CLOSURE/CONTINUATION

To put things in perspective, I feel I need to start this review by saying that ever since I stubmled upon their music, PT has been my absolute favourite band, with nothing rivalling (or even coming close) to their world of complex, soaring tunes. Lightbulb sun, Recordings, In absentia, Deadwing, NIL recurring and FOABP are amongst my favourite records from any band, so when after the disappointing The Incident as well as SW's okay-ish solo career I had to wait 12 years to log on to FB one day and find news of a new PT album in the making, my expectations got so high that Closure/continuation was in a tough spot to deliver against them. And whilst it is a great production, it is unlikely to land a "top album" spot next to the above-mentioned ones on my shelf. But in its on right it is indeed a good one.

The opening track, Harridan, is probably my favourite (or second favourite). Really longing for the heavier style of the epic FOABP this one did not only meet but rather smashed my expectations, as it delivered a superdirty riff and some classic PT vibes, peaking in a metal section that blew me out of my pants. As SW himself said (and I agree), Harridan is quintessential PT, very nicely summing up what the band is about. And whilst it does not do anything that they have not done a hundred times already, I could not have wished for a better opening. 9/10

Next up is Of the New Day, which in my opinion does not get enough attention. The melodic parts are some of the most hauntingly beautiful that the band has EVER produced, and the way they are inserted into Harrison's quirky world of weird time signatures, all supported by probably my favourite ever PT texts, it all makes this song not only an absolute stunner but a top 10 PT track for me. 9.5/10 (and I only have to deduct half a point, as the heavier sections are slightly out of place for me)

My problems start with Rats return. A lot of people praised this song for its heaviness, which is exactly what I am lacking here. I find its core metal riff rather dumb and without real melody, especially when compared to those real metal melodies that the band has done before, such as Open car, Shallow, or that beautifully dirty Meshuggah riff in the middle of Bonnie the cat. And then the bridge in the second half of the song is just so simple and without imagination that if I had to guess I would say that SW was unfortunately lacking ideas when writing this song. Overall would have made an okayish B-side, but on the album it's a 5.5/10 for me.

Luckily, the next song, Dignity again delivers a new PT-classic, which is a beautiful crossover between SW's Drive home and the best songs of Lightbulb sun. 8.5/10

Herd culling is the other song besides Rats return that really should have been left off the album imho. I find the main riff of the song rather boring and so repetitive that it would be ok in a one-minute-song, however being stretched out to 7 minutes it is by far the weakest song on here for me. 4/10

Walk the plank then delivers a huge surprise. With Barbieri being one of the main writers of this one you can obviously expect some eerily weird, haunting keyboard arrangements drowned into the style of SW's solo work. This is another quintessential PT song for me, again nicely summing up what the band is all about (but unlike the other songs this one is more similar to their earlier work in style). 9/10

The closing track, Chimera's wreck got a lot of attention, many listeners calling it one of the band's best songs. In light of these expectations I was sitting on the edge of my seat when this track rolled on, and whilst I found the first four minutes rather nice, with the heavier part delivering a stylish build-up, the second part of the song turned the whole thing into a letdown for me. When SW's attempt to create some impressive vocal crescendo fails, the melody of the song becomes hard to latch on to, and especially when he starts singing about how he "wants to die" the whole thing just reminds me more of a tortured emo band trying to create progrock than it does of PT. I know I am probably alone with my opinion, however this song is a big letdown for me. 6/10

The longer version of the album comes with three more songs. And as PT is a band that is unable to produce bad ones, even when it is just B-sides, I was a bit surprised about how average the three additional tracks sound, lacking creativity and really just being a repetition of what they did a hundred times already. Add to this that the artwork of the album is probably their worst one to date yet, with these white boxes and abbreviations driving me up the wall. In any case, the album still has some memorable highlights, so I am secretly hoping that their future holds more continuation than closure, because as long as their next album will also give fans some stunners such as Harridan, Of the new day, Dignity or Walk the plank, chances are that it won't disappoint.