THE INCIDENT

Introduction

We got a 55 minutes song plus a 20 minutes side B, we got a double disc, we got too much hype for a mere common release that comes out from the controversial Deadwing and the wonderfull Fear of a Blank Planet, if isn't enough put the good single Nil Recurring and the solo album by Wilson Insurgentes. After these points this Incident put the listener with too many expectations...

Main Theme

...only to give a bad feeling of used (look at In Absentia) tunes in the first three tracks (since they divided the ''song'' in tracks I'll refer to The Incident as the disc or single track not as the full lenght 55 min song that it pretend to be), the feel of altready seen ends with 4th track, 2 minutes of slow emptiness. Drawing The Line comes out with a new movement, here we see again the great group that gave us many years of good music, following a different path The Incident is a brand new song with a good charge that flows in Your Unpleasant Family which works like a coda and The yellow windows... works as prelude for the following song. Apart from the lenght (11 mins) Time Flies brings another feel of new wind similar to 7th track, seriously I'm a bit bored of it, even with good tunes is a bit redundant. Passing to the last portion of the disc wi see a ''clone'' from the first track (Degree Zero of Liberty) and finally a piece that worth something: Octane Twisted brings back the feel of FoaBP with quick changes and stunning rymths only to end in an anonymus and plain The Seance long 2 minutes and an half, Circle of Manias bring almost a stunning drum solo with some psych backgrounds, nothing special after all even if Harrison's work worth alone a track. Last one (14th) pretends to be a slow ballade and this can be surprising but it achieves the goal, maybe making the end less boring than the start.

Reprise

Flicker starts as a mellow carpet of sounds and his slowness maybe is what disc one miss, the story here seems to go on another way but everithing impact on a solid stone made of the same thing of The Incident giving nothing more than 6 minutes of drum-noise (yes Harrison this time don't make the point), Black Dahlia is another slow song even too short, anyway is nothing more than a reworked I Drive the Hearse (14th song of first disc), everything is going worse and worse, and last track from the second disc is just a bit too much long (funny the fact that they have made short good songs and long bad ones), anyway isn't the worst and can be counted as a plus in the overall.

Coda

In the end what we've got here? 2 disc that make a sub-par with Deadwing, some shining gems isolated in a plain album that doesn't achieve the goal as ''concept'' (there is any concept in the background? If there is one please tell me, I really want to know). Maybe as an edge album between two different styles this incident count as a good attempt, surely isn't a good point to start listen PT's music. By the way Harrison isn't at his best, and looks like he didn't even played/wrote some tracks moreover isn't a coincidence that Gavin is working with Robert Fripp at new King Crimson's album (I love prog-gossip). Last but not less important: the rating... 2. Really I'm giving 3 to it only for the ''new kind of sound'' coming out from these PT, but as said before if you want to listen PT go elsewere and come back after classics like UtD, Absentia or FoaBP.

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