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Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet CD (album) cover

FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET

Porcupine Tree

 

Heavy Prog

4.28 | 2826 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Heptade
Prog Reviewer
4 stars It's safe to say this is the most anticipated album of the year, and will probably remain that way. Just released in Canada, bought from iTunes this morning, so here we are! And darn, if it isn't really the heaviest and lightest PT album of all time, as some have said. The metal riffs on this album are even more metal than those on Deadwing, but are much better integrated into the tunes, as they were on some of the earlier albums, and the spaciness is still very much evident. It also really feels like a band album, as Gavin Harrision and Richard Barbieri perform wonderfully (note the extensive use of mellotron-like and string- synth textures. Tasty!) No "Shallow" here, thank god. Wilson has returned to some of the "Floydian" (note the "-ian". There's no Floyd cloning here) textures of yore. The long track "Anesthetize" does indeed go through some convolutions, going from mellow to heavy to an ethereal finish. Nice to hear Lifeson's usual great taste on his solo. The Beatles by way of Marillion "Sentimental" is another highlight, a nifty little ballad, as is another morose ballad, "My Ashes". Overall, this album may seem like more of the same from Wilson, but the various strands of PT's sound (metal, ambient, prog, dream pop) are pulled together better than ever on this record. The lyrics work much better for me than many of SW's more personal lyrics of the past, although I must admit that I am a sucker for a topical concept album. One more note- I had feared that "Deadwing" seemed to cater too much to the new rock market, but if Wilson was really concerned about appealing to the teens of today, I doubt he'd have written a concept album analyzing their behaviour and their future, an exercise that many kids would probably have considered patronizing. I'm a lot older though, so I dig it! Not quite a masterpiece, but definitely on a par or perhaps even better than In Absentia, Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream....4.4 stars!
Heptade | 4/5 |

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