METANOIA

Metanoia is an album by Porcupine Tree originally released back in 1998 as a limited edition vinyl. In 2001 the album was reissued in CD format. The album mostly contains improvised jams recorded between 1995 - 1996 while the band was working on the album Signify. Other reviews tend to claim that Metanoia is only meant for the hardcore fans, but I disagree with that, people who have listened to a lot of space rock and other similar music with long passages and emphasis on atmosphere should find this album pretty accessible. The album shows the bands real talent and ability to co-operate with each other.

As it is mostly improvised the album of course has some problems, for example the basslines tend to get very repetitive in some songs (although at some points they are very creative and complex) and some parts seem to drag on way longer than they should. The focus of the album is clearly on the atmosphere set up by Maitland's drumming and Barbieri's keyboard work, Wilson's guitar playing also has some pretty psychedelic moments. The album consists of two epics, two shorter songs and one conversation recorded from a restaurant in Milan. The first epic, Mesmer, (clocking in at roughly 28 minutes) is divided into three parts. The second epic, Metanoia, (this time clocking in at about 24 minutes) is divided into two parts.

Because some of the passages are so long even on space rock standards some people might not pay attention all the way through the songs, but those that do will discover some truly impressive moments with some being reminiscent of earlier work by Pink Floyd such as A Saucerful Of Secrets. To me the epics were clearly the highlights of the album and the shorter songs just felt like filler content. If you're a fan of space rock and such I recommend you delve right into this album, otherwise steer clear.