Is Porcupine Tree really Heavy Prog?

Sure seem like an Eclectic Prog band at this point in time to me.

Only In Absentia and Deadwing really fit this category imo. BUT they are my favourite PT albums by several county miles so..

Padraic wrote: richardh wrote: Only In Absentia and Deadwing really fit this category imo. BUT they are my favourite PT albums by several county miles so.. Fear of a Blank Planet?

Yes. Their last four albums are the benchmark for heavy prog. Sure, they have albums that are crossover and albums that are psych, but if someone asks me what "heavy prog" is, I'll say the last 4 PT records.

proggman wrote: Porcupine Tree is eclectic heavy <span dir="auto">psychedelic crossover prog to me. Yes they're </span>certainly more than heavy though.

Pretty accurate description here. I'll agree with this. Also, PT even flirted with a bit of Prog/metal in their Fear Of A Black Planet album, which is still to this day their heaviest album. and......

proggman wrote: Porcupine Tree is eclectic heavy <span dir="auto">psychedelic crossover prog to me. Yes they're </span>certainly more than heavy though.

Nailed it in one line

ole-the-first wrote: I would count PT as crossover prog. There's a lot of strange inclusions in heavy prog category. For example, The Mars Volta are clearly eclectic prog, because, despite their music is heavy, their heaviness have nothing in common with heavy rock, because it's mostly hardcore punk mixed with jazz, Chicano, psychedelic rock and electronic music.

I was going to say something along those lines.....what exactly is 'heavy prog' supposed to mean? To me it means loud , dark ,and intense.....only half or less of their music fits that imo. As several have mentioned they straddle several categories.

^ That would be a lot of hard work for the Prog genre teams, they would not be happy...

If we include albums such as Voyage 34 and Metanoia then technically speaking PT have done more psychedelic albums than heavy Prog. I always treat PT as either psychedelic or Ecletic Prog. The PA definition of Ecletic Prog is "a summation of elements from various musical sources, and the influences and career paths of bands that take from a wide range of genres or styles". They have done psychedelic (Pink Floyd inspired), crossover (Radiohead) and Heavy Prog. The definition of Eclectic Prog talks about evolution over a bands career which PT have done.

So I would ditch the Heavy Prog label and go for either Psychedelic or Eclectic. I prefer the latter as it covers their entire discovery which heavy or psychedelic dosen't.     

A third is, yes.

Padraic wrote: schizoidman wrote: I think the problem with classifying some groups is that artists progress to different genres. The KC that made "In the Court...." is not the KC that made "Discipline" and is not the KC that made "Thrak". Those albums represent three completely different sub-genres of prog.   The need to categorize is real. If for no other reason than to have a reference point of some kind for the audience to use when searching for music they enjoy or would like to get to know better or explore for the first time.   I think a solution would be to have two different categories: one for the artist as a singular entity, the other, for each of the artists individual albums.   So, KC remain Eclectic Prog as a group. "In the Court...." becomes Symphonic Prog. "Thrak" becomes Heavy Prog. And so on.......     As I posted in another thread... "You can find the progressive rock music discographies from 8,329 bands & artists, 42,079 albums (LP, CD and DVD)"