IN ABSENTIA

One of the best pieces of work PORCUPINE TREE have made. With in Absentia, Porcupine Tree continues to reinvent their sound, incorporating more and more METAL (RUSH, TOOL, death metal ?) influences, though not sounding a metal band, creating a still melancolic, but more darker sonority, in the whole.

The 3 main qualities of the album (which was made to be listened as a concept album) are the very CATCHY THEMES (there are no weak points or low-standard songs, all the songs are at the same level and each one has something different to offer) helped by a IMPECCABLE EXECUTION which i refer the solid work made by the new drummer Gavin Harrison (for me, one of the best drummers the world has) and the always cathy and mellow guitar solos by Steven Wilson; and the EXCELLENT PRODUCTION, proportionating glossy arrangements.

This is a very solid album, from the very start with "Blackest Eyes", for sure a "must" song in every PORCUPINE TREE concert from this on to the last ever gig of the band, opening with prog-metal kick-off guitars and then entering in a mellower cathy melody, created by the usual vocal corus (helped by the sweet part of the voice of Mikael Akerfeldt from OPETH). "Trains" is another hotspot to mention, exploring even more the progressive rock territory with accoustic guitars a la JETHRO TULL and exploring spanish tradicional music in the interlude. "Gravid Eyelids" is another memorable song, in 2 parts, the first with a dark and sad atmosphere created by keyboards exloding in a metal-prog guitar ending. "Wedding Nails" is an instrumental guitar masterpiece, the most metal of the badge. "3." is another instrumental song, but this time in a symphonic wave. The album ends quite well with the folk-blues-jazz-rock "Strip the Soul" and with the crying melancoly of "Collapse the Light into Earth".

One of the most accomplished albuns of one of the best rock band of the present. The Aqualung of new millenium.