DEADWING

Continuing in the more metal approach Porcupine Tree took with the previous "In Absentia," "Deadwing" takes things a little further but doesn't quite match up to it's predecessor, though. That's not to say this is still a great album. After a short keyboard into, the album starts off with a bang and a driving bass line. Steven Wilson kind of experiments with some distorted and semi-spoken vocals. Overall this a really great song. "Shallow" and "Open Car" are really more straightforward rock tunes. "Lazarus" is a ballad that has a nice piano line. "Halo" is definitely one of the highlights of the album. It has a creepy verse, but the chorus is quite catchy and the middle part of the song is in a pretty crazy time signature. The big highlight of the album is "Arriving Somewhere...But Not Here," an epic 12-minute track. The first half of the song is rather low-key, with a repeated guitar pattern and the classic Porcupine Tree vocal harmonies. Things begin to speed up and soon the song become a heavy metal barrage and only letting up until the end. "Mellotron Scratch" is a cool song with a calm intro and great vocal harmonies, until changing things up a bit at the end. "The Start Of Something Beautiful" features a great bass line and is a bit more atmospheric then everything previously on the album. Finally, the closing song, "Glass Arm Shattering" is a very calm and dreamy piece, a great way to end the album. Overall, "Deadwing" is one of Porcupine Tree's less "progressive" albums, but that doesn't really matter- it's still great music. While it's not as good as previous Porcupine Tree albums like In Absentia and Signify, Deadwing sees the band still exploring new directions and not just settling for something that works for them and I think that's the biggest success.

Standout songs: "Halo", "Arriving Somewhere...But Not Here"