Question about Porcupine Tree

In Absentia, to my ears, displays all of their influences without pretension and in a very entertaining way.  Deadwing is a real departure in that they made music on that album that can only be called Porcupine Tree sounds.  From what I've heard of their earlier stuff the addition of their most recent drummer has made a real difference in their dynamics.  He is exemplary.

mattmacneil wrote: are they hard metal? like prog metal? do they have double pedals and crazy distortion guitar? if not, can you relate them to another band?

    

Take for example what is going on in Europe and North America as far as a mainstream rock music goes. Porcupine Tree is a quality version of all this, incorporating numerous rock, metal, psychedelic trends frequently.

They fit in, yet they are easily recognizable within seconds of play. It has to be this way, otherwise everyone wouldn't rave about them and so on.

And as far as comparing bands goes, Porcupine Tree as I said sounds like their own band. In fact, I've found a load of groups with similar sounds (Borrowing styles, essentially). KingBathmat and Riverside for example. Porcupine Tree seems to be the largest group of this style.
    

Edited by NotSoKoolAid - December 06 2006 at 23:39

For the past couple of years, I was searching for the weirdest, extreme music. I discovered some weird musicians, Tom Waits, Dr John, NIN, Kraftwerk, Residents, Zappa, Eno, Godspeed, Sigur Ros, KMFDM, Boards of Canada, Ruins, etc.
But when it came prog metal, everybody try to convince me to like Dream Theater and I always hate it. Cheesy voice with a blend of Rush and Metallica, mix with keys that often seems out of place. So I always hate prog metal. until I discover Porcupine Tree. The guy have an ok voice, but it seems true. No emotional fake. Catchy lyrics like Genesis. And the instruments seem all in place.
Deadwing is really good.

Before I got into Porcupine Tree I hear them described as a mix of Radiohead and Pink Floyd, but when I listened to In Absentia I was kind of disappointed and confused. It didn't sound like either of those bands. Now they are pretty much my favourite band, and while the early stuff is very Floyd-ish, from Stupid Dream on they really can't be classified. I think the best way to put it is that they make artistic and complex mainstream music, with some occasional progressive tendencies.

Porcupine Tree is very hard to compare to other bands for me at least. I think Steven put it best when he said they make "Porcupine Tree music".

As for the heavy part, discounting parts of Deadwing and In Absentia, they have been a fairly mellow band. They shifted from an experimental phase to a more psychedelic sound, then a more mainstream poppish sound, and now it seems they are just going to continue getting heavier.

Originally they sounded like a slightly more trancey electronic pink floyd. Since then theyve evolved and their four latest albums are very much alternative rock occasionally similar to radiohead or recent anathema.
Their latest album is the only one i would consider borderline metal, but even then its very rare, more like hard rock. If you want to hear the metal side i would listen to 'Shallow' off Deadwing.
No double pedals, but since the beginning theyve had a large amount of crazy distortion.

I would compare them to pink floyd, radiohead, anathema and the electronic noise of the mars volta.

I would recommend Deadwing (their latest) to anyone who enjoys both psychadelic rock and progressive metal. I am yet to meet in person anyone who doesn't enjoy porcupine tree. The Sky Moves Sideways and In Absentia are also highly recommended.

If it helps at all, i love porcupine tree a lot, but my favourite bands are Opeth and Mastodon, so this information is coming from someone who very much loves heavy progressive metal.

Just get Absentia or listen to the sample tracks.  I can't really say what they are for sure.  They range from almost metal to  almost pop/rock(in terms of intensity) and they  do all very well.   As far as comparing them to a single band....um... good luck.

are they hard metal? like prog metal? do they have double pedals and crazy distortion guitar? if not, can you relate them to another band?