Spanish-flavored guitar solo, courtesy of Alex Lifeson of Rush.

Part Two of "Anesthetize" might just be my favorite bit of music this band ever recorded. Froggy guitar and lightly distorted electric piano dance around each other for a few moments before descending into the heaviest riff in the band's history. When I saw Porcupine Tree live in 2009, the song's wonky rhythm did its best to preclude moshing, but that didn't stop some members of the crowd near the front from trying their damnedest. Coupled with this aggression is a strong melody and one hell of a hook in the chorus. The third part is in direct contrast to this preceding onslaught?a mellow, relaxed outro.

"Sentimental" is the requisite sad-sounding piano song, a la "Trains", and "Way out of Here" is a bitter alt-metal song that features soundscapes provided by Robert Fripp of King Crimson. This song's last minute or so contains some intriguing, jazzy interplay between bass and drums. The closing "Sleep Together" sounds at times like it belongs on a film score. Its underlying wobbly synthesizers and dramatic string swells feel like something I might expect from Trent Reznor.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/11/24/deep-dive-porcupine-tree-steven-wilson/