THE INCIDENT

I suppose it was a lot to ask to one-up one of the most powerful, haunting, and important albums of the decade. Still, Porcupine Tree delivers an engaging work that is nothing like I imagined it would be.

2007's Fear of a Blank Planet showcased Porcupine Tree at (in my opinion) the peak of their career. They achieved a truly remarkable sound that felt almost two steps too far into their evolutionary path. It was such an immense step-up from Deadwing that they almost sounded completely different. They were tighter, more refined, and darker than ever. The Incident sounds a sequel to Deadwing. It's a return to a cleaner sound, and the short-form structure that they employed for the four albums preceding FOABP.

This album was hyped up with the claim that it was a two-disc monster, with disc 1 containing one 55-minute epic bearing the name of the album split into 14 movements, and disc 2 containing four additional songs unrelated to the concept of The Incident. Conceptually, all of the movements of The Incident are related, and Steven Wilson's vision for the album is no less than stellar as usual, but sonically this is not nearly as cohesive as you'd want a concept "song" to be. Look to Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence as an example of a concept song that is thematically and musically cohesive.

While I was initially a bit disappointed that it wasn't the huge epic prog song that I clamored for, I am still impressed with how well the entirety of The Incident flows. The centerpiece is the ninth movement and first single, Time Flies, one of the most beautiful songs they have ever written, and a song that is just dripping with Pink Floyd influence. The other 13 movements cover a range of influences from Nine Inch Nails to Yes to Tool and back again. Being billed as a 55-minute song, you'd think that this would be the least accessible PT album, but it turns out it's actually a great starting point for new listeners. What's unfortunate is that with the exception of Time Flies, there really aren't any songs that pop and stand out like on other PT albums. All of the songs are good, don't get me wrong, but that's pretty much it. There are very few moments of sheer brilliance to be found on this album. Still, merely good Porcupine Tree is better than 98% of everything else out there, so who am I to complain?

Two of the other four songs on Disc 2 are lackluster throw-away songs, and the other two are decent at best, and thus, hurts the overall rating for me. This album would have been better off without any of them anyway, and I wish that Wilson focused more on making The Incident a more cohesive and proggy song. Overall, I'm disappointed that it isn't as good as Fear of a Blank Planet or Deadwing, but it's still a great entry into the Porcupine Tree library, and one that I highly recommend to newcomers.