THE INCIDENT

This is the best PT album since 2002's In Absentia. As a huge fan of Porcupine Tree, I was disappointed with their last offering, Fear of a Blank Planet, and thought that maybe my Porcupine Tree days were finished.

But this album got me back in their camp, big time. Steven Wilson has created an incredible masterpiece of dark electronica mixed with nasty guitars, wonderful melodies and haunting atmospherics, all performed with incredible instrumental precision by expert musicians and mixed to perfection (Wilson has already been nominated for a Grammy for "Best Surround Sound Album" for PT's last album).

I have to confess, however, that this concept album was hard to get into at first, since the first CD is basically one 55-minute long composition. So I re-listened to the album by thinking in terms of "suites:" "Great Expectations" together with "Kneel and Disconnect," "The Incident" together with "Your Unpleasant Family" and "The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train," and "Octane Twisted" grouped with "Séance" and "Circle of Manias." All of a sudden, I "got it." And I loved it.

The centerpiece song on the album, "Time Flies," will remind you a lot of Pink Floyd, especially with the acoustic riff reminiscent of "Dogs," and then the atmospheric sections reminding us of other Floyd classics.

When Porcupine Tree first came into existence in the 90s, they were often called the new Pink Floyd, their earlier albums featured long instrumental pieces that were very psychedelic and spacey. But by the turn of the century, Wilson found his groove with a distinctive Porcupine Tree sound, which is now so influential that it is copied by many others.

Every song on the first disc is a winner, from the opener, "The Blind House" (gritty and hard guitars juxtaposed with quieter verses) to the ender, "I Drive the Hearse," where Wilson sings the very haunting chorus: "And pride is just another way / Of trying to live with my mistakes / Denial is a better way / Of getting through another day / And silence is another way / Of saying what I wanna say / And lying is another way / Of hoping it will go away."

And on top of this, there's a second disc! "Bonnie The Cat" shows off Gavin Harrison's drumming expertise, and two other songs remind me of early Porcupine Tree, and don't forget "Remember Me Lover," a classic PT song.