FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET

I'm sure the dogpile is only beginning. I've given this album only two listens from start to finish. Yes, it is fresh, perhaps still too fresh for a review based on the music standing the passage of time and repeated listens, but doggone, I was hooked from the get go and am deeply, deeply impressed. This is golden in all regards. There isn't one second misplaced; no phrases botched in any fashion. Even the timing of the release is well placed, given the state of the world, its blankness, its pain and its need for healing.

Others have quickly (and accurately) assessed the music quite well. I fear I'm only capable of repeating them. For me this is a masterwork because its not only about how it strikes my ears or what meaningful statement it makes; its about the brilliance of the composition, as it is from the smallest phrasing, all the way to how it hangs together as a 21st Century prog-opera/symphony. If I had only one suggestion, a minor one indeed, it would have been to add a couple of guest back-up vocalists (maybe even female) to subtly broaden, through harmonies, the vocals, which are, already, on the edge of superb, just as they are.

I really love the "detuned guitar" effect used at about 6:30 into the song Anesthetize. I suspect this effect is done with a severe compression of the tremolo arm. But it is effective! The iTunes memory overload "tap-tap-tap" effect at about 12:12 in the same song made me stop and start iTunes a few times before I realized it was in the recording! Ha ha. Very funny Steve! You got me!

Now the U.S. release on Atlantic leaves a couple things to be desired. Atlantic is celebrating their 60th anniversary, and they've chosen to print the CD disk label with the same green & orange scheme I remember from the labels of my earliest Led Zepp vinyl records from the early 70's. Not a problem, per se, but a concept album by a premier group deserves a CD label design that is integrated with the whole album. Also the quality of the paper for the CD booklet is pure junk. It should have been printed on gloss instead of a coarse matte paper. Maybe the DVD edition is a step up, I don't have that yet.

Despite minor gripes with the packaging, I still go with a full five stars. This is a musical masterpiece from artistic concept to consumer brain-reception. If some listeners don't quite "get it," then there has to be a few synapses that have simply failed to make their connection. Put it on again, and try it from start to finish. At some point, this recording will speak to you, once you've broken free of your blank brain. I hope I can get to a US PT concert next month and watch them perform this live. Thanks boys. This was a home run. A full fiver.