THE INCIDENT

"Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music." The Incident certainly deserves a 5-star rating. The first disc is sublime moving with ease from track to track. I like how this album for the most part doesn't seem quite as heavy as their more recent offerings. Great Expectations, Drawing the Line, Your Unpleasant Family, and others evoke Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream while The Blind House, The Incident, Octane Twisted, Circle of Manias, and others evoke In Absentia and all that came after. And then there's Time Flies. The edit does not even come close to how awesome the album version is. It is the grand statement, the centerpiece of the album. Evoking Pink Floyd's Animals album (specifically Dogs and Sheep) and Trains, it is clearly a very nostalgic song and the most personal song from Steven Wilson's point of view. While the lyrics on this album are unbelievable, I like how the music drives the album and the lyrical content is not as focused as Fear of a Blank Planet making the whole concept of the album more abstract and not as straight-forward. Now on to the second disc. I'm very glad these songs were included with the album and not released separately. The highlight is Remember Me Lover. The changes in styles in this song creates a little mini-masterpiece. Bonnie the Cat also shines musically even though the singing and lyrical content leave something to be desired.

Could it be the best Porcupine Tree album? Maybe so. It's pretty damn awesome!!!