THE INCIDENT

I was careful not to enter into listening to "The Incident" with any sort of expectation. This is a band that evolves with each release, so to expect "Fear of a Blank Planet Part II" would be unfair to both the listener and the band. I didn't want to post a review until I had taken the time to listen to the album from start to finish many times.

"The Incident" is, in my humble opinion, the best work the band has produced in their career. The first disc's concept flows seamlessly together through all the tracks and interludes. Much more concise than the flow of FOABP, this disc actually feels like a concept album, whereas we were all "told" FOABP was a concept album, but some parts of it didn't quite add up.

I won't give a song-by-song analysis since many others have done so already. We have the balance between light, space, and heavy throughout the album - all PT trademarks. The band doesn't linger too long on any of those categories, so they never over-stay their welcome. Lyrically this album is not nearly as ominous and depressing as FOABP.

For those few who have complained about the track "Time Flies" being too similar to the outro portion of "Sheep" from Pink Floyd's 'Animals' album, enough already. There's no question it's an homage of sorts to that album - the song itself is about the past - but if you know your music well enough, you should recognize that utilizing a couple of similar chords is NOT a ripoff but rather a respectful tip of the hat.

I'd give it 6 stars if I could.