FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET

Tree's latest is a great album. Their sound has changes since the last few albums - longer songs, as you'll see - shortest is 5 minutes, longest is 18, with an average around 7. Sadly, I ahve to admit before I begin that much of this additional time is wasted, in a sense, as nothing really interesting happens in the last 3 minutes. A riff is established, a verse is sung, chorus rocked out, it repeats, and it's awesome, but as soon as it comes to doing an instrumental section, they seem to wonder aimlessly. It doesn't achieve much. Culprits here are Way Out of Here, Sleep Together and the title track. Sure, when they rock, they rock, but when they're noodling away at the back end of the song, nothing is achieved. They kinda fizzle out like a rather disappointing flare. Not totally wasted - it's not silence, but you get the idea - you wait for a great climax and nothing comes. Odd.

That short rant aside, the album is excellent - don't let me discourage you from that. When it rocks, it certainly does rock. The title track proves this - it opens with a typing sound - tying into the theme of the album, about today's youth wasting away their lives on drugs and computer games - then with a warping noise, Fear Of A Blank Planet begins in earnest. Played on an acoustic, it is a very dark riff. Offbeat, interesting. Drums kick in at an angle, and heavier guitars come in with punchy bass, followed by twisted vocals. This is the Porcupine Tree we know from their recent albums - the song is generally commercial, with a well defined format. It's clearly not radio potential, but it's still a great song - clearly prog, thanks to the extended ending, as described above, which slows down, and gives us a few minutes of less inspiring guitar work. Yeah, there's a solo above all the noise, but I've never really like Wilson's guitar solos anyway. You kind of expect it to finish with a bang, but it fizzles out. Regardless, it's worth listening though, as some vocals return for a slower section which is quite melodic - great lyrics, actually.

So, next, My Ashes reminds me of Lips Of Ashes, due to their similar mellow qualities. Clearly, the lyrics follow the original theme. Chorus included. Strings appear round the back end of the song to give it a peak, but the rest of the song is really quite unspectacular. Due to it's un-interestingness, it's probably my least favourite.

Ah, an epic. Anesthetize is a wonderful rocker. Starting out slow, Wilson sings nicely over beating drums and an interesting guitar effect. Heavier chords peak through along with the chorus. This heats up into a solo (provided by Alex Lifeson of Rush, as a guest) which is excellent, providing a good intro to the second part. Featuring heavier chords, this brings the song past the 10 minute mark. Singing is included, with a great chorus dedicated to the section. Drumming is strong, if not a little dull, but the section delivers an excellent heavy section and brings the song up. No real solos from instruments, just riffs - probably a good thing. The chorus comes round at the 11:30 for an encore before part 3, which mellows back down into a slow, melodic section, with relaxed drumming and peaceful guitar riffs. Effective singing gives this part a great effect. Vocal harmonies are also excellently employed. It doesn't end on a bang, but it ends effectively with this section, as strings arrive to save the day, and give a little bit more oomph at the finale. it's only really 17 minutes, the last 42 are wierd noises (but where are PT epics without wierd noises?). A great song. Stands out amoung the rest.

Purely calm, this track has a beautiful piano riff on par with Collapse The Light Into The Earth. Sentimental is short but sweet with fantastic lyrics, a great chorus, and an awesome peak with acoustic guitars towards the end. Beautiful guitars soar below the drums on the chorus, and the lyrics are slightly clouded. Read them, they're odd but really, really cool.

Way Out Of Here brings back the darkness to PT as it should be after a few calm minutes. Slow to start it kicks into a great tune with verses and a chorus (simply the words waaaaay ooouuut - waaaay oouuuuuut of heeeeeere...). Similar to the title track, it loses momentum towards the end, though it does feature a great solo. The bass stands out at the ending.

The final track, Sleep Together is on par with Way Out Of Here. Similar story - verse and chorus (even with a very similar chorus structure (Let's sleep together...). Strings are more prominent here. It gives the album a bit of a weak finish, as the ending is simply the riff with some more synthesised strings. At the very end, the drums twist down once more to announce the ending.

Disappointed by the 7 minute tracks, but pleased with the two middle tracks, this is a good album. If something more interesting happened at the end of Way Out and Sleep, maybe it would get the 4 starts it really deserves.