DEADWING

Porcupine Tree has certainly progressed since the early days when it was merely a side project (if even) for Steven Wilson to get his more ambient ideas out. Since then PT replaced No-Man as his primary focus and in listening to the evolution of Porcupine Tree, you can hear his dedication.

I was a big fan of the last disc "In Absentia". It was one of the densest, well thoughtout albums I've heard. Deadwing comes close but not quite on the same ground. Don't get me wrong, Deadwing has some classic tracks: the title song is very Rush like, Shallow is a hooky heavy stomp and Lazarus might be the best PT song to date! Some of what holds Deadwing back from being a 5 star album is the strength of those songs seem to "suck in" the weaker tracks. Meaning, the strong tracks tend to point out the problems with the less than strong tracks. I call it a black hole issue.

All in all, you should pick up Deadwing if you enjoyed In Absentia. Even if you prefer the older ambient days, you might enjoy tracks like "Arriving Somewhere" and "Glass Arm Shattering".