CLOSURE/CONTINUATION

It's rare for a long awaited, long delayed, or long lost work of art - in any medium - to live up to even a significant fraction of the kind of hype and hope that inevitably surrounds them. Reunions like that of the groundbreaking and once consistent Porcupine Tree tend to produce LPs considered weak, throwaways, or at best loved only by a few of their biggest fans. Reacting to such albums almost always demands managing expectations. But then every once in a while you get an exception... and even though this isn't quite a full return to form or the very best of those exceptions, Closure/Continuation is an overall cracking record that lived up to my personal hopes.

The album is primarily defined by the softer sides of post-Stupid Dream PT, a string of mellow-rock-unto-metal and Wilson's various dour and tender sides. Most of this is done quite well, befitting the skill and and creativity of Barbieri, Harrison, and Wilson. I will say that a majority of it isn't quite fresh - and in the case of "Herd Culling", it's pretty sub-par - but these tracks make for a solid and enjoyable dose of classic PT, nothing more or less.

Where C/C stands out, then, are a plurality of cuts that do push the limits of what each of these three musicians have done in the past, with or without each other. "Harridan" is some of the heaviest and most intricate they've ever been, Wilson in particular shining on bass alongside some of his better guitar playing, Barbieri's electronics, and Harrison's krakenesque drumwork. It shares my deepest admiration with "Rats Return", a nightmarish dive into political selfishness and media megalomania, complete with a masterful music video of a vicious, madcap revisionist era Soviet late night program. The instrumentation shows the power and creepiness possible on some of their lighter material, whose jagged guitar stabs replace the band's usual metal inclinations. "Walk The Plank" further develops Barbieri and Wilson's electronics as we are taken on a submarine journey. There's also much to be said about the dirgelike opening half of "Chimera's Wreck", with beautiful guitars and keys shimmering around reflections on mortality. While the explosive latter half is among the more run-of-the-mill parts of the record, the combination proves to be excellent.

One last flaw with the record is that the final three cuts are only on deluxe editions, a similar issue to the tracklisting of Swilson's solo The Future Bites. These songs fully round out the project, and in particular the tasty "Never Have" sounds like a throwback to classic '70s prog via the length and breadth of PT's illustrious career.

For me, it's hard to describe C/C as anything other than the least I could have hoped for from a reunited Porcupine Tree and in some ways a worthy successor to their classic '00s run. It is a wonderful listen and one that, at its best, gives me ever more hope for the band's future.