Waiting for one of your favorite artists to release a new record is pretty high up on the list of the most painful things in the world. While it’s only been 2.5 years since the last Porcupine Tree record, the wait since I found out about the new album has been excruciating. Anticipation is not a strong enough word.
Going in, I had mixed feelings about this album. On the one hand, it’s Porcupine Tree we’re talking about, while on the other, the album sampler put out a few weeks ago left me skeptical. The pre-release buzz about disc one being a single song-cycle had me thinking it would contain a single track. It was a bit of a relief when I discovered that this wasn’t the case and disc one came with 14 tracks that flow (somewhat) into each other, a la The Decemberists’ The Hazards of Love earlier this year. So, before I hit play and Occam’s Razor opened The Incident, I took a deep breath. After my first listen, I was thoroughly unconvinced by this record. There were clear highs, but there seemed to be too many dull sections. It all sounded like Porcupine Tree, but seemed to lack the quality I’ve come to associate with their records.
My first gripe with this record is that some of the transitions between songs are not fluid. Second, there are a few fairly short tracks here and they come across as wasted opportunities. There are great ideas that are unfortunately cut short before they can shine. I would rather have had these ideas developed further and some of the interludes shortened.
I’m going to court (possible) controversy here by claiming that Great Expectations is the best song on the album and it’s quite disappointing that it lasts for less than one-and-a-half minutes. It’s the type of medium-tempo song that PT are so good at, and is a joy to listen to, if only briefly. It feels like it ends before its time – perhaps reflecting some of the lyrical themes explored in this album. However, the good news is that my second favorite on the album, Time Flies is almost 12-minutes long. While the acoustic guitar and song structure are most certainly a nod to Pink Floyd’s Dogs and even PT’s very own Drown With Me, but it is a solid track, with an extended instrumental section and a groovy bassline. It will sit nicely with other epics the band has written in the recent past (Anesthetize, Arriving Somewhere But Not Here). The Blind House is my third-favorite track – think Open Car mashed with Blackest Eyes – and it appeals to me both lyrically and musically. Kneel and Disconnect is a gentle, piano-driven follow-up to Great Expectations and as good as it is, it simply makes you yearn for its predecessor even more. Even though Drawing The Line is catchy, I believe it would’ve been a lot better if it weren’t for the chorus that makes them sound generic. The verses, however, are incredibly beautiful. The title track (so to speak), is a bit of a mixed bag as well with the second half being much stronger than the first. Your Unpleasant Family is also quite disappointing in its first half (I sense a pattern here…), rescued only by a lovely guitar solo in the second half. The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train also doesn’t do much for me and the band could’ve skipped this and Your Unpleasant Family to launch straight into Time Flies after the title track. Occam’s Razor and Degree of Zero Liberty are decent precursors to the songs that follow, but don’t stand on their own. It might have been better if they were shorter and merged into the tracks they precede. Octane Twisted, The Seance, and Circle of Manias repeat musical themes and have a great fluidity to them, almost as if they were a single song. Circle of Manias is a crunchy, almost Tool-like instrumental that sets up the album closer nicely. I Drive The Hearse brings down the curtains on a melancholy, but memorable note reminiscent of Buying New Soul.
A word or two about the second disc. I like all four songs – Flicker, Bonnie the Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover. I think it was a good idea on the band’s part to include these songs in the same package as they are in a lighter vein compared with everything on disc one. Plus, it shows that the band’s ability to write solid songs hasn’t gone anywhere, no matter what disc one might suggest. The sudden shift to heavy riffage on Bonnie the Cat is surprisingly effective and really adds a new dimension to the mostly mellow sound of disc two. While not as amazing as I Drive The Hearse, Remember Me Lover closes out disc two wonderfully.
There is a lot of acoustic guitar on this album, especially compared to Deadwing and FoaBP and certain arrangements hearken back to the Signify and Lightbulb Sun eras. Gavin Harrison’s drumming seems to be less of a focus this time, but Colin Edwin’s bass is all over this record. Looks like SW read my FoaBP review! Needless to say, production on the album is top-notch and I’m sure that the DVD-A version, whenever it comes out, will be awesome.
This is a Porcupine Tree record, make no mistake about it. Steven Wilson and company have a way of crafting records with vastly different song structures while still stamping them with the indelible Porcupine Tree mark. However, The Incident is not as instantly rewarding as something like In Absentia or Deadwing. It is most definitely a grower, and I’ve started liking it a lot more after listening to it a few times. Although they’ve done better in the past, this is a good PT album. I do think that the album will be quite the experience in a live setting, a hypothesis I’ll test when I see them on the 27th. In case you’re in India and living under a rock, PT will be playing IIT-Bombay’s Mood Indigo event on December 21.
Rating: 3.75/5
Explanation: I was really torn when it came to rating this album. There are some amazing sections on this album, and on the whole, it works. However, I do have some gripes and while I think 3.5 is low for a work of this caliber, 4 is a tad too high. Who knows, over time I might think of this album as a 4 (or higher).
