THE HARMONY CODEX

The new Steven Wilson album defies several rules that progressive rock hard police finds a treason to the genre. As it happens to other bands that have tried to generate and think outside of the 70s canon, the idea of mixing electronica and prog rock is considered by many as a sort of devious pursue of making money or selling yourself to the industry. Despite the feeling of being set aside that most of the music produced during the 80s and late 70s by the likes of Yes, ELP, Gentle Giant, PFM, Banco, Genesis (though I have to say their pop sound was far more attractive and better in quality than that of Yes or ELP), contemporary prog rock should benefit from the teachings of that shift. I recognize that The Future Bites was somewhat of a letdown, not because of the change in style already started in "Hand Cannot Erase" and strongly increased in "To the bone", I think the problem with TFB was that it lacked a soul, something strong to connect with. With the exception of some songs, I believe, that the lack of success (it also was not as good as expected in number of streamings neither as in the purchase of the physical album) resided in a certain feel of not reaching to the level of emotions that the previous work did. In The Harmony Codex, the explorations of TFB continue to grow, they sound more congruent, solid and explorative. The sound comes and goes from sounds that may have come from the early sound of Porcupine Tree, but that don't feel like an homage of the 90s, but a development of a search in Wilson's sound palette, never happy with what happened before. This album is constructed as a complete experience, and builds up momentum if listened with a good pair of headphones. Highlights are the long ones, specially the title song and Staircase. Nevertheless, I don't think it equals the two albums which for me constitute the very best of Wilson's solo career: HCE and TRTRTS. But I don't agree with a lot of reviews considering this as a bad album, and Wilson a traitor to the genre. I love how liquid the barrier can get in terms of inspirations, influences and musical styles that are mixed here, allowing prog rock to look at the past with amazement, but not fearing to evolution and change.