FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET

That's my motto to certain artists, but it fits most aptly and often to Porcupine Tree. Porcupine Tree are relatively unknown in the mainstream, but I can't figure out quite why. They started out as a complete outlet for multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but then became more of a band effort increasingly over time.

The brilliance of their records is unmatched by hardly any other artist that I know (except maybe Magma or Rush in terms of consecutive masterpieces) and this album is NO exception. Many of you probably wonder what this sounds like... it's really a unique mix of amazing vocal harmonies, alternative and metal influence, spacey interludes, and all around extremely tight production, musicianship, and compositional skills.

The music is highly well-crafted and very accessible, so those of you who are worried about my bordering-on-the-obscure music tastes at times won't have to expect a Weidorje or Magma here. You could even show this to your friends and chances are they'd like it. This doesn't take away from the artistic depth of this album or ANY of Porcupine Tree's work, however.

It has some of the BEST production I've ever heard (by Steven Wilson himself), the music again is absolutely outstanding and uniquely addicting, and the lyrics can be dark but always have a purpose. This particular album is a concept album built around the collective fear of the unresponsive generation, i.e. kids who grow up never feeling or intellectually stimulating themselves, only zombies who constantly play Halo to fit in or what have you. If it sounds conceptually weak to you at all, I guarantee to you that in the voice of Steven Wilson it is executed in an absolutely wonderful fashion.

But who has time to even listen to the lyrics when the music is THAT good?! Did I mention Porcupine Tree has one of the greatest modern drummers, Gavin Harrison? Just listen to Anesthetize, which is the beast track of this album. It is easily one of the greatest pieces of music I've ever heard.

Anyone who skips out on hearing some Porcupine Tree is missing out on possibly one of the greatest things to happen to music, especially in the modern day.

Well, what are you waiting for? Stop reading my note and go order Fear of a Blank Planet today! You definitely won't regret it.

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