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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 | 2827 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

el böthy
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Porcupine Tree's ninth studio album comes out as one of the best of their whole career, as well as a strong contender for album of the year (I for one would put some money to that. but I don't have any jejeje).

The album, as you all might already know is a conceptual one about a kid who goes through life having "seen" and "heard" it all at such an early age that nothing surprises him anymore, living in a numb state, doing (prescription) drugs, having problems with his parents. etc. It seems this concept is something Wilson sees in today's youth. Now; if that is all youth or just a small percent, it's not clear, and because of this unclearness there has been a bit of controversy and debate surrounding the album; which, in my eyes, is good by the way! Personally I think Wilson takes a small but important group of today's youth (which might grow in the next years or not, it's anyone's guess), he doesn't say "This is what is happening to YOUR kids!", but, in order to make that "view" powerful enough, he has to go a little over the top, because other wise. it's just not interesting enough. Would you buy an album about a kid who is a bit confused in life and has a few social problems? Well, probably you would, because the music here is incredibly good none the less. YET it wouldn't be the same. So, I for one like the concept, think it works and give Mr. Wilson two thumbs up!

Now, let's talk about the music. As many have gone into details about each and every song and note in this album, I won't, I will keep it more on the surface. Two songs are good, two songs are very good and two songs are little masterpieces. The first two, the "weakest" sort to say, the opener "Fear of a blank planet" and the closer "Sleep together". Now, this is kind of a problem cause, normally when it comes to good albums, it's the opener and the closer the ones that take the cake. Well. not the case here. Yet, there is nothing wrong with this songs, the others are just better. The two very good ones are the second one "Ashes" and "Way out of here", which leads to the little masterpieces (one of which isn't that little either): "Anesthetize", the album's 18 minutes epic and "Sentimental", third and fourth tracks. Mmm. funny thing, the opener and the closer are the weakest, and the third and fourth song are the strongest, it's like a pyramid or such. interesting indeeeeeed!!! Now, back on topic, this last two songs, "Anesthetize" and "Sentimental" are by far two of the band's best ever. with "Anesthetize" taking the medal when it comes to the best song in their catalog. ever! Yes, it's that good, believe me, the hype is true, this is THE song. I won't give away anything, just listen to it, you will agree with me and then maybe we can have a beer or two and talk about how good this song is, who knows.

The album is fantastic, but it's not 5 stars material. Had the opener and the closer be just as good as the rest of the album, it would have been. It's something like a 4,5 this album, but for me it leans more towards the 4th star than the 5th. so I guess it's a 4,40 or something. I don't know. I'm no good with math.

el böthy | 4/5 |

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