Porcupine Tree?

I'm okay with prog metal (I do love Dream Theatre), as long as it's not just heavy metal presented as prog (Falling into Infinity, I'm looking at you). Deadwing had some of those in my opinion, and that's why I didn't like it too much. Though Arriving Somewhere is definitely getting better as I listen!

Edited by WrytXander - September 16 2014 at 14:10

^As a matter of fact so did I.







"Doing the right thing is never superfluous."

On The Sunday of Life is crazily psychedelic and strange at times but there are enough moments of genius (The Nostalgia Factory, Radioactive Toy) to make it well worth having.  Jupiter Island and Linton Samuel Dawson are a riot!!  Personally I love it.

Up The Downstair is classic early period PT.  If you like your prog in a jamming space rock vein, fused with trance/techno then this will be right up your alley.  The bonus cd is brilliant, especially the mindbending instrumental Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape which is my favourite PT song of all time and one of my favourites by anybody, ever.

The Sky Moves Sideways is outstanding, another must have.  Very Floydy and spacey.  If you like Coma Divine then you are guaranteed to like this.

Voyage 34 is a hypnotic trancey acid trip with several nods to The Wall era Floyd.  Essential for the die-hards.

Signify is very good, just less good than it's predecessors .

Metanoia was largely culled from Signify and is in my opinion far superior.  This really is improvised space rock, totally off the cuff and it's a great album.  If that sounds good to you then I'd recommend this one.  That opinion is not one that is largely shared.  Most people dislike it but certainly not me.

I hope that helps so far as concerns PT's early days.

Everyone has pretty much covered it. But I will say, Signify and Up the Downstair to me are much better than Sky Moves Sideways. The Start of Something Beautiful, Blind House, Heart Attack in a Layby, and Anesthetize are my favorites from the Modern era, and lastly, Grace For Drowning is the best thing Wilson's ever written, and The Raven that Refused to Sing might be the worst. Those are my current opinions on the subject.

To be fair, I don't think I can recall anyone else doing the kind of space rock n electronica as Steven were in the 90s. Up the Downstairs is, in my opinion, a very original sounding album - still is actually.

I agree with your last comment though (although I prefer early psych PT), and it underlines the power and imagination of those early KC records. They still sound fresh - even when played by other bands...

I have almost all of their albums from their later (Gavin Harrison) period, except for the Incident (which I already ordered, though in the Octane Twisted version), and from the earlier period I have Coma Divine and Warzawa. Even though I have less from the earlier period, I have kind of liked it better... or perhaps it's because they are live versions and that helps them, but I feel there's something more special about those ones, less generic... and even though Gavin Harrison has been the one who's always been put on a pedestal, I have kind of enjoyed a bit more the drumming on those earlier albums... it was a kind of more melodic/ambient drumming, I guess. So, if you did like Coma Divine, Warzawa may just as well be the perfect complement for it, since the first closes the period when PT's albums were mainly a solo recording with some asistance (but here played by a full band), while the second one closes the period with the first drummer, and both albums repeat only one song, but otherwise have a rather similar feel to it. Also, I would insist that you check out Wilson's solo stuff, if you felt that PT isn't proggy enough, you won't have the same issues with Grace for Drowning, and even less with The Raven, but it still keeps the trademark depressing Steven Wilson sound.

Is Kit Watkins(Watson[?]) of Porcupine Tree or Happy the Man fame? He'd take over some of the lead vocals when he was with Camel live and just kill. Posed by an ignoramus.

Never got into these guys. Where's a good place to start? 

Metalmarsh89 wrote: I've heard people say Porcupine Tree isn't prog.