INSURGENTES

Steven Wilson's first studio full-length solo album released under his own name is Insurgentes, released in 2008. In respect to Porcupine Tree's discography, this was between their albums "Fear of a Blank Planet" (2007) and "The Incident" (2009), which are their last two studio releases. The music on "Insurgentes" reflects the feel of the music from both of these albums; dark, sinister and an effective use of dynamics. Wilson believed that music didn't have to be loud to be evil and dark, and he proves that beyond all doubt in this album. However, as is the case with all of Porcupine Tree's albums in their later years, the music is also strikingly beautiful and emotional.

The big difference here between SW's solo album and PT's albums is that this one is almost unapologetically sinister where is PT's albums you often got bits of sunlight and hope in them, there just isn't much of that to grasp onto in this album. That's okay, because that is what Wilson does best. "Insurgentes" has a very powerful punch to it that echoes in your head long after you stop listening. The album itself was recorded in several different studios worldwide. One of those places is near Mexico City which is where the avenue that the album is named after is located; Avenida de los Insurgentes.

This excellent album is very dynamic, is quite dark and foreboding, yet it is pensive and lovely at the same time. It's this style that made Wilson so popular among heavy prog lovers. Wilson says he took inspiration from many different styles including shoegaze, post-rock, drone rock and etc for the songs on this album. He also brings along a lot of guests to help out on the album including Gavin Harrison, Tony Levin, Jordan Rudess, Clodagh Simonds, Theo Travis and many others.

Harmony Korine - Mid-tempo and dark with a jangling and descending riff supporting a familiar Wilson vocal tune. Heavy, repeated guitar chords build tension while sudden cut-offs provide some silent seconds to catch your breath. Sounds very much like it could have been a Porcupine Tree track.

Abandoner - Electronic percussion brings in a simple keyboard backing. Dissonant acoustic guitar plays against the simple synth as Steven's eerie vocals carry the tune. The minor key evokes the feeling of unease and later, eerie guitar quietly announce a sudden explosion of heavy darkness that seems to come out of nowhere. Dark and forboding.

Salvaging - A slow, steady beat along with a pounding bass pushes this one forward. Again, more of Steven's dark and dismal beauty permeates this track which brings in heavy guitar riffs in early. After 3 minutes, heavy, fuzzy guitar blasts forth over the pounding bass riff which continues to build tension. Vocals return at 4 minutes, then the whole thing quiets down to synths, a drum beat (which soon ends) and then things take an almost orchestral turn. Beautiful, chiming guitar notes echo above the strings as this lovely section continues. However, after a while, the strings sound threatening and then plodding percussion and heavy dissonant droning takes over and pulls this track reluctantly to it's ending.

Veneno Para Las Hadas - This one turns more atmospheric and pensive and the vocals take the melody against this more minimal background. The music swells slightly as it nears the middle and the repeating bass note in the background brings in tension as a lovely synth melody plays, but doesn't take over. The softer sound continues and finally the chord resolves around 4 minutes in. The rest of the song mirrors a bit of hope as the song softens to a soft and muted piano as it ends.

No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun - Soft, but rambling percussion and sudden loud guitar outbursts make this one a bit trance-like. The bass builds the main riff in the background, getting louder and louder and the guitar gets more forceful. It all crescendos to a dark and heavy groove while the guitar literally wails over the top of it all, and it still builds in intensity and loudness. After 3 minutes, the climax is reached and things become quite dark and intense as it pushes forward. This suddenly drops off around 4 minutes as it gets quiet with just a bass, soft percussion again, and whispered vocals which soon take on a hesitant melody. Things build and suddenly break off quickly throughout as Wilson plays around with dynamics as he does so well. The arpeggio of the piano is quite appealing also in the last half.

Significant Other - A nice, smooth track that has the feel of "Lazarus", heavenly and lovely, but still dark and foreboding at the same time. This almost has an alt-metal feel to it. The beat is steady this time and has that Pink Floyd feel to it that we all love from SW. It does manage to get quite loud towards the end however as everything is pushed to the brink to suddenly break off to soft chimes.

Only Child - A steady, straight ahead beat and a solid bass line support the vocals as guitar effects swirl around it all. There is a somewhat noisy instrumental break and intensity is built up for the 3rd verse.

Twilight Coda - Slow, peaceful, yet somewhat menacing short instrumental using mostly acoustics and lots of atmospheric effects.

Get All You Deserve - Slow and pensive, Steven's falsetto vocals with dark piano with some echo. It's not until past the halfway mark before loud guitar chords and heavy percussion comes in, then it slowly crescendos into a noisy ending.

Insurgentes - Somewhat similar to the feeling "Collapse the Light into Dark" from In Absentia. Repeated piano chords and a nice vocal melody, however some soft guitar joins in later. It's a nice coda to the album.

As is the case with Porcupine Tree albums, this album also came in a limited edition which contained a 2nd CD with songs recorded in the same sessions but were left off the main album. There are 5 more tracks included on the second disc and 4 of these five were included on the vinyl edition as Side D. These tracks continue in the same vein as the rest of the album, but you can never get enough of a great thing, so you'll want to hunt down the extra tracks. "Port Rubicon" is a study in dynamics going from soft and pensive to slogging and noisy heaviness. "Puncture Wound" is more straightforward, but the synths take on the menacing and dark tones here. "Collecting Space" is a great instrumental, that might sound a bit unfinished, but it is understood why it was left off because it sounds a bit out of place and "sunnier" than most of the album. The stringed koto is worth the trip as it sounds really cool. "Insurgentes (Mexico)" is a different version of the song from the regular album. The last track is untitled but is actually the b-side to the "Harmony Korine" single which is called "The 78".

This is really a hard hitting album which fans of the latter Porcupine Tree albums will probably also love. It follows a lot of the same formulas as those albums with dark and dynamic songs which range from quiet and pensive to loud and heavy sometimes without warning. I find it even darker and more brooding than those albums, but it still brings me the same satisfaction. I do miss some of the bright sections that keep the PT albums from being overly depressing however, and that tends to drive the overall rating down for me, but the album is still one that I play quite often anyway.