THE INCIDENT

Anybody who has talked to me about my love for progressive rock knows that I am indebted to two groups for getting me into the world of prog: Opeth and Porcupine Tree. After listening extensively to their discography and getting deeper into the world of prog, I eagerly awaited these two groups to release a new album. Since Porcupine Tree released Fear of a Blank Planet before Opeth released Watershed, I did not have to wait as long for the purchase.

The interest for The Incident kept me on the edge for many days. My interest peaked when I heard it was going to be one long suite, featuring a theme of mystery, crime, and hidden secrets. Hearing that a second disk was going to come with it, filled with extra material, made me like an excited child eagerly awaiting Christmas morning. When I purchased it, I immediately placed it in my CD player when I got home. At first, I loved it. However, the more I listened to it, the more I began to dislike it.

The problem with The Incident is the simple fact that it is not interesting. The music does not make a lasting impression. The album-side "epic" is simply fourteen different songs. While this has been done by bands in the past, there is no connection between the songs. To be fair, some have a connection, but the group could have easily made the album about seven long songs and taken away any theme that the album. The album long epic and the grand epic theme was something that I heavily anticipated, but both of them simply failed to fully materialize, leaving us with a bunch of individual songs with a vague connection.

Even as individual songs, the album is seriously lacking. Out of the eighteen songs featured on this double-disc album, only five of them are worth listening to. The Blind House shows that Steven Wilson, if he wants to, can still write a fascinating metal track. Drawing the Line sounds like indie-pop, yet Wilson does it in a manner that makes it very catchy and enjoyable. Octane Twisted is the closest thing to true progressive metal Porcupine Tree has ever done. I Drive the Hearse is song that sounds like a tribute to Pink Floyd. Bonnie the Cat is a strange sound with a pseudo-industrial feel. While I didn't care for it at first, repeated listens made me realize that this song is the closest on this album Porcupine Tree sounds like Porcupine Tree.

Besides these four songs, the rest of the material simply sounds uninspired and dull. On the first disc, the "hit" single Time Flies, never truly materializes, and is a bland and repetitive piece. The three other songs on the second disc sound like rejected material from the band's previous two albums. They try to be modern and edgy on Remember Me Lover, but sound juvenile in the process.

With Porcupine Tree now on hiatus, it makes me sad to think that this will potentially be Porcupine Tree's last album. While I Drive the Hearse and Bonnie the Cat may be among Porcupine Tree's best songs, buying an album with eighteen songs to only listen to five is not a good deal.

2.5 Stars. But due to the ratings system, I will bump it down to two stars. This is because it failed to live up to the potential of its concept and was mediocre for a band of PT's caliber.