THE INCIDENT

Yesterday finally arrived my copy of "The Incident", the new album of PT and I may add probably one of the best releases for this Year. Did not know what to expect, especially after the great solo effort of their front man SW last year, but so far and after a single spin of both CDs I am truly impress, the quality oft he production is top notch as usual, more so now with this new format presentation, that SW is doing with the Deluxe Edition. Now, regarding the music: Definitively a concept album that will require several listens to digest (that is always good on a prog concept album I think..), more acoustic with SW guitar exploring new boundaries; everybody is in top form and is the best IMHO PT has sound in years, I would say since "The Sky../Signify years". Probably the highlights are the amazing drumming of Gavin Harrison that flow effortless thru the entire album; I had the chance to see PT in concert 2 years ago with my daughter in Baltimore and this guy was incredible (and I am not a drummer fan by any means!). Not a follow up of "FOABP", a new direction and I love it, since stands by itself and you cannot draw comparisons with anything done before! Of course, the highlights' tracks are the one clocking more than 5' but the one that stands alone in my opinion is "Time Flies" which has a Floydian aftertaste and as I read a homage to "Animals" which I agree!! However, you have to listen the album on its entirely rather than each individual track. I would rate this album so far 3.5 stars and I will round to 4!. Maybe more with further listens, will see. In any event this is a highly recommended Album for Progressive Music fans anywhere. Prog-heads will not be disappointed.

One of the most anticipated prog album of this year and yet Wilson never really let us down. The Incident is a combination of near perfect musicianship skills eg., song writing, composition, mixing and design. A concept album that has it all...from mellow Mellotron, poetic and profound lyrics, heavy riffs and ethereal melody. It is one big piece of concept for you to swallow. I am not sure about the concept, something like a flashback of a man life in his critical moment of life and death. But one thing I do certain is that this concept must be incorporated from Wilson's personal experience.

This album is certainly not an average work of PT, when you listen to this album you'll notice how much PT and especially Wilson put itself/himself into the material. This make listener feel intimate and touch by songs. IMO, I think they are growing up again, bit by bit to perfection... and of course a huge leap to its musical maturity. Notice that the music is getting a bit mellower and more ambient than their previouses. From this change, I think this album will inevitably cause much debate among fans, some would like it and some would hate it. Whatever the outcome is, this is grand and beautiful piece of art.

Listen to the first CD is one of the best 55 minutes for me. It is so close to perfect...damn close. Big 4.75 stars.

After many listens to this album, I can surely say that so far this is my favorite album of 2009, and stands out as one of Porcupine Tree's best albums.

The first disc of the album is the better one, and the sections and songs flow into each other very well, honestly the first disc might be Porcupine Tree's most cohesive and complete work to date! No weak track in here, and if you only listen to the first disc as a whole then this is an amazing piece of work. Those 55 minutes are very varied in style and feelings, and my favorite sections off this 55 minutes work are: The Blind House, Great Expectations, Kneel And Disconnect, The Seance, and my favorite off the whole album - I Drive The Hearse - an amazing ballad with sad and touching melodies and singing, and a great guitar solo(s). Overall a 9.5 for the first disc.

The second disc is also very good, but I feel like if the all album was only the first disc it could have been better, because finishing an album with track like "I Drive The Hearse" just leaves you eager for more and the first disc (obviously) flows better, while the second disc even tho still really good doesn't hold up to the first disc and it doesnt leave you with that same feeling as the first disc does. However as I said, it is a very good disc, and I would give it a 8.5/10.

This album would get a perfect score from me if: the second disc was released later as EP or something and the whole album was only the first disc, if few parts on the first disc would flow better into each other and if the chorus on "Drawing The Line" would fit better to the rest of the amazing song (but those 2 last things are REALLY little complaints about the first disc).

Overall I would give it a strong 9/10, and I feel like it is more close to 5/5 than to 4/5.

That this album is Porcupine Tree's lowest rated album since Voyage 34: The Complete Trip is ridiculous. It by far surpasses Fear of a Blank Planet and Deadwing, and I believe it's on-par with In Absentia, if not better. That being said, The Incident was a great album and probably my favorite album of 2009.

The most common complaint I've noticed is the fact that the title suite doesn't flow like a single song should. I understand that it was advertised as being a single song. I for one think it flows more like a concept album than a single suite, but I still highly enjoy it. Another complaint I've seen is that it's 'not progressive enough'. I think that's a ridiculous thing to say; progressive rock is not the same thing it was in the 70's. It, like everything else, has changed over time as it was influenced by other areas of music (which happens to be what makes music progressive in the first place). The album definitely has a progressive feel to it.

Anyways I'm not going to go into detail on specific tracks, but some of the standouts are "The Blind House", the title movement ("The Incident"), "Time Flies", every track from "Degree Zero of Liberty" to "Circle of Manias" (these four tracks flow together quite well), "I Drive The Hearse"; "Bonnie the Cat" and "Remember Me Lover" from the second disc.

Overall I'd give this album 4.5 stars (it's not completely without flaws) as one of my favorite albums of 2009.

Wow...

Where do I begin?

I have been a fan of Porcupine Tree for about 10 years now. I can't say for sure where this will end up ranking in the grand list of Porcupine Tree recordings, but it will definitely be up there. I don't disagree with it's current rating, in fact this may end up being my favorite Porcupine Tree album of them all.

Why? It has SO MUCH to offer. There is a broad range of sounds and feelings at work here. The entire first disc is incredible, amazing melodies, bone shattering heavy bits, goosebump inducing climaxes, atmospheric ambient flowing quiet parts.

BAM BAM BUUMMMMmmmmmmmmmm. The intro track hits you in the face with power in simplicity, then the progression is continued in track two...

The track The Blind House stands out at me on first listen as a blend between Blackest Eyes and something from FOABP. However after a short while I realize this is no blend, it's simply a new sound. They've evolved AGAIN, how many times can they do it and STILL write amazing stuff? One thing that has been incorporated to this album more-so than previous albums is Gavin Harrison's INCREDIBLE drumming. Not to say he wasn't featured on the other albums at all, but on this he shines. Unreal drum beats and fills throughout, intricate ghost note patterns, off time fills with flams from cymbals to toms to snares in a flurry of sound that's incomprehensible to me (and I've been drumming for 10 years.). After a traditional recent Porcupine Tree sound in The Blind House, the track takes a turn to a feel we will find more of later in the album, an electronic psychedelic breakdown, with fading deep bass notes and a spacey out of the room vocal sound, then back into the heavy part one more time before the first set of "segue songs" as I'll refer to them.

Usually short on the edge of a few minutes long, most of the time bringing you from one theme to the next as the next larger songs draws near, these "segue songs" are what bring the album together. making this a masterpiece of combining themes and ideas. This may persuade someone to skip over these songs, but you'd be missing a lot of excellent Porcupine Tree music, they're not all merely interludes of acoustic guitar. The first of these tracks entitled Great Expectations has some great riffs and drumming, and it's only 1:26 long. Don't skip over these little gems to get to the better stuff. This album is made to be appreciated as a whole, it's like having a great cheeseburger without the cheese, bun, vegetables, and condiments. When you just have the meat of it, you loose the characteristics that make it a great cheeseburger (or album in this case.. but now I'm getting hungry..)

I will now continue track by track to give my analysis of each song, I'll put an (s) after the titles of the songs I feel to be segue songs...

Kneel and Disconnect (s) - Excellent vocals, beautiful melodies, soft pianos, bringing you into:

Drawing the Line - Eerie start, excellent drumming in the verse groove. I love this song, it has a great dark feel while being "pretty" at the same time. The chorus was a bit repetitive for my taste at first but it has definitely grown on me.

The Incident - Heavy Nine Inch Nails influence at work here, industrial electronic feel. Dark whispering in the background. Then heavy guitars come in with intricate rhythmic drumming, and the song starts it's transition from industrial to ethereal, with a climax that is incredible in it's beauty considering the depths of darkness it evolved out of.

Your Unpleasant Family (s) - Continues a similar groove from The Incident for a bit then goes into a part that reminds me of Prodigal from In Absentia

The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train (s) - Ambient synth sounds, quiet, peaceful, brings you into:

Time Flies - Probably my favorite track on the new album thus far. Reminds me of In Absentia style writing, a lot of people have made a connection with "Trains", to me it's more like a better "Drown With Me" that evolves and goes somewhere. Gavin's drumming is amazing in this song, the ghost notes he plays on the snare drum are mind boggling. After you get used to this style of 3/4 grove, it breaks and pulls you back into the darkness of the album as a whole, a Pink Floyd-esque guitar interlude. Then after time comes back to the original groove, excellent.

Degree Of Zero Liability (s) - BAM BAM BUMMMmmmm (Similar to Occam's Razor) bringing you out of the beautiful Time Flies theme back into darkness and quiet

Octane Twisted - Excellent melodies at work here, overlapping vocals and harmonies in that distinct Steven Wilson style, with some great heavy parts with some groaning male chorus sounds to accompany the riffs, then into some great polyrhythmic complex rhythms with swirling guitars and building rising leads playing over it. Then it breaks to a quiet dark almost creepy sounding part and fades into:

The Seance - I was going to say this was a segue song, but it really isn't. It is it's own piece of music, takes melodic ideas from Octane Twisted but putting them in a more atmospheric light, then after some synth sounds BAM Hard rock acoustic guitar riff with quarter notes on the high hats, getting you totally pumped for

Circle Of Manias - Holy crap. This is Porcupine Tree at their heaviest. This is metal. The main riff is in 9/8 but it has a part that comes in with a break that is in 8/8, so when played together they never quite match up before the Meshuggah-esque heavy part. The guitar tone here is incredible, I can only hope they play this song live with stobe lights blasting me in the face.

I Drive The Hearse - Excellent vocals, reminds me of Blackfield stuff almost.

DISC 2:

Flicker - Great grooves and rhythm. Enchanting melodies, so atmospheric, almost reminds me of Glass Arm Shattering with some "la-la's" again..

Bonnie The Cat - Woah. This is heavy and dark, I've never heard Porcupine Tree do something like this. Probably my second favorite track on the whole album. Middle heavy part is intimidating..

Black Dahlia - Wow. Beautiful. This is the stuff I love about Porcupine Tree, they can kick your butt with heavy stuff, then they can come at you with music so beautiful and heartfelt that it just makes you melt. I love the melodies in this song.

Remember Me Lover - Another amazing piece of music, I can honestly say that this is another masterpiece... Light parts, and HEAVY parts, a great climax / finish to an INCREDIBLE album.

So if you've gotten here in my review (it was lengthy) I can tell you this: The Incident feels like 5 short minutes when you listen to the whole thing. 70+ minutes of music flies by because it's all written so excellently. I can't say enough good about this album.

Do I have ANY complaints?

Yes, I do. Now that the new album has arrived, I have to wait a couple more years for the next!!

I was waiting to listen the album in a better quality to write my final review; however, my opinion hasn't changed so much? Well, a little: it sounds better than I expected, Such a great album has Steven Wilson brought to us!

So, what it is that makes The Incident so wonderful? : The whole album is so consistent and solid, more than 1:15 of music and there's no song that you want to skip; the sound-design and production are amazing and when the preview was released you already knew that it would be an awesome album, but it still surprised you and, of course, because Steven Wilson is a god.

What it sounds like? Let's see? It has many elements from their previous albums, a lot of Fear of a Blank Planet, but, in my opinion, it's something totally unique. Progressive rock? I don't think so? it's an unique mix of influences (Pink Floyd, Opeth, Meshuggah, Sigur Rós, ambient, pop, industrial, electronic, etc). Steven Wilson listens to all kind of good music and he knows how to combine these elements to his works.

You already know the basic information: it's a conceptual album, a double CD with a 55 minutes-song and a second disc featuring 4 independent songs from the cycle, like an EP. What happens? This second CD it's SO GOOD too!! Bonnie the Cat its AWESOME.

The highlights? The whole album? But if I have to choose songs, I would pick these: The Blind House (What a way to start an album, what a song, definitely in the PT's top 10), Drawing The Line, (Can be this song more catchy?), The Incident (another great chorus? I love the industrial-electronic sound on this song), Time Flies (the single is nothing compared with the full version and those guitars are wonderful, no words), Octane Twisted (for Opeth and Porcupine Tree fans there's no better song than this), I Drive The Hearse (a sublime closer for the first part of an amazing album, a beautiful chorus and a breathtaking solo) and of course, the already mentioned: Bonnie the Cat, it's just spectacular.

So, before The Incident, I felt that they needed a special album that it was completely mind-blowing, that you could put from the start to the end over and over again? if you want: their masterpiece, The Incident is that album to me.

I can't say anything bad about their performance; as a guitar lover, I just can't describe what Steven Wilson did to the guitars (The Blind House, Time Flies, for God's sake!). Richard Barbieri is always there doing his job as Colin Edwin in the bass? and to say Gavin Harrison are big words (Who has done a magnificent job on the new OSI's album). I would also like to mention Lasse Hoile. (who has already worked with Porcupine and other bands like Opeth) for all the amazing visual art he has done. (Perhaps cover of the year?)

I have nothing to say, in my opinion this is the album of the year, 10/10, a masterpiece in all senses and one of the best albums of the century.

SW has done it again. The incident is a fantastic album indeed consisting in a long 55 minutes piece formed with 14 songs which flow one into the next in an incredible way. As almost all the previous reviewers have stated Time Flies is probably the best song here and it recalls Pink Floyd's Animals, but also the lyrics have remembered in a way me of Dark Side of the Moon's Time.

The second CD is an EP with four songs of which Remember Me Lover stands out not only as one of the best songs of the album, but as one of my favorite in last PT albums.

All in all another masterpiece in Steve Wilson career.

Porcupine Tree- The Incident (2009) The brand new record from these UK neo-progheads is a bloody awesome album. Why the heck aren't the media falling at the feet of this band? Frontman, guitarist, and principal songwriter Steven Wilson has one of the loveliest male singing voices in rock, and he seems like a great bloke who genuinely loves performing, and listening to, music. And to boot, he consistently delivers recordings of a very high quality. 'The Incident' consists of a two disc set. The first being a narrative song cycle, and the second being a separate collection of shorter tunes.

I applaud the band for not simply attempting to recreate previous album, 2007's fine 'Fear Of A Blank Planet'. In fact, they've taken a completely different direction here. I don't know of any other band which effortlessly crossbreeds psychedelic prog, electronic Krautrock, piano balladry, and dashes of industrial metal. PT excel at all of these genres. The wonderful thing about this new studio record is that it tosses a bone to fans of all these disparate aspects of PT's signature sound, as well as adding something entirely new to the mix.

Like old-fashioned progressive, a la Pink Floyd, Genesis, et cetera? Try out the superb track 'Time Flies', which seems to be inspired a great deal by Floyd's 'Animals' album. Melodic pop ballads? 'I Drive The Hearse' and 'Kneel And Disconnect' are achingly beautiful. Metalheads will soil their trousers when they get a load of the amazing 'Octane Twisted' or 'The Blind House'. Ever since working with critically acclaimed Swedish death metal headbangers Opeth, Wilson appears to have taken on some of their influence. Porcupine Tree and Opeth arguably have taken elements of each other since their musical meeting of minds. The bludgeoning, noticeably heavier sounding, salvo of 'Occam's Razor' and the aforesaid 'The Blind House' instantly brings to mind the recent work of those Swedish titans.

The song cycle itself is definitely the highlight here, although the individual stand alone tracks on Disc 2 are very strong as well. The 55 minute long 'The Incident' runs the gamut from hopeful to nihilistic, from gorgeous to terrifying. The title track has perhaps been taking notes from Radiohead's schoolbook, and is a despondent plea for love, in a detached world. Wilson sounded seriously disillusioned with modern society on 'Fear of A Blank Planet, but if at all possible, he is even more peed off this time. This album could be the misanthropic soundtrack to a 28 Days Later zombie invasion flick. The band are now signed to metal label Roadrunner, which is home to Megadeth, Killswitch Engage, Machine Head, etc. You might think someone from the record company might try to convince PT to drastically change their image and sound to suit a commercial agenda. I don't think the Tree have really compromised anything. They have thankfully been allowed to pursue their own musical path, to create a work that is as challenging, complex, mature, and ultimately rewarding as anything else in their catalogue. A joy to listen to. Highly recommended.

Well, as soon as this morning rolled around I was like a kid on christmas, as I rushed to the mailbox to pick up the deluxe edition of Porcupine Tree's newest masterpiece "The Incident". And honestly I have to say that my 100$ investment towards an album (a price I would normally consider absurd) seemed questionable, but as I popped the disc into my sound system for the first time, my questions were all answered: this album is amazing. Truly Steven Wilson has delivered yet another masterpiece of progressive rock, and there's no doubt in my mind that this is my favorite album of 2009. What left me in awe about this album is the way that soothing acoustic portions and Wilson's soft, melodic voice have been melded together with Progressive Metal without ever missing a step. Songs like "Blind House" and "Octane Twisted" are excellent examples of this, as well as the transition from "The Seance" into the Weding Nails-reminiscent "Circle of Manias", and then back into the light, moody "I Drive the Hearse". I could not have thought of a better way to close out the album myself, and the guys fade the main disc out on the high point of the album. But then, just when you think it's over, there's still the 4 standalone songs on disc 2. The song that is worth mentioning of the 4 is "Remember Me Lover" which is a very moving, emotional piece of music delivered by another high point of the album, the soft voice of Steven Wilson. And of course, throughout the album he has a top notch band to back him up, whether it's the thick textures of Rich Barbieri's synthesizer or the explosive drumming of Gavin Harrison, truly one of the top drummers of the generation. On a closing note, I would also like to give credit to the only single from the album, "Time Flies" which is yet another passionate delivery of lyricism and musicianship that can leave one sitting and pondering for hours (and of course the extended album version is far superior to the radio edit). This album leaves me with only a few words left in my mind: Buy it. This album has brought together all of the pieces of Porcupine Tree's past album into one beautiful masterpiece. Bravo.

Favorite song: I drive the Hearse

Least Favorite: Bonnie the Cat (although it feels bad calling something least, it's an overall fantastic album)

What a challenging album.

I have no idea what "progressive" really means, nor do I care that much. But perhaps one valid definition is music that is created by the musician strictly for the act of creating art, with literally no regard whatsoever for what fans, reviewers, or anyone else wants to hear. Music that is crafted, not designed by committee.

When you make music this way, you will immediately alienate some long time fans that want you to keep regurgitating versions of your previous work, newer casual fans that came by briefly because their tastes matched up with some single song, and the cork-sniffers among us who over-analyze each note, confuse influences with mimicry, and can't differentiate their own personal tastes from objective facts.

But when music (or any kind of art) is created for purely selfish reasons like this, it is really the only time that the magic can happen. And magic did indeed happen here. You can like it and take the journey, or dislike it and be left behind. Clearly the band does not care, nor should they.

First a few objective facts. The first CD is not a 55 minute song. It is a song cycle, which is a collection of bits of music that are related in some way, whether musically, lyrically or thematically. In this case the theme is the concept of Incidents that change peoples lives, although there is also some strong recurring musical themes as well. The production of this album is their best to date, with each instrument having a clear portion of the frequency spectrum, a dynamic mix without the typical "Loudness" squash, and a very well done 5.1 mix. Steven Wilson's singing is definitely at it's best, and his guitar playing even more so. Musically, this album is really the first PT album that takes 15+ years of their various musical influences and incorporates it into their vocabulary, unlike FoaBP for example, which is intentionally a single musical color. Because of this, The Incident is a very hard album to listen to for those that prefer a predictable sound with minimal transitions. This album contains some of the band's heaviest moments, most ambient moments, most melodic moments, catchiest pop moments, and clearest classic rock moments, sometimes all within a single song.

I won't review the songs themselves because that's just some random Internet guy stating a personal opinion, which should mean less than nothing to you. It also somewhat misses the point of this being a single song cycle and not a collection of stand-alone songs. I'll say instead that if you like to be challenged musically, are open minded enough to come to like music outside of your comfort zone, and generally are the kind of person that can understand music that demands your undivided attention for 1+ hours as opposed to a shuffle mix of favorite singles in the background, give this album a try. You may or may not like it, but it's worth the effort.

Steven Wilson's 10th official offering under the flag of his main band, Porcupine Tree, and well, one might well say the bloke's apparently endless sources of inspiration surely haven't yet ran out. Barely six months after the release of his solo-album Insurgentes, here's yet another piece of astonishing music. 76 minutes of it, to be exact. And like with almost all of his work, I barely know where to start to describe it.

This is not just a mere follow-up his previous work. While it's still very Porcupine Tree, any fan of the band knows that Mr. S.W. is not in for repeating himself and making the 'same' album over-and-over again. His work is PROGRESSIVE in the true meaning of the word and it shows again on 'The Incident'.

Lyrically, this album sounds much more 'personal' than its predecessor FOABP, of which the central theme, however important - in short, a rant about the shallowness of the lives of modern society kids being completely focussed on cheap thrills and easy fixes, if necessary 'aided' by the appropriate chemicals - more often than not came across as somwhat cold and distant, at least to me. For 'The Incident', Mr. S.W. chose to write all the lyrics in the first person, which allows the listener to get attached to the unfolding dramatics a lot easier, and for me, it works as a charm. The central theme of the album is how a 'minor incident' can completely change, if not downright destroy, a person's life. If I got that right, that is.

And now for the music!

Disk #1 fully consists of 'The Incident' - a 55 minutes epic consisting of 14 distinctive sections, varying in duration from 1:26 minutes to well over the 11 minutes mark. These shorter sections are absolutely necessary in order to glue the whole thing together, but don't mistake them for fillers, as they most definitely aren't.

Occam's Razor comes in with a BANG, evolving into The Blind House - starting off as a 'traditional' PT song, with its characteristic heavy guitars and harmony singing, it evolves into a trippy rythmic/spacey intermission and towards the end, it brings you to Great Expectations - only 1:26 minutes long, but containing some lovely singing by Mr. S.W. as well as some excellent drumming by Gavin Harrison. Kneel and Disconnect is the next of these shorter songs, based on a soft acoustic piano part.

Drawing the Line is most definitely one of my favs on this album. Airy-fairy keyoards, fierce drumming, fretless bass work, guiding Mr. S.W. lovely voice - warm and emotional, here. This song, 'catchy' and very accessible, however, has that moody feeling underneath it, reminding me of stuff from In Absentia and Stupid Dream (which two albums I happen to consider PT's best). Steven himself does one of his best singing jobs in the chorus,

"I'm drawing the line, the line of my pride I'm taking controll, may I save my soul I'm shunning you out, and I have no doubt" - where he not only sounds very passionate, but even vulnerable. The song ends with a great guitar riff.

The Incident - title track - PT goes industrial! Heavy guitars embedded in a layer of equally heavy drumming, trippy synths, whispered vocals, a steady dark groove, reminescent of FOABP's Sleep Together. Towards the end, the mood changes, to finish off in an ecstatic manner. The lyrics of the song form the key to the album's theme - how disgusted Mr. S.W. was to witness a car crash, with possible casualties involved, being done away with by the police as 'an incident' - making him think more of how the media in general blow up minor incidents to being events of massive proportion, whereas things that really affect peoples' lives are put away on page 13 in a short message - all for the sake of 'selling out', which makes him shudder. A very common theme in Steven's work, to which I can relate very well indeed. The song evolves into

Your Unpleasant Family - "... smashed up my car - how uncalled for..." - a typical PT- 'cynical understatement'-text, very reminding of the lyrics on Stupid Dream, both in atmosphere as in musical approach. Great guitar solo to end it off. It evolves into The Yellow Windows of the Even, a lovely, ambient keyboard piece accompanied by earie chorales - sounding almost as if it was made in the early 1970's, including the typical 'rumble' of an LP. If I have one complaint about this piece, it's that it barely hits the 2 minutes mark - far too short. What follows hereafter is

Time Flies - clocking in well over 11 minutes, I don't think I'll be the only one saying this is the album's absolute masterpiece! This one is back to Stupid Dream- and In Absentia- quality, top-notch. Like the latter's Drown with Me, the first three minutes are in 3/4, to thereafter completely change back to a dark, melancholic, and very FLOYDIAN mood. Do I hear some hints towards Pink Floyd's 'Animals' and 'Time'? I surely think so, as well as some hints towards Anathema, a band with whom Mr. S.W. has worked together as well, in the treatment of the underlying acoustic (rhythm) guitars. Can't say that hurts, not at all. The song then becomes heavier-and-heavier - fantastic drumming by Harrison! - culminating into a blistering guitarsolo. Thereafter back to the original theme, back to the Floyd influences, etc. Can't wait to watch Mr. S.W. torture his guitar strings live on this song, only one month waiting time from now on.... The melancholical lyrics about aging are very enjoyable as well, "... I was born in 67, the year of St.Pepper and Are You Experienced..." "... After a while you realise that Time Flies - and the best thing that you can do, is take whatever comes to you... 'cause Time Flies..." This is 'The Incident''s Even Less, no less!

Degree Of Zero Liability, a piece very alike Occam's Razor in the beginning, which heavy guitars-sequence could well have come directly from Deadwing, evolves into Octane Twisted - starting off with mellow acoustic guitars, some fantastic vocal harmonies, developing into some real HEAVY METAL with awesome drum work. Haunting guitar solo midway as well. Reminds me a lot of Opeth. Great instrumental. Hereafter, The Seance - a piece mainly built on acoustic guitars, and do I hear a Minimoog, here? It's the perfect introduction to Circle Of Manias, wherein PT goes Heavy-Opeth-All-The-Way, quite close to genuine death/math metal. The groove reminds me of FOABP's Sleep Together, once again. Not that I mind, that happens to be one of my fav songs from that album. And then for the perfect conclusion -

I Drive The Hearse - PT back to its most mellow and lovely. A beautiful melody, vocal harmonies, and lead singing by Mr. S.W., for sure one of his best jobs on this album. The tune reminds me of Blackfield, most notably Christenings. Perfect drumming, keyboard (effect)s and guitars, this song is enchanting and alluring. Heartbreaking lyrics as well - "...Silence is another way - of saying what I want to say - Lying is another way of hoping it will go away..."

Disk #2 contains four stand-alone songs: Flicker sounds like an old-school, atmospheric, very dreamy PT song. Some Beatles- influences here, if I'm not mistaken, together with the omniscent Pink Floyd-influences. Strangely enough, the 'la la la'-vocals remind me of Yes' South Side of the Sky!

Bonnie The Cat - by FAR the most experimental tune on 'The Incident'. Its groove reminded me of 'Mother and Child Divided', heavy and rhythmic, only this isn't an instrumental. Both Gavin Harrison and Richard Barbieri go 'all-the-way' on this song. Freaky at times even creepy stuff!

Black Dahlia - ah, back to the loveliness. Is there any band in the world being able to switch moods and styles that fast, and still being capable of sounding as the same band? I think not. A perfect electronic piano-based tune with great melodies, and that guitar solo in the end - Blackfield-like. The lyrics are very interesting as well, dealing with the modern obsessions of youth with 'becoming famous' whatever it takes, ending up with having to deal with the damage due to failing ambitions. Heartbreaking. "There is nothing for you here under the sun..."

Remember Me Lover - ah... very melancholic and moving. I get the impression that I've heard some of the melodies incorporated in this song before on Steven's Insurgentes, but does that mind? Not at all. Great heavy organ/guitar parts exchanging subtle guitar sequences. Yep, another hightlight of 'The Incident'. The song contains perhaps the most personal lyrics I've ever heard from Mr. S.W. He's made songs about the Grand Theme of 'failing relationships' before - Hatesong from Lightbulb Sun comes to mind - but this one is very, very different. Here no distant cynism at all, but rather, pure heartfelt disappointment and sadness set into perfect words. "It's so hard to get along!"

Well, as for a conclusion: this is a perfectly produced album (what else did one expect from a project of The Magician Mr. S.W.?), with quite a few amazing songs around. For any fan of Mr. S.W. work, this is a Must-Buy. Most notably, imho, are Wilson's vocals, which are more passionate than ever before (I trust you already know his credits on the guitar), Gavin Harrison's truly otherwordly drumming, Richard Barbieri having opened his complete magic box of tantalizing sounds, and last-but-not-least, Colin Edwin's as-always very solid job on the bass. Most amazing about 'The Incident', I think, is that here the ultimate mix of extreme moods within the music - from dark, bone-shattering heaviness to heartfelt, acoustic, sweet melodies, changing faster from the one extreme to the other than I ever thought possible - actually WORKS here. Mr. S.W. already had a (good!) try at this on his solo-album Insurgentes, but in all honesty, I didn't think he was consistently succesful in doing so on that album, but here, he IS.

Four-out-of-five stars for now. Might well become more, but well... I need my time to fully appreciate this masterpiece to come to an ultimate conclusion. Shouldn't be all too surprising, as this is not actually 'easy stuff' - but I trust a genuine ProgRocker doesn't do 'easy stuff', eh?

Sorry for this LONG review folks, but at times, one needs quite a few words to fully express one's appreciation!

I await the inevitable backlash.

In these early days of listening, though, I'm in awe, and I flow with the building consensus of the brilliance of Porcupine Tree's latest.

For the sake of the review I'm going to focus on the main event, the epic title track. I agree with others that this may not have the immediacy of the last three releases by PT, but this--and, yeah, I know how stupid this sounds--is an album to listen to. It pays to sit in it, to let the whole experience rise over you like a wave and engulf you. Which is to say, though it is a good album to have on in the background, it is a staggering experience to be surrounded by. (In this way, it's like so many of the classic headphone albums of the 70s.)

Words like "mature" and "abstract" are starting to get attached to "The Incident," and I think that's fair. The album seems to work as a slowly building sound environment. The concept behind it all hovers rather than intrudes. The lyrics also don't have some of that immediate anger that drives "Fear of a Blank Planet," but there is a special depth and beauty here, and something new that builds on the recent albums and takes it all someplace broader (and that is saying a lot). What has been excellent about Porcupine Tree--the evocative jarring movement between soft shimmering beauty and crushing, thundering riffage; the rich and ever expansive textures; and that how-can-you-possibly-come-up-with-yet-another-stunning-melody-like-that quality--is even more on display here. This is a wide aural field. Time to be engulfed.

One note about guitars and resemblances. Much has been said already about how much "Time Flies" resembles Pink Floyd's "Dogs," and it is true that the descending chord pattern that brings the song to its end, starting around 9:48, is quite similar. But while we're at it, the bassish notes (A-E-F sharp) coming in around 5:00 even more strongly resemble movements from "The Wall." Whatever. None of this, I think, diminishes the impact of what is a powerful song. What I love, guitar-texture-wise, is Wilson's use of eerie vibrato-heavy guitar on a number of the pieces, starting with "The Blind House." On "Drawing the Line," it reminds me a great deal of Stephen Fellow's playing with Comsat Angels, which brings out the post-punk element of Porcupine Tree's music (yeah, I said that--hey, it happens if you were born in the summer of 67). "Degree Zero of Liberty" even evokes Hugh Burns's playing on Scott Walker's "The Drift." My point is not that there is a strong influence or stealing happening here. Rather, the music on "The Incident" evokes a dazzling array of shapes and styles of music.

The second disc features four great songs as well ("Remember Me Lover" is actually the weakest point for me at this point, but I'm still being engulfed), but it is the main feature, "The Incident," that adds something glorious to these Prog Archives and to the jawdropping work of Porcupine Tree.

I await the inevitable backlash.

"Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music." The Incident certainly deserves a 5-star rating. The first disc is sublime moving with ease from track to track. I like how this album for the most part doesn't seem quite as heavy as their more recent offerings. Great Expectations, Drawing the Line, Your Unpleasant Family, and others evoke Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream while The Blind House, The Incident, Octane Twisted, Circle of Manias, and others evoke In Absentia and all that came after. And then there's Time Flies. The edit does not even come close to how awesome the album version is. It is the grand statement, the centerpiece of the album. Evoking Pink Floyd's Animals album (specifically Dogs and Sheep) and Trains, it is clearly a very nostalgic song and the most personal song from Steven Wilson's point of view. While the lyrics on this album are unbelievable, I like how the music drives the album and the lyrical content is not as focused as Fear of a Blank Planet making the whole concept of the album more abstract and not as straight-forward. Now on to the second disc. I'm very glad these songs were included with the album and not released separately. The highlight is Remember Me Lover. The changes in styles in this song creates a little mini-masterpiece. Bonnie the Cat also shines musically even though the singing and lyrical content leave something to be desired.

Could it be the best Porcupine Tree album? Maybe so. It's pretty damn awesome!!!

After the great Fear of a blank planet Porcupine Tree returns to their average form. This isn't a bad record, some great tunes here, including almost a Pink Floyd cover - Time Flies, but overall the whole thing is quite boring. Besides I have no idea why the second disc has been added to the album. 4 songs that are completely uninspiring and definitely not worth of paying extra money for the double cd.

I've never been a huge Porcupine Tree fan, but I realy like their old albums as well as the previous one, but The Incident falls into mediocrity as many other PT records. 2.5 stars rounded up to three.

The most anticipated album of the year lives up to its potential.

After the incredibly formulaic and successful Fear Of A Blank Planet, PORCUPINE TREE continues to surpass all expectations. The Incident is undoubtedly the pinnacle of the band's work, combining elements of all their past compositional material and elevating the music beyond reality.

As usual, the musicians are at the top of their game. Richard Barbieri (synthesizers, keyboards) adds to the flavor of an incredibly balanced rhythm section, namely Gavin Harrison (drums, percussion) and Colin Edwin (bass), with his incredible talent for creating atmosphere, and Steven Wilson (vocals, guitar) further progresses the music with his creative guitar playing and knack for compositional effect. For me, its the little subtleties that propel PORCUPINE TREE's music above the masses. This album, along every other album in their discography, is very heavy when it comes to the "ear candy" element. Samples, gentle piano, and other sound effects are meticulously placed within this record, adding immensely to the final effect.

The album is composed of two discs. The first disc contains the 55-minute title track, composed of 14 movements divided into separate tracks for convenience's sake. The second disc is comprised of 4 standalone songs, which surprisingly are incredibly well thought out and not just an extra thrown in to an already fantastic album.

All in all, this album is the pinnacle of PORCUPINE TREE's career achievements. I personally believe this is the one of the best prog albums so far in this century, and worthy of every proghead's listen. Fans will enjoy this album, and newbies to the magic of PORCUPINE TREE shouldn't be let down either. Awesome.

What a disappointment!

I picked up this album after seeing the number od five star reviews (fifty four percent at this writing) here at this site. I expected an amazing masterpiece of progness. And the sticker on the case said it features a fifty five minute epic. Wow! Would I get a fantastic long pice of the caliber of Echolyn's Mei? Sorry, no.

What is billed as one long piece is actually fourteen shorter songs, all strung together, as you would find on a Zappa or Rundgren album. There seems to be little continuity between the pieces, no musical theme that connects them. Just a bunch of songs. And the progressiveness, to me, seems to be lacking. While there are some good prog sections, like the title section, The Incident and Octane Twisted, and two stand-alone songs on teh second CD, Bonnie the Cat (no relation to Tommy) and Remember Me Lover, most of the songs on the album are slightly-more-inventive-than-average alternative rock, or even (gasp) emo. Some a bit too whiny sounding for my tastes.

And the song I hear the most about, Time Flies sound so much like a rip off of Pink Floyd's Animals, that it makes me want to listen to that superior album instead.

So while there is enough good material on this album to listen to, there is no way I could call this a masterpiece, or even close to one.

I suppose it was a lot to ask to one-up one of the most powerful, haunting, and important albums of the decade. Still, Porcupine Tree delivers an engaging work that is nothing like I imagined it would be.

2007's Fear of a Blank Planet showcased Porcupine Tree at (in my opinion) the peak of their career. They achieved a truly remarkable sound that felt almost two steps too far into their evolutionary path. It was such an immense step-up from Deadwing that they almost sounded completely different. They were tighter, more refined, and darker than ever. The Incident sounds a sequel to Deadwing. It's a return to a cleaner sound, and the short-form structure that they employed for the four albums preceding FOABP.

This album was hyped up with the claim that it was a two-disc monster, with disc 1 containing one 55-minute epic bearing the name of the album split into 14 movements, and disc 2 containing four additional songs unrelated to the concept of The Incident. Conceptually, all of the movements of The Incident are related, and Steven Wilson's vision for the album is no less than stellar as usual, but sonically this is not nearly as cohesive as you'd want a concept "song" to be. Look to Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence as an example of a concept song that is thematically and musically cohesive.

While I was initially a bit disappointed that it wasn't the huge epic prog song that I clamored for, I am still impressed with how well the entirety of The Incident flows. The centerpiece is the ninth movement and first single, Time Flies, one of the most beautiful songs they have ever written, and a song that is just dripping with Pink Floyd influence. The other 13 movements cover a range of influences from Nine Inch Nails to Yes to Tool and back again. Being billed as a 55-minute song, you'd think that this would be the least accessible PT album, but it turns out it's actually a great starting point for new listeners. What's unfortunate is that with the exception of Time Flies, there really aren't any songs that pop and stand out like on other PT albums. All of the songs are good, don't get me wrong, but that's pretty much it. There are very few moments of sheer brilliance to be found on this album. Still, merely good Porcupine Tree is better than 98% of everything else out there, so who am I to complain?

Two of the other four songs on Disc 2 are lackluster throw-away songs, and the other two are decent at best, and thus, hurts the overall rating for me. This album would have been better off without any of them anyway, and I wish that Wilson focused more on making The Incident a more cohesive and proggy song. Overall, I'm disappointed that it isn't as good as Fear of a Blank Planet or Deadwing, but it's still a great entry into the Porcupine Tree library, and one that I highly recommend to newcomers.

Disc I

I - Occam's Razor: Nice little intro that got the record going. Obviously can't be listened to alone, once again reinforcing the fact that this is a concept album. 3.5/5

II - The Blind House: Alright, so it's heating up in here. Heavy guitar riffs and perfectly strung melodies make this a new instant classic. Blackest Eyes II? No. A Porcupine Tree wonder? Check. 5/5

III- Great Expectations: This is where the album sounds most like old PT. Should make some happy. Sure, it's short but it's a compressed piece that helps the album carry on. 4/5

IV - Kneel And Disconnect: Such a beautiful little tune. Extraordinary harmony Mr. Wilson. 4/5

V - Drawing The Line: Okay, so the chorus is annoying. I think we've established that. However, the best of the song are the downtempo moments. 3.5/5

VI - The Incident: Has been compared to artists as varied as Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack and gloomy-era The Cure. What a creepy and fascinating track. Lyrically, this is also one of the greatest PT songs ever. 6/5

VII - Your Unpleasant Family: Nice and humorous little tune. Reminds me of Lightbulb Sun. That itself gets the song its grade. 5/5

VIII - The Yellow Windows of the Evening - Ambient Porcupine Tree. Yum, brings me back. 4.5/5

IX - Time Flies - A clear tribute to Pink Floyd. Good show of respect by the band... and not similar to the point where it sounds like a complete rip-off. Trains II? A little longer but will be a cult classic in the future. 5/5

X - Degree Zero of Liberty - Back to the same riff. Intriguing... not my favorite but still a solid track. 3/5

XI - Octane Twisted - Tribute to his friend Mikael from Opeth. How nice... and how Watershed-y. 4/5

XII - The Seance - What a pretty song. This is why movements were created in music. 5/5

XIII - Circle Of Manias - Fun groove that is well produced. That's what PT has been doing in the past few years. It's good to evolve but it's good to pay homage to the sounds of the past. 4.5/5

XIV - I Drive The Hearse - One of the most introspective and mellow ballads I've ever heard. 6/5

Disc II

Flicker - The first time you hear this... you just pop in your second disc expecting to hear half- assed outtakes. Not with Porcupine Tree. They've adopted new styles and gone around the block a few times... but hell can they put together an album and its EP. We saw that with Fear of a Blank Planet and Nil Recurring and they haven't failed to reproduce the good work. Steven Wilson proves why he is a genius on this track. 6/5

Bonnie The Cat - I hear hints of Meshuggah, Kyuss and Behemoth in this during the final segment. It takes a while to pick up but the climax is as strong as any I've heard previous. 5/5

Black Dahlia - Would you believe my eyes almost teared up when I first heard this? I was talking to Isma and this song made me feel all fuzzy. I like the t-shirt design based on it too. Check out in the band's US store. Only $24.99! LOL, marketing to the core. 5/5

Remember Me Lover - Just a well written ballad. Could be one of my new favorite PT songs. I think it needs to grow on me just a bit more. 5/5

I was careful not to enter into listening to "The Incident" with any sort of expectation. This is a band that evolves with each release, so to expect "Fear of a Blank Planet Part II" would be unfair to both the listener and the band. I didn't want to post a review until I had taken the time to listen to the album from start to finish many times.

"The Incident" is, in my humble opinion, the best work the band has produced in their career. The first disc's concept flows seamlessly together through all the tracks and interludes. Much more concise than the flow of FOABP, this disc actually feels like a concept album, whereas we were all "told" FOABP was a concept album, but some parts of it didn't quite add up.

I won't give a song-by-song analysis since many others have done so already. We have the balance between light, space, and heavy throughout the album - all PT trademarks. The band doesn't linger too long on any of those categories, so they never over-stay their welcome. Lyrically this album is not nearly as ominous and depressing as FOABP.

For those few who have complained about the track "Time Flies" being too similar to the outro portion of "Sheep" from Pink Floyd's 'Animals' album, enough already. There's no question it's an homage of sorts to that album - the song itself is about the past - but if you know your music well enough, you should recognize that utilizing a couple of similar chords is NOT a ripoff but rather a respectful tip of the hat.

I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

Oh no...!!! I think I've seen this "movie" too many times... but please don't make it happen to PT!

Since the new dawn of modern progressive rock, the most experimental bands have a tendency to join the dark side and trow their life work to garbage.

I've been waiting for this album and... oh man... what a disappointment!

When listening to CD1, I have the feeling that it was made by another band. The essence of PT is not there. It's a sterile environment where only good sound quality and randomness reigns. The 55min epic feels like several songs found in Steven's closet, sometimes not making sense and emotionally not even close to the previous works. The trademark coherence of PT is lost in this work. I can find the language of many other bands but it's a little hard to find PT's essence in the end: Katatonia, Meshuggah, Opeth, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, some Trip-Hop references and many other styles coming before "the sound of PT". I will not even comment the strange tribute to Pink Floyd's "Animals".

When listening to CD2, it's almost a different story: the band is talking to the older fans and almost in a farewell way, they are showing us four musics slowly turning into the new sound, like a invitation to join the "new sound". "Up The Downstairs", "The Sky Moves Sideways" and a little of "Staircase Infinities" are the flags waved to trick us to listen the second CD several times but in the end... nothing original!

Am I getting old...?

The whole "thing" is glued in the style of "Signify": as something fresh, spacey and eclectic, but this one doesn't even comes close to the mature message from "1997". The "2009" language is lost in the need to present the band to the new fans and the pressure from the "business" is shaping PT's soul into a non-creative product. The effort to turn this album into a Metal reference transformed the beauty into the beast. I'm afraid that Steven Wilson surrendered to the music business, and offered Porcupine Tree's head in a silver plate to Road Runner. I can only predict that the next work of PT must be a "Live in Someplace" and the story repeats once again. (a la Dream Theater's "Train of Thought" or Opeth's Ghost Reveries).

All this new recipes are the marketing waving flags to new young generations and ironically or not... "one of the wonders of the world is going down..." and we can't do anything about it! I'm sorry to be such a pessimist but... PT doesn't stand a chance against big labels like Road Runner.

I'm ready to initiate the grieving process and bead farewell to one of the greatest and most creative musical and visual projects of this times.

Only a glimpse of sanity will reverse the new path initiated by the band: the "stupid dream" of being rockstars!

OK, I agree. It was not my decision, but the crowd decided. I got tired by all these "The Incident" reviews on main page, so I've though that I'll take things in my hands now. So here I am, doing my best to rate fairly.

If we consider first track as concept thing, let's call it epic, then we have to decide whether or not Porcupine Tree make epics. So far, I though that PT aren't band with epics much, just a little, even some may be considered that way. It's probably because their style. Very unique style, which goes so far that everyone with similar vocals to Steve Wilson's is now tagged as his clone, or at least we think it about him. It's of course hard to review so much anticipated album and it's even harder to produce it, because fans will want exact things and at the same time others will hate them to hear.

It's dark, not trying to be melodic at all costs as in Lightbulb sun (even I admire its course) and I can feel how they're trying to not sound like them. It's also hard, to overcome their shadow. They set whole new style of music, unique mix of then not known ingredients and it worked. Slowly becoming better and better. And it's normal that people compare it. It's different approach, when someone rates this as newcomer and this is his first PT album, or someone who owns them all. But both opinions, both voices are important, because point of view, that's what's important when reviewing. And I can't tell if it's concept album, because I don't see nothing like that here. Is it connected with similar themed music ? Well, this question is meaningless here, all Porcupine Tree has trademark sound, so one part sounds like another, even if it's different (and not just clone of itself). So it's hard to rate this, I'll leave it on later editing. Frontman will soon turn 42 years, quite magical number (hello Douglas Adams and happy B-day to you SW). The best thing to do would be probably wait. Wait and review later, when waters wouldn't be too stirred, dust will settle down and emotions of people too. There's just too much fuss to be absolutely correct, I can't help it.

4(-), if you ask me if I like it, my answer would be yes, sure. Do I see here recycling of ideas, then answer would be again yes, partially. But sometimes, you can't help it, it may not be truth, but it's seems like it. Or sounds. That quite describes this.

Last Thursday a friend who came to Lima for a concert, brought me from USA my expected copy of "The Incident", and the first word that comes to my mind is disappointment, from start it's clear that the 55 minutes track (Yes, it's a multi part epic, even when there's space between parts) is one of the most repetitive, boring and lack of imagination pieces I heard from this good band, I honestly don't know if Steve Wilson is any longer a Prog or an Indie/Alternative singer in the vein of Thom Yorke, with the difference that Yorke is original.

I'm not sure what is worst, if buying an album that is bad but you didn't expected anything or an anodyne release that has some good moments but offers only a handful of memorable instants after creating expectations in the fans, and honestly I expected much more from "PORCUPINE TREE" by this moment.

There's little to comment about Disk 1 "The Incident", because it's a long epic that flows with coherence but only a few interesting passages, but which IMO doesn't hold for almost one hour of music without boring the listener with one main idea not even completely developed and repetitive in excess.

Still the guitar is the instrument that carries the strength, being that Barbieri doesn't convince me in this album, except in the small solo on "The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train" and Gavin Harrison sounds absolutely predictable, who I must mention is Collin Edwind who always does a sober and competent job.

It's amazing that after several listens, nothing has got imprinted in my mind, but still can't say it was all negative, "The Seance" and "Circle of Manias" are strong and interesting, but that isn't enough for an extremely long track.

An epic is an adventure that a band should only embrace if they are ready to keep the listener at the edge of the seat from start to end, something that PORCUPINE TREE is not ready for, and that is self evident on the weak "I Drive the Hearse" that closes Disk 1 as we say in Perú "Sin Pena ni Gloria" (Without pity or glory).

Well, at last Disk 1 had ended and "The Flicker" is a new start, but it seems that the epic continues, the same tedious repetition of sounds between Alternative and Light Prog keeps invading us, if this song wasn't released by PORCUPINE TREE, nobody here would had even noticed it, at this point I don't necessarily ask for a masterpiece, just a sign of life from the band, but still can't receive it.

"Bonnie the Cat" at least makes a difference, the added noises and effects imply a preoccupation from the bad to prove they still breathe, the guitar and bass interplay is simply brilliant, at last a song to remember after the CD player is off.

When I expected that from this point things would be different, comes the deprecatingly boring "Black Dahlia", yes it's a cute tune with nice keyboards but they keep going over and over on the same idea without completely developing ever, beautiful basic idea but no depth.

The albums end with "Remember me Lover", even when never reaches altitude, I feel attitude in this track, the band tries to sound different, more aggressive and daring, with some good changes, but still not enough to save the album.

Despite I didn't liked "The Incident" it would be unfair to bash it", because there are skills, knowledge of music, good arrangements and pristine sound, but the music shouts average album, sadly we don't have 2.5 stars, so I will have to go with 2, being that rated much stronger albums with 3.

Hope they make it in the next release.

Modern Heavy Psychedelic Crossover Prog

Porcupine Tree's The Incident is probably the most anticipated album of a phenomenal year of new prog. Many fans of the genre know the artist inside and out, so I offer the perspective of a more casual fan. I have downloaded one album (In Absentia) and scattered tracks from other albums, all of which I've enjoyed. I am not familiar with the early PT catalog. This is the first album I've listened to repeatedly with a critical ear, specifically with a review in mind. I'm not quite sure if my favorable impression is based more on spending the extra time, or with the material itself.

So my current opinion is that this is my favorite Porcupine Tree material. I hear a greater range of sounds on this record including more dark electronica and nastier guitars, both of which I enjoy quite a bit. For the first time, I hear Opeth influencing PT rather than the other way around, and the Akerfeldt-ish riffing gives the heavy parts some cajones that I really hadn't heard before. In fact, the whole album just seems like Wilson is pulling from a more authentic darkness rather than an imagined one. Maybe the fact that he was inspired by specific, real stories got him a little outside of his head a bit. Maybe someone kicked his dog. In any case, his menace is a bit more convincing than in the past.

That doesn't mean this is the best album of all time of even of the year. But it's a very enjoyable listen that pulls on a variety of dark prog, sometimes purposefully derivative. The centerpiece track "Time Flies," which begins by listing the music of Wilson's youth, has multiple direct allusions to Pink Floyd. The most obvious is the main acoustic riff based directly on "Dogs," but there are sections reminiscent of "Time" and "Run Like Hell" also, covering PF's classics nicely. The title track sounds exactly like a Nine Inch Nails track, though Trent Reznor hasn't recorded anything as good in over a decade. Added into the mix is a healthy helping of odd time signatures which make at least these prog ears happy.

There's nothing here you haven't heard before. There is a plenty of pop sensibility, including even a couple big choruses. What is new is that the production is better than ever. In the past, Porcupine Tree has always seemed over-worked, almost clinical sounding. I'm sure Wilson still pores over everything with a very finely toothed comb, but the sounds on this album have a bit more life in them than the older tracks I have. The harmonies on "Kneel and Disconnect" are as good as they've ever been on a PT album. Some of the outros are overlong, but all in all this is quite good.

I've wavered between 3 and 4 stars for this album, but the album has grown on me. Especially when I'm giving more attention, I've really enjoyed the album. Even after 8-10 listens and reading all the lyrics multiple times, I haven't started to saturate yet. 4/5 it is.

OUCH! I hope this will be the only INCIDENT from now on...! Porcupine Tree are sitting in my Olympus of Great Modern Musicians, deserving it by releasing a strip of albums that always surprised me in terms of the wide arrays of musical ideas, from the sweetest melodies to the heavy riffs, and giving the real feeling of continuos evolvement. With The Incident, as others wrote, there were "great expecations" due to the announced long suite that would have been the centerpiece of the work. Now I have to say that this project outcome is not standing up to (my) expectations. The predominant feeling is that the music on this album is COLD, like a razor's stee, or like a vanishing space: the production is indeed superb, and with headphonesyou can taste every note and sound, it seems distilled like the finest and purest cognac. Fact is, with difference to the previous PT releases, I noticied a much higher ratio of unconsistent material. You can find good pieces, like Blind House (but it ends practically at 2/3!), Great Expectations, Kneel and disconnect, Drawing the Line. And then you have to cope with small musical "links" (the shortest pieces) that aren't adding nothing to the whole. "The Incident" title track exits from a cold and distorted vocal "intro" at 2/3 of length! "Time flies", the longest song is not giving me satisfaction completely, due to the central section (a disappointing dark lead guitar work that seems mendearing without a proper melodic construction, looks like improvisated). After this song, interest gets down and resumes only with the last "I Drive the hearse", a nice trademark ballad, with very catchy chorus. Some very good things are coming out from the four songs that are out of the "Incident" suite: Black Dahlia and Remember Me Lover in my opinion are the best songs of bunch, and also Flicker is enjoyable.

Final comments: the coldness feeling remains in the end, and a kind of fear that Porcupine Tree have depleted their momentum. Having heard the many Pink Floyd innuendos on this album, I really hope this album is not like The Final Cut! Please PT, do unleash some more passionate music into the next record and I'll sure you'll make a stronger statement than this. Rating really between 2 and 3 => 3-.

PT again tip-toes on the balance to repetative mediocrity with this album, which thankfully breaks Fear of a Blank Planet's heavy-handedness in favor of a more subdued, cohesive sound, but it stil only takes its listener on a trip to nowhere special.

Pitched as a single-track "epic", The Incident treads familiar territory for the band, albiet introducing a few new guitar sounds and vocal deliveries to distinguish it from predeceding albums. The band's trademark of heavy/light juxstaposition is intact, with the light moments standing out for me as the album's saving grace. There are some delicate textures and tender singing from Wilson which occasionally shine through an otherwise predictable set of songs. Thankfully, Wilson's lyrics are much better here than on FOABP, but fail to entice the listener into the story to any great emotional depth.

The album's heavy moments are-- like FOABP's-- largely useless, and appear only for the sake of satisfying the band's forementioned trademark. Take, for example, "Drawing the Line", which opens with meloncholy, day-dreamy effects, giving way to a big, noisy, repetative chorus whose chugging and banality borders on insulting. These moments are found throughout the album, perhaps most offensively in the instrumental "Circle of Manias"; the album seems to cry out to be left alone so it can pine out its sad story about a family torn apart by belief and tradition. Overall, I would compare this abum to the group's early (and much better) "Signify", which leans towards the ambient with punctuations of hard rock for effect. So too does "The Incident", but the songwriting can't decide how best to use the group's heavy sound, which is simply boring and with unconvincing intensity.

The rhythm section and Barbieri's keyboards are "ho-hum" as well, coming across as flat and unengaging; I can't imagine any of these songs sounding especially good live, and I feel like there is so much missed opportunity throughout both heavy and minimalist passages.

All that being said, the album is stil finely performed and produced, and it makes for fine background music. The trademark PT sound shimmers with just enough dark beauty for me to keep this one above the dreaded "just for fans" rating, but "The Incident" will likely leave honest Porcupine Tree fans wondering what direction one of the coolest bands around is going, and whether "cross-over" appeal simply translates to: making compromises in songwriting quality.

Songwriting: 2 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 3

Despite releasing a string of consistently very good/excellent albums over the years the current decade has seen Porcupine Tree find a place they're comfortable with and hardly wandered from it. This is all well and good to a point, at least you know what to expect and if you enjoy their atmospheric heavier blend of prog, sometimes venturing into metal, then you're bound to find something you enjoy as the trend continues with The Incident.

The Incident is a double cd with the second disc being more of an EP consisting of four shorter songs, but more of this later. It's the first disc that's understandably going to get most attention and as has been highly publicised, consists of a single piece titled you've guessed it, The Incident. In reality it's more a sequence of shorter tracks segued together. The main meat and potatoes of the piece is made up of a number of tracks, often around the five minute mark joined by shorter sometimes atmospheric and occasional ambient sections. Only one part breaks the ten minute barrier (Time Flies) which sometimes leaves the listener wanting a bit more of certain bits as it disappears for good after a short stay. Time Flies allows the ideas to be extended a bit further but it's by no means a startling piece of music. A decent enough acoustic guitar led verse/chorus leads into Floyd territory with a guitar sound reminiscent of Dave Gilmour on Time from Dark Side Of The Moon which develops into an admittedly excellent guitar solo but you have to say they've done better.

The Incident does have some excellent moments though, none better than early on when The Blind House comes in after the heavy crashing, sustained chords of opening mood piece Occam's Razor. It's built around a dark riff, reminiscent of Opeth with a contrastingly melodic verse/chorus. Great Expectations, though short has a King Crimson style guitar riff and melodic vocals and it's one of those areas you wish they'd expanded on a bit more as after only one and a half minutes it's over and we're into the almost as short Kneel And Disconnect which is not half as good.

Drawing The Line is one of the weaker songs with its grating chorus but much better is The Incident where a sequenced keyboard gives way to an extremely dirty riff with some excellent drumming from Gavin Harrison, who incidentally as always plays impeccably but seems to get fewer opportunities to shine than usual on this album.

Some of the stronger moments are towards the end of the album with the lovely; to begin with at least, Octane Twisted which could have sat nicely on Stupid Dream until the metallic riffing starts and it's a dark piece of contrasts. The Séance sees a return to the mellower strains of the start of Octane Twisted which leads into the powerful riff of Circle Of Manias. The Incident closes on a high with a suitably melodic ballad, I Drive The Hearse.

Getting back to the four shorter tracks on the second disc, although a welcome addition to the main body of work, they do seem somewhat out of place. It might have worked better with another full disc. Still all four are pretty good but pick of the bunch goes to Bonnie The Cat with its inventive rhythmic structure as Wilson talks in synch over it.

There's no doubt The Incident is another very good album from Porcupine Tree but in the pecking order of their back catalogue it is their weakest since Lightbulb Sun. Still most fans of the band will not be overly disappointed; there is much to enjoy here. 3 ½ stars.

Ok, Stop the nonsense!!!

First of all, I'll be honest with my review; The Incident is just amazing, nothing bad can I say of this masterpeace

i_occam's razor- 6 ii_the blind house-10 iii_great expectations-9 iv_kneel and disconnect-9 v_drawing the line-9 vi_the incident-10 vii_your unpleasant family-7 viii_the yellow windos of the evening train-7 ix_time flies-10 x_degree zero of liberty-7 xi_octane twisted-10 xii_the seance-9 xiii_circle of manias-9 xiv_i drive the hearse-9

Those are the califications I gave for each one of the seccions of The Incident. tracks i,vii,viii,x are small songs use as transitions just to go or move to another song

The second disc is the old sound of Porcupine Tree, nothing new, and has nothing to do with The Incident

Second Disc-7

Porcupine Tree never dissapoints me and The Incident just makes me want to wait for another album of this great band 9 OUT OF 10

Be happy my progfriends, peace and love to all

After waiting for a long time, here it is... The Incident. The Incident is an ambitious project; a 55 minute long piece of music, divided in 14 seperate tracks. The album is about several Incidents, like a car crash, a cult in Texas and the discovery of a corpse floating in a river. These subjects where the inspiration for Steven Wilson to write this album; when you hear about a car crash, it sounds somewhat insignificant... but for the victims the impact is huge.

Now the music on the album, which is pretty variated. The album moves from Industrial sounding electronic pieces to softer and more pop like songs. The result is a somewhat inconsistent piece I think. Some songs are among Porcupine Tree's best, while some are very uninteresting. The style of the band hasn't progressed very much, but instead of that the band has combined muscial styles from their earlier albums into one... and it worked out pretty well. The sound is pretty tough to describe; it has some clear similarities with FOABP and early Porcupine Tree, and the sound varies from heavy, distorted riffs to psychedelic trip-hop parts.

The album has some very good songs on it, like The Blind House, Octane Twisted/The Seance and the epic Time Flies, which has an incredible instrumental middle part. The album also has much weaker songs, like the intro, which is repeated once after Time Flies, and the poppy Drawing The Line. Luckily, the majority of the music on the album is very good. The second disc is not very special I think... Bonnie the Cat is amazing, and Remember Me Lover is very good too, but the remaining two tracks leave me cold.

In the end I think The Incident isn't Porcupine Tree's best, but it for sure isn't bad. I think the album deserves three or four stars, but I tend to lean towards three stars, so that's what I rate it. A somewhat inconsistant, but ambitious and overall innovative piece of music.

I've listened The Incident more than 10 times, and until now, it's one of my favorites albuns from PT. The album is much more varied than FoABP, exploring differents elements from PT music and running away from the heavyness and depressing that was their last album. There's no weak song here, almost everything works well, heavy and acoustic stuff. Some really good guitar solos (Time Flies, Your Unpleasant Family, I Drive The Hearse, etc), ambient keyboard (The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train, The Incident, Blind House, etc) and the bass is more present, despite not as the classic albuns. The Song Cycle idea really worked well, and gave to PT more freash air. There's not much references to the older albuns, except from Octane Twisted that remembers What Happens Now and Mother & Child Divided and Circle of Manias that remembers Mother & Child Divided too. The eletronic stuff is more present, the heavy bits not much, but are the best ones they have made (and not so heavy like Nil Recurring (EP) and Anesthetize). The only thing that i didn't like much was the transition of "Circle of Manias" to "I Drive the Hearse", and "The Blind House" to " Great Expectations". Looks like they're really different songs and not a whole one. Not big thing, anyway. I think's remember a bit "Dark Side of The Moon", with songs that connects one to other and lot's of varied stuff. Much better than FoaBP, and the same level of my favorites albuns, Deadwing and Up The Downstair.

The maturity of the Porcupine Tree and of Steven Wilson reaches the apex and develops more entire their work. The nature concept and suite of "Incident" remembers us the greatest works of the great and classic progressive rock, in which a precise musical and literary vein driver unites in a perfect mosaic the varied pieces. The amalgam is succeeded, the varied pieces fit to form a large picture loaded with creativity and of feeling. They not falls of tone and all of the route of the suite is a sublime embroidery of creations, of songs consuming, of surrealistic atmospheres winning and involving. It emerges a typical feature of the great creative musicians progressive, that is the employment of specific turns harmonic that periodically return long the suite, always associated to new melodic structures and new arrangements. Typical it is what does from background to The Blind House, Octane Twisted and Seance. The pieces are, how said, attractive and worthy everything of the better Porcupine, but, in this case, further embellished from the context of the "concept". To the typical style the band adds new digressions and new tastes, fishing in the tradition of the progressive most solemn. Easy to identify in Time Flies moments of great nature PinkFloydiana. A record very very attractive!!!

The Incident is a dramatic artistic statement. On paper, anyways. I find that when I finally got this album, the exact same feeling crept over me that dominated my listenings to Wilson's first solo effort, Insurgentes. It's average. The man has written some powerful music, some beautiful music, some groovy music, some creepy music, and so forth. Well, here, as with Insurgentes, he just made some music. The high point of this album (aside from the second disc) is the ubiquitous nature of psychedlic grooves and bizarre noises in the background, saving this album from being completely barren and uninteresting.

First thing to note is that The Incident (the first disc) is not one massive epic or anything, like a lot of the hype made it out to be. It plays like a fifty-plus minute series of slightly related songs with nice segues between them and some filler tracks that share riffs. In short, not too much different from any other Porcupine Tree album. What makes this especially heartbreaking, though, is that the track listing of this album makes it appear like Porcupine Tree has thrown off the trappings of their previous flirtation with straightfoward rock and turned totally to progressive ideals--while this is less the case than any of theirs since Lightbulb Sun. At least on the first disc, this is true. It opens with a heavy little filler intro piece and then moves to The Blind House, a heavy and crunchy song that is probably the strongest in the suite next to Time Flies. Soundscapes and spacey tones do find their way in here, but nothing quite like the clever bits found on Fear of a Blank Planet. A few more fillers take place and then the track Drawing the Line comes up. This one is somewhat annoying or fantastically catchy, hard to say. This turns into the title track, built on heavy and ominous guitars. The vocals are bland here, however, and not particularly exciting or melodious (the exact problem I find myself still having with Wilson's Insurgentes, but with no other releases from Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, No-Man, etc.).

Your Unpleasant Family continues the music with some clever and dark lyrics, but more or less serves with The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train as a transition between The Incident and Time Flies. The latter is the high point of the first disc, and not just because of its length. Rather, it features an enjoyable melody, at last some creative instrumentation, and a fantastic guitar solo. This also marks the first time I have ever agreed with anyone who says that Porcupine Tree (at least post-Signify) sounds a lot like Pink Floyd. You've probably read it in most other reviews: it sounds very inspired by Animals, especially the track Sheep. Not enough so that it isn't pleasant, but enough that it is intriguing. The suite unfortunately goes downhill from this point, certainly not ending on any sort of powerful or epic note (it's not a requirement of mine that long songs end a certain way, but I do like to feel like the piece has gone somewhere, which is not the case with The Incident). Degree Zero of Liberty is the opening track reiterated. Octane Twisted starts promisingly acoustically, but it loses that flair to more of the same instrumentation. A well performed section in the middle to late parts of the song lifts it up a bit, but it's not anything we haven't heard from Porcupine Tree before. The final three tracks wrap up the disc with much of the same sound as the parts before, being interesting but more or less thoroughly unremarkable.

Disc two is in fact the shining point of The Incident, which is rather unfortunate. Flicker is a haunting and slow instrumental bit that clearly did not fit in the first disc's song cycle. Bonnie the Cat is built around drummer Gavin Harrison's idea of a twisted rhythm, and it really shines for most of its length. It possibly is the most progressive piece of music the band has made (not counting trippy psychedelia as fulfilling the traditional demands of prog, just for the record). Some of the vocal lines are weak, but the wicked groove of the rhythm section makes that kind of unimportant. Also, a fun little musical reference to Opeth's The Grand Conjuration is pleasant, and I'm assuming that's what it is, because for Wilson to plagiarize off his friend would be a sad thing. Black Dahlia has little to say for it aside from the fact that it would fit right in on Insurgentes, but Remember Me Lover is a beautiful and passionate ending to an album that has mostly forgone these sorts of emotions. This and Bonnie the Cat are the two clear highlights of the whole album, and Time Flies appears somewhere below them.

The Incident has taken the barren bleakness of Fear of a Blank Planet, removed the rest of the melody, inserted average songwriting and planning, and just in general taken a few steps down the ladder. It's enjoyable, and most Porcupine Tree fans will listen to it and be pleased, but in my opinion, for whatever it's worth, it ranks lower than any album after Stupid Dream. Perhaps it's only sounding that way to me because the band has set pretty high standards for themselves in the past. I'm not sure. But whatever the reason, this is not the magnum opus of the band. It's just an opus, kind of on the medius scale.

This album takes a couple of listens to get into... but once you are in the zone it makes for very rewarding repeat listens. As with all Porcupine Tree albums you have excellent production and writing and great playing.... The lyrics are a little more obscure here than on past albums and the concept..... well, I'm still trying to figure it out .... answers on a postcard..... I'm hoping seeing them live in a couple of weeks with the films etc should make things a little clearer

The epic title track is really several shorter tracks which work really well seguing together like a really well-sequenced album, i.e. apart from a few recurrent reference points there seems to be fairly little overt musical thematic continuity throughout the track .... also this title 'track' takes a while to get going having to wait for substantial/memorable material which comes around 10 minutes in - this might bore a newcomer listening to the band for the first time..... but the stand out sections are very satisfying - 'Drawing the Line', 'The Incident', 'Time Flies' (a real classic), 'Octane Twisted' and a closing slow-y 'I Drive the Hearse' - all wonderful....

And on the second disc I especially like the dark 'Bonnie the Cat', which I think is very innovative ... and 'Remember Me Lover' is, to this listener's ears, a classic PT track....

The band don't do themselves any favours given that everything they do (and more or less everything that Steven Wilson is involved in) is so universally excellent. They really set their standards and fans expectations high. Having lived with this album for the last couple of weeks I am not sure how anyone could find this new release anything less than completely excellent.

Porcupine Tree's "The Incident" is a decent, but flawed album. This album draws comparisons to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in that it is a sprawling concept album that ebbs and flows, yet is lacking in quality as far as individual songs go. Both albums have some absolutely stunning songs, with some lackluster songs filling in the gaps between.

The album starts off with "Occam's Razor", which I wholly believe was designed to scare the [&*!#] out of everyone as soon as they pop the album in. There's really nothing to this track, and has no individual merit. The loud explosions of noise reappear later in the album on the track "Degree Zero of Liberty" to wake up anyone who might have fallen asleep during the course of the album.

Strong tracks include "The Blind House", which contains some of Porcupine Tree's signature (as of In Absentia anyway) metallic riffs and haunting vocals, "The Incident", which vaguely reminds me of "Hypnotek" from Richard Barbieri's latest solo outing mixed with "Sleep Together" from Fear of a Blank Planet, "Time Flies", a track which recalls Animals-era Pink Floyd (as stated by at least a dozen other people), "Octane Twisted/The Séance", which probably would have been better as a single track, and "Circle of Manias" which has a single prominent riff that develops throughout the course of the song.

The main gimmick with this album is the idea of the album being a single long track split into multiple sections. Well, okay. Isn't that what all concept albums are essentially meant to be? My main problem with this is with the way the tracks were split. More than a couple of times while listening to the album, I found myself wondering why they even bothered splitting some of the tracks the way they did. Perhaps to piss off anybody wanting to listen to any of the songs individually rather than the whole album? A perfect example of this are the tracks "Octane Twisted" and "The Séance", which are barely different enough from each other to warrant a split. It'd be like splitting "Anesthetize" from Fear of a Blank planet into separate tracks just because some parts had slight differences in melody or pacing.

Another problem with the album is an underdeveloped concept that never really seems to go anywhere. Steven Wilson himself has stated that he started writing the album with a specific concept in mind, and ended up turning it inward and writing songs pertaining to his own life. As such, you end up with an album that goes in many different directions, and then ends up getting lost somewhere along the way.

The second disc is also a bit of a mixed bag. After having listened to the album several times, the only tracks that really stand out to me are "Flicker" and "Bonnie the Cat". "Black Dahlia" doesn't really go anywhere and "Remember Me Lover" is one of Steven Wilson's typical angry "love" songs.

Do not be misled: There are some preliminary myths to dispel here. First of all, there is no fifty-five minute epic. There are no recurring themes and the constituent tracks are almost completely independent of one another musically. Most copies of the album have the parts divided into multiple tracks (it seems there are downloadable versions that do not), and that seems to be appropriate. Second, this is not a double album even though there are two discs. The band segregated an EP worth of music that had little or nothing to do with the concept of "The Incident." I expected something different with the second disc, given that the four tracks on it were considered different enough to be relegated to a home of their own, but nothing on it is remarkably different at all. So while there is still a massive amount of music in one package, it does not exceed the limitation of one CD. Third, and most controversially, I'd imagine, this album essentially isn't even progressive rock. Allow me to preface further commentary about the progressiveness of Porcupine Tree's 2009 release by stating that the band has created exceptional pop-rock music (In Absentia is chief among them- now there's an album that consists of almost all pop tracks, lacking any elements generally considered progressive, yet still earned my praise and clearly the accolades of many more). There are a few progressive cuts, but mostly this album is loaded with overcast alternative rock- again, not necessarily a bad thing, but just something to be aware of. But is it disappointing? Yes, that's fair to say, although not because of any hype from easy-to-please fans or overzealous reviewers praising an incomplete pirated copy they heard once. To be fair, the disappointment extends far beyond Porcupine Tree- many bands are taking the safest road and deliberately creating mainstream music for whatever reason. So many artists at the end of this decade who have impressed in the past are loitering in the realm of dullness and simplicity. I don't know why. The Incident is a letdown itself though, because a band that has created remarkable albums in very recent years decides to birth a whopping 76 minutes of music (on two separate discs, no less, as though the first 55 minutes is so special it requires its own disc) that is so unbelievably bland. Something this faceless and insipid is music that just about any band could have created, all but completely lacking the fingerprint of an otherwise amazing group. Upon hearing Insurgentes, my belief that even Steven Wilson's turds were gold was summarily shattered, and this album, while thankfully not bearing a really close relation to its noisy yet sleepy cousin, does little to dismiss my fears of the direction Porcupine Tree is taking. The music is one lump of mellowness despite a few heavy but not really memorable electric guitar riffs from time to time. Gavin Harrison is one of the greatest drummers in the business today, but all throughout this album, no one would know it (perhaps there's just something to be said for economy). Richard Barbieri seems to have a token role here, as his main job is to just fill out the sound (and when he does that he does so thinly). Colin Edwin follows the riffs and chords with little departure. Were I to have guessed, I would have said this record was merely a Steven Wilson solo album (yes, of course Porcupine Tree is a Steven Wilson solo project, the joke goes, but this is a bit ridiculous). Essentially, The Incident is a watered-down version of everything that makes modern-day Porcupine Tree an outstanding band. Overall, the music is dismal, stark, and characterized only by a constant niggardliness toward variation, with respect to both composition and tone.

"The Incident" Nevertheless, I will not divide the first disc into tracks for the purpose of describing them. "Blind House" is like a little brother to "Blackest Eyes," juxtaposing soft verses with hard-hitting power chords, and sandwiched between is a catchy chorus- a great start. "Drawing the Line" is okay, but smacks of indie pop rock, the likes of which other bands do much better. "Incident" is an electronic mess, with muttered and whispered vocals. "The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train" is simply stunning in its simplicity, employing a gorgeous choral Mellotron over sparse instrumentation- a perfect introduction to the next track. "Time Flies" is a purposeful homage to Pink Floyd's "Dogs," using the brilliant acoustic guitar chord progression and keyboards hovering the background. In that respect, it's something of a shame that this is by far the most inspired moment on the album- eleven minutes with moving, nostalgic lyrics and a stunning melody. There is also a nod to "Sheep" during this song with the electric guitar chords. "Octane Twisted" is an untidy romp through various textures of sound and minimalism. Mercifully, it transitions rather cleanly into "The Séance," a pleasing acoustic guitar-based song with elegant vocal harmonies. As a stark contrast, "Circle of Manias" is a disagreeable foray back into noisy metal territory. Other than "Blind House" and "Time Flies," the third standout member of this first disc is "I Drive the Hearse," which features intriguing lyrics, lovely acoustic guitar, and another outstanding vocal melody- a fine finisher. The bottom line is that there is nothing to distinguish "The Incident" from any record with a loose lyrical concept- with no recurring themes or melodies to anchor it, it just bumbles along with no direction- highlights yes, but direction, no.

"Flicker" A satisfying, easygoing pop song, this maintains the same sound and textures of the first disc and boils it all down into an undemanding but respectable song.

"Bonnie the Cat" More or less a repetitive experimental clutter, the second offering on the second disc is all over the place, with barking guitars, incoherent percussion, and other incompatible sounds. The fuzzy guitar, especially the squealing lead, is something I could have done without. However, the vocals are the focal point of this strange piece, though they are not melodic, but rather are almost spoken word. And yet in spite of all these criticisms, I do not find myself disliking the piece, odd as that may seem.

"Black Dahlia" This is a drowsy song that starts out with electric piano and Wilson's voice laden with quite a few effects- not bad, but certainly nothing to get excited over. Change the instrumentation just a bit, and give Wilson a twang, and this could have easily been a country song.

"Remember Me Lover" Here is another of Wilson's "angry love" songs. This final track, despite the length, is in the vein of popular alternative rock, except to say that I find the electric guitar refreshing. The heavy riffs placed aside the softer vocal sections, however, don't flow well at all, making this seven-and-a-half-minute finisher seem more like two or three separate pieces of music crammed together, although perhaps after the "epic" of the first disc, this approach toward music might just be a bad habit- or merely incidental.

4.5 stars. Well i'm sure it's no surprise that for my 2,000th review I have chosen PORCUPINE TREE's "The Incident". What is surprising to me that this comes on the very night i'm going to see them live in Toronto. In fact i'll be leaving right after this review with my daughter. I remember back in 2007 I thought that year was going to be the best year ever for me music-wise because my three favourite bands RUSH, ANEKDOTEN and PORCUPINE TREE were all putting out studio albums that year.They had only done this one time before back in 1993 with "Vemod", "Up The Downstair" and "Counterparts" respectively, but that was before I knew ANEKDOTEN and PT. Anyway back to 2007 and those three albums "A Time Of Day", "Snakes And Arrows" and "FOABP" I felt they were all solid 4 star albums but honestly I was wanting more. "The Incident" is a 55 minute "song cycle" as Steven calls it and it's pure bliss for the most part. Can't wait to hear it played just as it is on the album live tonight.

"Occam's Razor" has this powerful intro followed by acoustic guitar then more explosive sounds. A haunting atmosphere ends it. "The Blind House" is a top three, although I really should have a top five for this album. Here we go ! As this heavy intro blasts in and then it settles with vocals. Contrasts continue. Killer track ! So emotional. Check out the atmosphere 4 1/2 minutes in. Sounds come crashing back to end it. "Great Expectations" is one of the most moving songs on here for me. It features strummed guitar and vocals which make me feel so good. Electric guitar follows as contrasts continue. So uplifting. "Kneel And Disconnect" opens with piano, strummed guitar and synths as reserved vocals join in. Classic PT right here. Beautiful track. It blends into "Drawing The Line". Drums come in and vocals are next. The chorus kicks in at 1 1/2 minutes and I am not a fan of this, in fact i'd be giving this 5 stars if not for the chorus on this one. Love the guitar that follows though. It settles again as contrasts continue. "The Incident" has this electronic beat and processed vocals. Steven starts to sing in a reserved manner. Higher pitched vocals follow. Heaviness after 1 1/2 minutes. A change 3 1/2 minutes in to a brighter more uplifting melody. "I want to be loved...".

"Your Unpleasant Family" opens with strummed guitar as these humerous lyrics come in.The guitar grinds it out beautifully after a minute. "The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train" is atmospheric with samples. Cool tune. "Time Flies" is amazing. Steven says that yes he borrowed the guitar riff from FLOYD's "Animals" album but changed it enough so not to get sued. Haha. I have to leave for the concert will finish this tonight. I'm back. The way "Time Flies" opens made me think of Finnforest right away. Just read his bio. This song opens with the words "I was born in '67 The year of Seargent Pepper and are you Experienced ?". A song about growing up. I like when the calm comes in at 4 minutes. It's dark a minute later and FLOYD-like. The guitar cries out 6 1/2 minutes in. We're back to the earlier melody before 8 1/2 minutes. Classic sounding PT to end it. Amazing song ! "Degree Zero Of Liberty" opens with a reprise of the start of "Occam's Razor" before it settles with acoustic guitar. "Octane Twisted" is an absolute killer track live. It opens so beautifully. Vocals and a fuller sound after a minute. Kicks in heavily before 2 minutes as all hell breaks loose. Then it settles into this drum led section with background synths. Kicks in like before then some cool guitar comes in. It settles down late to end it. "The Seance" is a top 5 for me. Love the suspense as Steven tells the story. It's so atmospheric too. "Circle Of Manias" is heavy duty and Harrison gets to have some fun.

"I Drive The Hearse" is my favourite song on here. It's Steven's signature isn't it to create a sad but beautiful song to end an album. This might be his best. My eyes were filled with tears when I saw them do this live."When i'm down I drive the hearse" You have no idea people. It kicks in at 4 minutes with some killer guitar.This is all about the lyrics though that really hit home for me. When they finished the 55 minute "The Incident" the crowd stood as one and cheered wildly. Steven looked up from his piano and smiled. Disc two begins with "Flicker". It opens with waves of synths. Just a gorgeous sound when it gets fuller. Dreamy vocals come in. Check out the relaxed guitar before 2 1/2 minutes. "Bonnie The Cat" is the song they ended the concert with (well except for "Trains" which was the encore). Atmosphere to open. Steven was very animated during this track. Some prominant bass and drums here. Guitar as vocals cry out follows. Contrasts continue. Heavy late. "Black Dahlia" is gorgeous. Richard wrote the music for this song. Melancholic and moving. "Remember me Lover" is another home run. Again check out the lyrics. It just gets better everytime i hear it. Some heaviness 3 minutes in and later after 5 1/2 minutes.

This album mixes a lot of what they've done before including Steven's solo album "Insurgents". This record has it all.

PORCUPINE TREE's tenth studio album is the climax of everything the band has been working towards in the last decade. 'The Incident' gives us liberal doses of the stellar songwriting abilities STEVEN WILSON has developed since the early days, combining heavy prog with a metallic edge (as featured on 'Fear of a Blank Planet'), the prog-tinged alt-pop found on albums from 'Signify' through to 'In Absentia', and even some of the Floydian space-rock from as far back as 'The Sky Moves Sideways' and 'Up the Downstair'. In other words, this 55-minute song cycle is a summation of PORCUPINE TREE's career.

An initial skeptic, I have found myself increasingly convinced by this album. It's not only the many musical highlights that convince me this is a masterpiece of modern prog, but also the integrity of the song cycle itself: how it coheres both musically and lyrically. This piece is by turns beautiful, raw, thought-provoking, bleak and ultimately disturbing. And make no mistake: this is one song cycle, not fourteen songs tacked together.

The album begins with 'Occams Razor/The Blind House', two tracks to bludgeon the listener. The theme of the second track begins during the first, tying them together, presaging the heavy riff that packages this section of the song cycle. The song finishes with an even more powerful version of the riff, it that is possible. 'Great Expectations/Kneel and Disconnect' are two shorter tracks that on first listen are tempting to regard as segues, but these are strong tracks on their own, reminiscent of material from 'In Absentia'. They lead into 'Drawing the Line' with its simple but effective chorus, the raw emotion taking the listener's breath away. The band employ their instrumentation skills to great effect to build tension, raising the stakes as the cycle reaches the title track.

'The Incident' drives a stake through the heart of this album, laying out a post-modern manifesto in which rubber-neckers get to consider the reality of their own lives. The music is unutterably brilliant, the monotonous whispering and mechanical drums providing an industrial backdrop for the accusatory lyrics and that jagged, discordant guitar. The band succeed in that most difficult of all challenges: to combine music and lyrics to create something greater than the sum of the parts. 'Your Unpleasant Family' is a short, whiny segue into 'The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train', a beautiful, shimmering piece that perfectly evokes the dreamy, hypnotic sense of the title.

While the title track may be the conceptual heart of the album, for most prog listeners 'Time Flies' will be the centerpiece. For better or worse, WILSON decided to pay homage to (some will inevitable say 'rip off') PINK FLOYD, specifically elements of the album 'Animals'. The near-twelve minute track begins with a riff reminiscent of the initial riff from 'Dogs' and also highlights a riff from 'Sheep'. Other nods to PINK FLOYD can be heard throughout the song, not least in the central solo (though it is more tonal and less melodic than anything GILMOUR did). And, of course, the lyrical content owes a great deal to the message so carefully packaged on 'The Dark Side Of The Moon'. That said, the song grows its own personality once listened to a few times. Though simple in structure, it is so strongly executed it has become a favourite listen for me.

The song cycle now begins to fold back on itself, with 'Degree Zero of Liberty', a variant of 'Occam's Razor', emphasising the message of the previous track. Clever, so clever. 'Octane Twisted' grows from this track, a superb almost-instrumental, its lyrical guitar line repeated in 'The Seance', which is really an extension. 'Circle of Manias' brings in some crushing riffs before letting us down into the coda, 'I Drive The Hearse'. This is perhaps the most beautiful track on the album, a poignant way to finish the cycle and, like many of PORCUPINE TREE's earlier albums, is unspeakably bleak.

Most satisfying.

Oh yes, that's right, there's a bonus EP of four other songs written around the same time. They are all of exceptional quality, and to my mind far superior to the 'Nil Recurring' EP the band released in the wake of 'Fear of a Blank Planet'. Most albums don't have four songs as good as these, yet this is a mere bonus. Overall, with album art factored in, this album is an outstanding package that easily merits 'masterpiece' status in the context of modern prog rock.

Time Flies (nice use of PF motifs), Occam's Razor (one of the heavier peices here), and Kneel and Disconnect (nice simple piano) are the high points of this album. The second half of the first disk isn't bad either. Other than that, though, this material is unimpressive. The second disk is a mostly pointless addition, having little to do with the main suite and sounding mediocre besides. I don't mean to imply that the suite is much better; it's a yawn. Inane lyrics, boring composition, drawn-out or outright lousy ideas drag it down. It lacks unity, too, and though Steven Wilson insists that you listen to the entire disk for the proper "experience," most of the songs stand fine (or even better) alone. The segues are prominent and sometimes even awkward. Among the worst moments on this disk are the title track (grating electronica) and I Drive the Hearse (terrible lyrics, boring song), both of which are an embarrassment to SW and PT.

Though The Incident sounds fine at certain points, Porcupine Tree hasn't composed such a weak album in all their time as a proper band. The upside? With low expectations, their next album presents the band with an opportunity to experiment, and with that experimentation one hopes that we will see a return to form.

2 stars.

I have been moderately enthusiast about PT's music so far. Still, I will go and see them on October 14th in Brussels (opening act being no less than Robert Fripp himself!).

I have been listening to this album quite a few times (at least ten) before posting this review, and I have to reckon that it is quite a good album. I won't enter into the discussion of the "concept" though.

What's available on "The Incident" is a softer approach than their latest releases. Catchy melodies are present ("The Blind House"); but we all know that Steven is a really gifted song writer. Since I was not really found of their more metal oriented music, I can only be pleased with this release.

An upbeat / pop / catchy song as "Drawing The Line" is definitely one of the very good moments available: a typical PT song: a mix of tenderness and wilder parts. One of the highlight. On the contrary of the title track that holds elements I don't like from this band: heaviness mainly; since there are some melodic vocal sections and the closing guitar play is just gorgeous.

Like in most "concept" albums, there are several very short parts which aren't too convincing IMO (except the very good opener). Still, the finale of "Your Unpleasant Family" holds a superb and Floydean guitar break. But "Circle of Manias" sounds too heavy metal to my taste.

My highlight from this work is the long "Time Flies": it holds so many great breaks! It reminds me of the very early "Genesis" and Floyd of course. The vocal parts are truly moving and the whole is outstanding to be honest. One of the great PT songs for sure. Nice wink to the Beatles ("Sgt. Pepper") and Jimi ("Are You Experienced") in the lyrics as well (the opening phrases actually).

There are also some Crimsonesque influence during the complex and heavy "Octane Twisted". Quite well achieved piece of music. A total contrast with the quiet, mellow, melodic and beautiful "I Drive The Hearse". Another moving song from this album.

I wonder why the band released a two CD version since the whole of the music could have perfectly fit onto one (seventy-five minutes). Maybe because Steven considered that they didn't fit within the "suite".

The second CD doesn't explore the spacey and moving parts of the first disc, and could have been skipped IMHHO (except the last song).

The usual PT sound for "Flicker", some scary and heavy metal feel during "Bonnie The Cat", a mellow rock ballad ("Black Dahlia"). Fortunately, the longer and closing "Remember Me Lover" holds more texture and is quite enjoyable.

In all, this album is one of my preferred PT ones for quite a while. I am rounding this one up to four stars (from seven out of ten).

The Incident by Porcupine Tree, one of the modern day Prog giants. This album is another good addition to their fine discography. Some say this album is a alternative rock album, others complain that some parts sound too Industrial like NIN. I like how Steven Wilson adds different sounds of rock genres into this album. The album flows pretty well from start to the end. From the thundering start of Occams Razor to the title track Incident which has a awesome beat to it. And the highlight track for me is the 11 minute epic Time Flies, this track displays some lyrics that I really love. Also the Floydish guitar that many say is a ripoff, but I think it kicks ass. This will go down as one of the greatest PT tracks ever. The album ends with the atmospheric track I drive the Hearse, this song is very dark and has a great epic guitar solo. A great way to end this album. While I like this album very much it is not the best work they have done. FOABP is still the top PT album in my eyes. A good album, great musicianship and its gets 4 stars from me...... oh yeah I could of gone without the second disc, oh well.

Calling all stations: "Broadsword to Danny Boy, Broadsword to Danny Boy, the Incident has occurred " intones the gravelly English voice of Sir Richard Burton (a slight fantasy interpretation, if I may). The prog grapevine is now abuzz with all kinds of puzzled glances In Absentia, another panicked Fear of a Blank Planet while others opt for flaming Deadwings blasted from the Sky that Moves Sideways. Oh well! Must have been another Stupid Dream, thankfully there is the Lightbulb Sun to keep the torch ablaze. Now, we have crashed unexpectedly into the Incident.

With this new shocking album , time has come for a name change in going from Porcupine Tree to Porcupine Forest , as this work is engulfed in gloomier expanses, where thick and dense musical shrubbery vie with the luxuriant sonic vegetation, the primal dissonance of jungle noises, cold breezes whistling through the tall trunks and gnarled branches. This is primitive, raw, unstable and inherently disturbing modern rock music that has eschewed immediacy in melody and replaced it with paced moodiness and barely camouflaged contempt. For those of you who expected a more commercial "let's hit the bigtime" adventure, well, you do not really know Mr.Wilson, do you? He ain't no castaway fedexed basketball, lost on some Oceania atoll with a tooth-ached and desperately hirsute cuckold! Just scanning at the titles, you really get the opaque message : from the unsteady "Flicker" to the eerie "The Séance", via 'The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train" and the submissive "Kneel and Disconnect" , all is aimed at a revolutionary insight into our modern society's deep malaise. Not even greed can anesthetize the apathy: "I Drive the Hearse" for "Your Unpleasant Family", "Drawing the Line". Ouf!!! This is dire lyrical stuff, wading deep into negative emotions and corrosive nostalgia. Even on the sprightly "Time Flies", an unsettling impression pervades! So what's the music like, eh, guv? It's certainly not pretty psychedelia like in the early Pork days, nor is it some suave swirl into harder edged musical testaments of recent recordings. It is highly correct to assume that Wilson's 2009 solo venture "Insurgentes" has served as a platform/turnstile of change, infusing a moodier electro feel that SW had mastered in the past with Bass Communion and No-Man but given a darker, more somber coloratura blanket. There are still those huge collision contrasts between sweet and harsh , even more sudden and abrupt than before .The best word to describe it would be using the French word "angoisse": a combination of anguish and angst, as if De Maupassant's schizophrenia had shared a bed with a delirious Kafka.

The fourteen acts that permeate disc 1 are incredibly disjointed collages of atmospheric sounds, alarming stories wrapped in deep foliage, with occasional explosions of melody (the guitar solo on "Time Flies" is perhaps one of SW's most tortured) , no need for any track by track descriptive. This entire suite gives off a 21stCentury schizoid man's Thick as a Brick impression if you will, undoubtedly creating massive controversy, ridiculed by some, exalted by others and yet deeply respected by all for its courage, audacity and fearlessness. I know that fans and neophytes alike will need multiple spins in order to digest, comprehend and only then drop some kind of familiar buoys into the prog ocean, as the Incident has progressed again way beyond the established boundaries on which many pundits have lavished at times their slovenly praise. Wilson has balls, regardless whether you like or no like, he takes chances and stands by his craft. Corporate slut he is not! I have a feeling that initially the hardcore fans will swear by this Incident while the run of the mill hangers-on will find a way to eventually crucify the obvious (and intended) lack of accessibility. I for one have always admired rebels, underdogs and iconoclasts. Here are the new heroes of the Modern Age. Gavin Harrison has already anointed himself as the next Neil Peart (See him only once live, you will convert!), a tectonic drummer that has the rare combo of power and grace under all circumstances, adding the required oomph and bravado as well as knowing when to be silent. The steady rumble from bassist Colin Edwin never ceases to amaze but always in a modest manner, never too flashy or mindless. What can be said about Barbieri who frankly keeps improving steadily, never a flamboyant Wakeman or showy Emerson, preferring to introduce a cubist tendency in his keyboard imprints that give both concrete and abstract colorations to the whole scene. Disc 2 is even more cerebral on one hand yet keeps the last song as the "coup de grace", the magnificent Remember Me Lover, anointed with master class right from the first run through , perhaps SW 's acme in terms of heartfelt personal emotions expressed by his rather unique vision.

Yeah, it's dense and occasionally comatose, reflecting the doldrums society we live in and the absurd pretense of contemporary music's deep abyss of sonic feces. I have read meaningful descriptions of this record as the expression of weekday tragedies and media fueled paranoia, mixed with sound bites of a crumbling society and decaying artistic frustration. If my Fedex flight crashes in the middle of the Pacific, I would rather have a copy of this than some silly basketball anyway! But then I would need some kind of nuclear powered player to hear it. No win situation I guess!

4. 5 prickly branches.

Porcupine Tree has grown from a pseudonym to a soaring modern prog band that has set new standards for the genre. Steven Wilson's definitive project, as his persona is divided in multiple genres and projects, like No-Man, Blackfield, Bass Communion and I.E.M. But let us get to business. The Incident, Porcupine Tree's tenth studio recording RELEASED through a label (hardcore fans must not forget independent releases from the early days like The Nostalgia Factory and Tarquin's Seaweed Farm) . The Incident cannot be described with one word, since it comprises a plethora of ambients, melodic structures, emotions and compositional traits. This double album, shaped in a similar manner to Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, sees the whole of the first disc loaded up with a 55"+ title track, divided into fourteen rich movements, which are seamless when played together, yet coherent when played on their own. SW's compositional talents and influences are explored in depth.

Track-By-Track

Well, we'll divide the title track into its 14 pieces. OCCAM'S RAZOR - The song cycle begins with a single chord, repeated three times in a bar, in several bars. This movement has nothing special, it serves as an introduction, and features bass and guitar soudscaping, which makes it a perfect prelude to the suite and...

THE BLIND HOUSE - This movement is based upon the mishaps of residential cults in the USA. A magical progressive rock piece, which should be analyzed more from its lyrical richness, rather than from its music, which is still perfectly engineered.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS - A baby movement. This features a compelling odd time signature riff after the mellow acoustic intro, and serves as a starter for...

KNEEL AND DISC. - This movement, to the illustrated connossieur means a lot. A small account of SW's feeling when he decided to become a musician. A beautiful piano epilogue makes it a perfectly mellow and certainly meaningful piece, which then passes on to..

DRAWING THE LINE - It's PT, it's straight on rock, and it's great. Who said prog rockers always have to use complex musical tricks and odd time signatures? It's the very musical versatility and the capacity to compose simple things while engineering them perfectly that makes a good prog artist. And then again, SW is great at this. The guitar solo is a great piece of thinking, not to savvy, not too simple. Harrison's drumming is seamless yet outstanding.

THE INCIDENT - The title movement centers around the car accident that made SW give birth to the whole concept of "after this, thing will never be the same". It has an electronic drumming intro, which blends into the metal-like guitar riff, and the perfectly orchestrated triple-voice line "Got a feeling...". Wilson's playing combines perfectly with Harrison's drumming and Edwin's simple groove.

YOUR UNPLEASANT FAM. - Taking on the electronic drum pattern from the previous movement, Your Unpleasant Family features the magical voiceovers characteristic of PT (read; Mellotron Scratch, Normal, etc.), and is quite simple. It is the first step of a transition into a low paced break in the cycle, which continues with..

THE YELLOW WINDOWS... - Richard Barbieri is not a keyboard virtuoso like Jordan Rudess or Rick Wakeman. But he is certainly in a league of his own when it comes to soundscaping with organs and sounds. The nostalgic rumble of a gramophone is the main attractive of this piece, which makes the listener prepared for the great music about to come...

TIME FLIES - The center-movement of the cycle. True Pink Floyd influence, some might say plagiarism, but this is false. At 11:40, it makes up about 1/5 of the whole song. It is a lyrical movement, which ponders on the quick passing of time (Time Flies, people), and features great ambience. First optimistic music, then obscure, then optimistic once more. A great masterpiece. Time Flies shows why single editions suck.

DEGREE ZERO... - The chord that started this soaring musical monster returns. It's part of an ambient once more, more like a phase-out from the outstanding Time Flies. Guitar noodling is more evident.

OCTANE TWISTED - The beginning of the end. It stars with a simple guitar structure, and blends into a soaring Tool-like riff, with hints of The Blind House's riff structure and tribal drums, complete with synth-aah's and great soloing by Wilson.

THE SEANCE - A simple movement at first, taking on Octane Twisted's initial melodic guitar, but then showing great acoustic riffing, a small proggy start for...

CIRCLE OF MANIAS - You wanted prog? If you weren't able to spot the prog by now, here's a very obvious piece. A very odd time signature (I'm not sure, I'm guessing either 9/8 or 7/8) certainly, mixed with an offbeat guitar riff in the background, makes it hard to find the One at certain points.

I DRIVE THE HEARSE - Beautiful. Just beautiful. It starts with a small guitar accompanying for Steven Wilson's magistral lyrics, and then the title is sung, making the music a 5/4 riff with several guitar over dubs. This repeats two times, until it fades out with a 6/4 melody and great drumming effects by prog-lord Gavin Harrison.

DISC 2

FLICKER - Did SW compose this as an epilogue to The Incident? The lyrics don't say so, but the music does. A soft piece with no odd times, or drastic changes. Just beautiful and mellow. Like only PT could pull it off.

BONNIE THE CAT - Prog, prog, prog. This song has prog written all over it. It's a dark side of love told in a very complex drumming structure. Edwin and Harrison make the song in its most intricate meaning. The hateful lyrics make it a dark and strong piece that's worthy of any prog-metal fan's time.

BLACK DAHLIA - Sure, it's monotonous and slow. Bu it's, once again, beautiful. arbieri mellows things up while Wilson sings about murder and betrayal. Again, this record looks at prog's lyrical and conceptual side, not musical virtuosity and hard instrumental tricks.

REMEMBER ME LOVER - The end of the end. A very strong piece, ranging from sadness and bitterness to hatred, metal and a great finale. The end is dry,and abrupt, but gives the listener great expectations (THE INCIDEEENT!) on what Wilson and his band might come up with in the studio next time.

OVERALL

The Incident is not a boring record, it's not a record that lacks imagination. It is MADE of imagination and a very solid concept. For me, it is an instant classic. Five out of five. Keep it up, Wilson.

I've now spun this a total of (according to my iTunes counter) 27 complete rotations.

At first, some die hard Porcupine Tree fans, such as myself, will find them selves uttering the word "disapointment". However, given about 10 or so spins later, you find yourself in aww at what you've come to realize. You were never disapointed to begin with, you were just not hearing it all. Coming from an album such as Fear of a Blank Planet, which seemed to latch on at first or second listen. This is quite an adventure for even some avid music goers.

Some stand out tracks are definitely "The Incident", "Time Flies", and "Bonnie the Cat". Fear not Porcupine Tree fans, this album is not 'simple', it is not 'generic', it is not without plenty of nuance. Best of all there are plenty of musical ideas never expressed by Steve wilson and friends before, that are down right fantastic. Please, you owe it to yourself to listen to this album at least 10 times... in a row.

Experiancing the entire collaboration of the 55 minute "the Incident" was probably the greatest musical experiances, heck experiance period, of my life.

On a less opinionated note, if you didn't exactly enjoy the harsher side of Porcupine Tree in the past 2 albums, this one might suite you well, as they return to many methods from the Signify/Stupid Dream days. Once again everyone, buy, listen, learn, and hold onto this album.

This is my personal favorite album, of the decade. Yes sir. 5 ***** stars.

I don't know how many more reviews you want to read about this album. So, in order to keep you awake, we'll try a slightly different approach. To keep things interesting I will not give you my own rating of this album but that of my wife :-)

Of course, she would never resort to geeky things such as writing reviews for this site but nevertheless there are reasons aplenty to give her a forum here:

First of all, I really miss the feminine point of view on this entire site. It's all too much about the form of things and less so about the feel. Secondly, my wife has excellent taste in music. Her favourite artists would enlist Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Porcupine Tree, Underworld, Madonna and Opeth of course: there's no living with me if you don't like them. Third reason, who am I to argue with her? And most important of all, our meanings about this album don't differ all that much anyway!

For starters, we both single out the same highpoints and weaknesses. So our standout tracks are: The Blind House, The Incident (great industrial feel on this one), Time Flies, Octane Twisted and Bonnie the Cat. Weaknesses: the whiney chorus of Drawing The Line and the bland and predictable I drive the Hearse. Secondly, we both perceive this album as an interesting mix of In Absentia (general sound and prominent role of acoustic guitar again) and Wilson's superb solo album from last year (lots of dark wave and electronic influences).

What we don't share is our general feeling about this album. I'm slightly disappointed: the uneven quality, none of the tracks weighing up against PT's classics and feeling a bit cheated on the whole "it's one 55 minute song"-deal. My wife doesn't. Contrary to me, she doesn't approach this concept in a technical way as I do, she isn't looking for an intricate composition with recurring themes and motives like Jethro Tull's TAaB, but instead recognizes the lyrical cohesion and flow of this album.

So that's what I meant with adding the feminine angel here. Music isn't mathematics. They may help, but in the end, a simple bit of algebra can be as beautiful as the most intricate formula. Now, counting down two more days till our concert in Brussels 14/10/2009. Let's see if the guys can change my mind by pulling it off live.

OK I'll admit it, at first I was totally disappointed. This was the album I had waited such a long time for! It was supposed to be an instant masterpiece! Right? Wrong! This one takes way more than one lousy listen to understand it's beauty. It gets better the more you listen to it because the concept is a little tricky but after you get the concept you get the album. I had the same problem with Fear of a Blank Planet and even Dark Side of the Moon. The music is just plain beautiful and atmospheric, just the way I like it, and although Time Flies seems pretty corny at first you get to love. I know it seems Wilson has gone commercial, but this is the kind of stuff we want to be commercial. If you gave this album up on the first listen, try another because it may end up being one of your favorites.

The incident A lot has been said of this new album by the most innovative prog band of the 21st century and I believe it is time to make things clear: this is a true masterpiece. Is it bette than 'Fear of a blank planet'? I don't know. That was a masterpiece as well but I believe this one to be richer in textures, melodies and details. The 55 minutes suite can be heard as a whole but can be also listened to as a collection of great tunes and of great individual songs. My favorite tracks here are Kneel and disconnect, The incident, Time flies and Octane twisted/The seance. Concerning the bonus CD other previous reviewers have transmitted their doubts about it. No way and no doubts for me. It is also great and it contains my favorite track Remember me lover and the floydish The flicker. All in all, have no doubts, The incident deserves 5 stars.

This album might well be the disappointment of the year.

PORCUPINE TREE has been releasing great albums since the day they were formed. Even their first, "On the Sunday of life", was an entertaining collection of Steven Wilson's youth's ideas recorded in a disc. From there on, up to 2007's "Fear of A Blank Planet", the British band had never really let me down. That is, until 2009, with the release of "the Incident", probably their weakest album to date.

The album is made of two discs: on disc one, we have the long epic "The Incident", which is supposed to be the focus of the album. It definitely is the most important part of the record, but it's also the one that disappoints the most. Unlike previous long songs by the band (like the title track on this album's predecessor), "The Incident" gets tiresome after a few minutes, and it gets very close to becoming boring by the end. There's a lot of repetition of ideas and not precisely to create a sense of unity in the track but because it would seem Wilson couldn't come up with anything else. The track reeks of lack of inspiration. A few riffs and sections are repeated all throughout the song to make it coherent in the way of a rock leif-motiv, but that's pretty much the most interesting factor about this epic. Where are the outstanding melodies that PORCUPINE TREE has gotten me used to? Even Wilson's singing deviates from the norm, and not for the best. At times he tries to sound too "indie", too "alternative", but he comes up rather like an angry teenager. The music is, in general, rather mundane, with references to PINK FLOYD as always but also to other bands from another musical world, including KORN. Even fantastic musicians like Gavin Harrison seem to have decided to play it safe this time around. The band recorded their longest track ever, using the least amount of creativity ever, too.

I said that the title-track was the most disappointing, which doesn't mean it is the worst song in the album. It's just that for such a long epic, it leaves the listener wanting and expecting so much more. The really bad part of the album is the second disc, where we have four completely irrelevant short songs that could've been left out and would have had the same impact. Probably the least entertaining 20 minutes in the band's history, these four tracks have nothing that makes them stand out from anything recorded by any other alternative-rock band. The typical atmosphere and melody of PORCUPINE TREE's short songs is lost here. Though the rhythm section tries to make the situation a little better, Wilson and Barbieri's complete lack of inspiration make these tracks a chore to sit through.

All in all, an utter disappointment and the worst album in the band's career. While I think it's still better than most of the rock out there, that's just due to the sheer talent of the musicians, who manage to create decent music even when they fail. But in the entire catalogue of the band, it can't stand proudly next to "In Absentia", "Deadwing", "Fear of a Blank Planet", "Signify", "Lightbulb Sun", or any of the rest. For that reason, I'll round the 2.5 off this time, as it's necessary to point out how disappointing this 2009 record really is.

'The Incident' - Porcupine Tree (9/10)

Porcupine Tree's 2007 release 'Fear Of A Blank Planet' really set the stakes high for the modern prog giants. Having crafted a flawless masterpiece of proportions that few bands ever reach, it would be difficult to write a follow-up that would satisfy the aggregate of rabid fans yearning for music that was even better.

What a intelligent thing for Steven Wilson to do in that case, then to change the rules?

Instead of making one disc, he makes two; the first totally encompassed by a 55-minute long epic. The way I see 'The Incident;' it's exactly the same thing that Dream Theater did with 'Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence.' After releasing the total masterpiece that was 'Scenes From A Memory,' the only way to hopefully trump that album would be with a double album... with an epic encompassing an entire disc. Sound familiar? But enough about prog metal...

...or maybe not! 'The Incident' further develops Wilson's infatuation with metal, throwing in plenty of riffage worthy of the metal label. While Porcupine Tree still isn't necessarily a metal band, 'The Incident' is not afraid to experiment with different genres. There is electronic music here (the title track,) a dose of post-rock (the 'Yellow Windows' interlude sounds alot like 'Sigur Ros') and of course, the Porcupine Tree signature sound, which melds progressive tendencies with pop sensibility, and beautiful soundscaping.

I will be honest however, after a handful of listens, I was a bit dissapointed with the album. I resented the fact that there were 14 tracks on the first disc, and many of them short interludes. I couldn't bring myself to think that this lived up to beautiful works like 'Deadwing.' Still, more listens to the album trickled into my everyday life, and I realized that taken as a whole, the album really does work. There are alot of details and flourishes in the music that would be impossble to detect without some profuse, and dedicated listening.

The second disc of the package doesn't pass me as being part of the same album as the first disc, but more or less a separate work under the same title. Think of it as the Incident's equivalent to 'Nil Recurring' or 'Staircase Infinities...' The songs are good, but none of them really strike me as fantastic, although I have a soft spot for 'Black Dahlia.' As with the main work, these songs also require a fair bit of attention to appreciate, although not nearly as much as the epic.

The solemn mistake that many people make with this album is expecting another 'Fear Of A Blank Planet.' This is not a sequel, this is 'The Incident!' For what it is, the album is a haunting, and beautiful concept piece, and while it's not as good as it's predecessor (how could one really beat 'Fear' anyway?) the album takes a life of it's own, and while it may not be one of the bands best works to date, its still a steady contender for any album of the year list, if one gives it the time it needs to grow.

What is it? An ambitious prog rock project involving a 50-minute single composition that deteriorated due to personal tragedies and band infighting. Therefore, this is an incomplete collection of vaguely connected musical themes, many of which are uninspired and overlong.

Voice (3.5 stars) ? Vocally not inferior to recent albums in technique, displaying the usual blend of strong harmonious singing and variety of moods. However, the melodies are more rudimentary, less pop-oriented, and on occasion border on irritating. There is also a certain feeling of detachment that I do not believe was the intention, weakening the impact. The lyrics are also all over the place and are not immersive. At one point, he samples himself whispering in a loop for a few minutes too long. Whispering also is used in 'Bonnie the Cat' distracting from the excellent musicianship within.

Sound (3.5 stars) ? The sound production seems carefully put together and matches the quality of modern Porcupine Tree recordings. The band sounds very good, if with notable less chemistry and fewer chances to stretch their skills. The album, with its numerous shorter songs forming a concept, cater to the vocalist, pushing the band to the background or for brief interludes, especially in the first half of the album. The instrumentation is pushed a bit more towards the front on 'The Incident' song, with interesting synth loops and doom metal riffs cutting through. It is not until the 2nd half of 'Time Flies' where we get an extended musical passage with good atmosphere and memorable guitar solo. The only other instance is excellent musicality in the first disc is 'Octane Twisted', with driving riffs and an industrial ending that showcases their great drummer. The band attempted to revisit the full prog on 'Circle of Manias' but now they sound terrible. The second disc is a series of outtakes that allow a bit more room for the band, with 'Flicker' having great sound,'Remember me Lover' having a great angry riff, and especially the percussive 'Bonnie the Cat' with its amazing polyrhythmic and prog metal outbursts.

Song (2.5 stars) ? Initially announced as a 50-minute prog rock composition, the songwriting clearly deteriorated during the process, with a fractured-enough feel that had band separate its sections as separate tracks. Some of these tracks are interludes with little to say that only add space in terms of album duration (two of which are a 1-chord riff). There is bizarre repetition of themes (the song succeeding 'Octane Twisted' repeating the same themes), short undeveloped songs, and the supposed centerpiece 'Time Flies' which is pretty bad as a song, does not even have original ideas choosing to instead rip off Pink Floyd themes, and of course it has to be the one song that is over 10 minutes long. The album's climax 'Circle of Manias' is prog rock at its worst with complexity taking over musicality. Some of the shorter pieces carry good musical ideas but are not always developed enough. A few full-fledged songs are successful, such as 'Blind House' bringing back the excitement of their 'In Absentia' album but with a surprise electronica section, 'Octane Twisted' letting the band shine without losing control of song structure, and the Yes-inspired 'Flicker' on the second disc.

Key Tracks: Blind House, Kneel and Disconnect, Octane Twisted, Flicker, Bonnie the Cat

I skipped the last Porcupine Tree as I felt they were leaning too heavily on the metal side of things. Although, I suppose that's how they've managed to break into the US market. Given the hype surrounding this release, as well as news of it entering the UK charts upon release, I was really look forward to it. In addition, I was intrigued by the prospects of PT's take on that old horse, the concept album (or "song" in this case).

I've tried listening to this at least 5 times and I still find it dreary and all too often following the PT template - slow and pensive, loud crunchy metal riffs, bit of improv, slightly upbeat outro. I still love the "sound" of the band, although there seems to be a dearth of ideas on this album. "Time Flies" is in the classic tradition of their better known songs - strong melody, vocals and hook tied to a slow build up from the other band members. But this time I find little else to recommend, especially as the "concept" side of things doesn' have any common touch points or continuity, it's just a bunch of songs queued up one after another with very little in common.

While they are still a band I really enjoy, I'm giving it only 3 stars based on their ability and talent. Most other bands would still kill to produce just one album like this.

I have been listening to prog for 32 years now. I regard Porcupine Tree as one of the finest exponents of the genre that have emerged in recent years. I love their music. In addition, in those 32 years, as can be seen from my reviews on the site, I have albums ranging from great favourites to ones I feel are poor.

However, in all the years I have been listening to prog, there is one word I have never used to describe an album. That word is BORING, and, yes, this does deserve that title in capital letters. I have tried, tried very hard. From the moment I downloaded the album, I have given this album some 20-odd listens, but the first impression still remains.

In fact, so dull do I find it that I can only really pick out one track that really captures my attention, and that, of course, is Time Flies, and that is for all the wrong reasons.

Being a great neo prog fan, I can put up with nods and tributes to great bands, and can appreciate the influences that the classic bands had. However, Time Flies is such a basic rip off of the Floyd's classic Animals that it is, to me, a wonder that Waters & Gilmour haven't reached for the telephone, and called Messrs Sue Grabbit & Runne for such a flagrant breach of copyright law.

The rest really does melt into a repetitive mixture of post modern progressive music. The band are really capable of so much more, Wilson especially, who is far too mature and capable a songwriter and lyricist to come up with such a concoction of teen angst as this.

The biggest disappointment of the decade, and an album, I feel, will go far down the PA ratings once the initial excitement of the first reviews settles down into realism.

I wanna say I like some PT albums ( from their past). After release of that new album I read many reviews , and decided just to test it. To be honest, I am not a lover of neo-prog or some modern bands, which play repetetive pseudo-progresive,taken from old great bands vaults, and adapted to unprepared audience. From other hand, I know few great new names in progresive, which possibly will help this style to survive.

Some PT albums was psychodelic and dark, and had their faces as well. It's pity, but that time is gone. And that new album is good evidence: brit-pop plus indie plus some heavyness plus symphonic citates all are mixed in boring and faceless mix. Just few bright moments ( even not full songs, but moments!) could be found in that double (!!!) CD of strange format (55+20) minutes, is it regular double CD format?).

I can survive strangest experimental sounds and unusual rhythms and song structures, at least we all like prog for it's innovations and experimentalism. But to accept that huge overdose of un-original and boring music is not possible at any conditions!

For sure, they are not only band, playing some secondary mix of old prog , symphonic rock cliches, some heavy guitars and brit-pop spiced music. I believe, that music is business, so you must to fight for wider circle of listeners, often at any price. But very often this fight bring you easy money and destroy your good name.

Again, I believe that many band fans will like this album. In fact, it is not too different from their some previous works. So - if I once again re-confirm to myself, that there are a few modern bands, playing original and great music, many band's fans received one more dose of music they like.

Can't give recommendations - I think it is just album of music which is made for different listener and according to different standard. I prefer best Radiohead works - same brit pop, psychodelia and heavy rock in moments but much more original and fresh in moments.

The Incident is a great idea with less-than-great execution.

I am a fan of this type of idea: the idea of how a single moment ripples 'forward' in time and can affect many other things that could not be anticipated. If Hitler's great-great-great-great grandmother had stepped funny one day, she might have fallen, landed on her head, and died, and we'd be living in a very different world today. This album takes a look at these moments - these small moments of times, these 'incidents', whose ramifications are far-reaching and entirely unpredictable, from a personal view.

Okay, so that's the concept, and Steve Wilson even promised us a 55 minute song to pull it off. And a 55 minute song we got (people may argue whether or not it actually is one song, stating a lack of recurring themes, etc...but if we can count Genesis' "Musical Box" as a single song, despite the fact that it is constantly changing and doesn't repeat itself, I don't see why we can't do the same with "The Incident" if that's what Wilson wants to call it.)

As should be obvious, "The Incident" is the meat and bones of the record. In fact, Porcupine Tree even gave it its own disk so that we would KNOW it was important, despite the fact that the remaining content would have fit on the same disc.

The music is pleasant, although I feel it is less inspired than their previous album (Fear of a Blank Planet). When I heard Fear for the first time, I didn't think much of it, but each successive listen increased its appeal. I cannot make the same claim about The Incident. While it has some moments that do seem to have the same level of inspiration, it has at least as many that are nice to hear but reveal no further depth.

As well, the concept is not very clear or obvious, and I would not really know what the album was about were it not for the title and reading about it before it came out.

The album does have a few moments which I do genuinely enjoy. The Incident (track, not the full song) is an excellent example,with Porcupine Tree creating a great, spooky atmosphere with their use of effects and their heavier instrumentation. Octane Twisted/The Seance is another favorite part of mine, and I love the way that the two have repeating themes (parts like this help the song feel more holistic to me).

Unfortunately, the song has too many weak points for me to consider it truly a masterpiece. For one, the ending, "I Drive the Hearse", feels drawn out and not very interesting compared to some of the parts that came before. "The Yellow Window of the Evening Train" feels like it was added just to make "Time Flies" stand out more, as it is entirely forgettable. "Time Flies" itself is another nice track, but it really doesn't feel very creative compared to some of the other stuff on the album, making the fact that it is the longest section of the song drag on a bit.

I stopped listening to the second disc after a few listens. It just didn't feel important enough that I would keep listening to it after the first disc, if I have to get up and put another CD in (or change which album I am listening to in iTunes). The tracks on it aren't bad, but they aren't great either. For some reason, Bonnie the Cat always makes me think of King of Comedy off R.E.M.'s Monster.

Overall, there is better music by this band. And, in the year it was released, we have many other better albums to listen to as well, so it doesn't even stand out for its time. Without any truly crowning moments to make this album stand out, I don't really see what a fan of progressive music would gain from it. As much as I hate to do it, I must give this album two stars. For Fans of Porcupine Tree, but there's not much here for others.

It's the best album ever in progressive rock, no it's a piece of crap. It's a dessert topping and a floor wax?

Well, when confronted with many extreme options, the truth often lies somewhere in the middle, which means that The Incident is a really good dessert topping prog rock floor wax piece of crap.

If you like all of Porcupine Tree's releases, this one won't disappoint you. PT is one of those bands where I have to get the new release as soon as it's out. It was released six days before I had an incident of my own and it will now be indelibly identified with this period in my life. It also doesn't hurt that Mr. Wilson is of my generation. The album theme seems to be about the angst that us folks born around that time are experiencing in these days much as Fear Of A Blank Planet and Nil Recurring is about the angst of the current generation of teenagers.

Musically speaking, there is no change in direction here and PT is known for a few. This can be a good thing or a bad thing for some. I'd also like to add that I do appreciate getting the main album and the EP in one set at the start, unlike FOABP/NR, which were fine as separate things.

On an interesting side note, I was looking at the CD and saw my face reflected in the hard plastic cover the same time I was seeing the hand with the face behind it. I don't know if this was intentional, but it's a nice package.

PORCUPINE TREE's 10th studio album is probably one of the best albums of 2009. When I first heard they were going to include a 55-minute epic, I was pleasantly suprised. When I got my copy I decided to not listen to it very much, since I were going to see them live next week, and I heard that they would play the whole first disc.After the gig I've started to listen to it more, and it's a really good one. It's relativetly easy to get into. Just after a few listen I thought that it sound like a future classic.

Let's get to the music. It's certainly Porcupine Tree, but it has it's own sound. The fist influences that I detect are Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead. Otherwise, it's pretty much the alternative/prog sound of PT. The tracks on disc 1 flow together nicely, but there are very few recuring themes. There are still a few tracks that could be played separately, like the catchy Drawing the Line and the "hit single" Time Flies. Stand-out pieces on Disc 1 are The Blind House, the title track, and the section of tracks 11-12-13.

Let's not forget disc 2, a ep length disc with four tracks. The four tracks actually would have gone on the first disc (55 + 20 min), but SW wanted them to be on their own disc. The tracks here are nothing very special. Remember Me Lover is a pretty standard (by that meaning very good) PT. The best track here is however Bonnie the Cat. The first part is mostly bass and drums, that create a dark Singify-ish atmosphere, later there's a Meshuggah inspired heavy section. The other tracks sound like some OK tracks from the Stupid Dream/Lighbulb Sun period.

In conclusion, it's definitely a very good PT album. I'll give it 4,5 stars, and rounded off to 4 because it's VERY good, but not a masterpiece. Must-have for all fans still. Your PT collection is not complete without The Incident.

Hope that they will release a 5.1 edition soon, other than the super expensive one.

Porcupine Tree's latest album accompanied my life and its twists for last one and half month and helped to seize and remember its impressions. I think this can speak for itself. Wilson and company again created piece of music that goes deeply to the core of the human soul and leaves such feedback. Nearly as great as Fear of a Blank Planet, yet a lot different.

Starting with Occam's Razor / The Blind House, mid-tempo, with low-tuned agressive guitars and brooding melancholy of Wilson's voice, supported with Barbieri's inventive arsenal creating atmosphere causing shivers and precise rhythm section. Gavin Harrison leaves me speechless since first moments. Such virtuosity and creativity yet never goes over the top, all time there is space for breathing. Majestic acoustic guitar/electric solo miniature of Great Expectations turns into solitary, pensive piano tones of Kneel and Disconnect.

Drawing the Line dominates subtle verse with cool Harrison's playing and refrain making one jumping up. Title track (reminding a bit Way out of Here) is hallucinogennic, harder to get into - but the bigger is reward of it. And its lyrics, very personal seems to me. Yellow Windows of Evening Train is interlude of Barbieri's light soundwalls and glockenspiels, causing goose-bumps, carrying to another world. Centerpiece of the album, Time Flies, its lyrical message and all the nostalgy made of slight Pink Floyd (Dogs/Sheep) influence, the flow and perfect build-up - all it means highlight of The Incident.

Another stand-out Octane Twisted, represents the most amazing instrumental part of the album, with guitar screaming that really hurts agreeably. And rhythm section - of out of the chains here, insane, but still cohesive. I have to mention also the last song I Drive the Hearse, moment to cry and sing along. Track is ended with soaring solo and fade out.

Second disc holds up the high standards. Flicker is great mysterious and melodic tune while Bonnie the Cat represents creepy and ominous contrast with some odd rhythms. Black Dahlia is gloomy and melancholic ballad while Remeber me Lover is melancholic as well but with a lot of anger and great hook on refrain, sorrowful but wonderful, as only Wilson can create. Absorb it and enjoy its power!

4.5 stars rounded up.

Oh, how I love to see the variation of ratings this album has gotten thus far. It means that it's different enough from the band's usual output to divide a fanbase. As far as I'm concerned, that is a good thing!

So, what is THE INCIDENT? Well, if you look at it from my perspective, it's Steven WIlson's first attempt in years to venture back into actual 'Prog' territory. What I mean by that is simple: it's not ''In Absentia''. And no matter how loud some PT fans may howl, there never will be another album like ''In Absentia''. The best thing for us to do is move on along with the band, so that we won't be disappointed by any of their efforts post-2002. I was guilty of not doing that with ''Deadwing'', but have since found a new liking for it than my initial reaction. I think in time, the same will be said of many of the reviewers who have given this album a extra-low score. Right now they hate it, because it isn't what they wanted. Notice nobody actually says the album isn't any good; they justify their brutal ratings by saying that while the album is good, it isn't 'Porcupine Tree good'. In other words, THE INCIDENT isn't up to the Porcupine Tree's usual standards. Well, shouldn't that be up to Porcupine Tree?

And of course on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are people handing out five-star ratings like candy where this album is concerned. I don't think anybody who would actually sit down and think about it could agree with this analogy, either. The truth of the matter is that THE INCIDENT is good. It's not great, and it's not horrible. It's just . . . good. I would say it boarders on being simply 'decent' at times, but still has enough redeeming qualities to keep it in the 'good' range. The reason why I do not rush to my computer right away to write a review of something is because I want to make sure I have heard the music enough times in order to truly give an accurate, unbiased review. I think by this point, a few months into the release of THE INCIDENT, I am prepared to do just that.

As I said before, this album is a return to form for Steven Wilson. For years (arguably ever since ''Stupid Dream'') he has written and performed music that has leaned much more in the 'Alt. Rock' direction than 'Prog Rock'. Many Prog bands have attempted to go 'pop', and failed. Luckily, Wilson is a good enough composer to evade most pitfalls others have fallen into. Indeed, even when at his most modern and accessible, he still manages to add a flare of originality to his work that many musicians (including myself) are deeply envious of. The band's first commercial 'hit' of sorts was ''In Absentia'', and to this day it still remains my favorite Porcupine Tree record. It manages to capture my spirit and lift me up into deeply emotional places despite being full of commercial aspects. At its heart, this project will always be progressive and original, and that I think makes all the difference.

However, with THE INCIDENT, Wilson and crew have taken a step back into their Prog roots and decided to write an epic that spans the length of an entire compact disc. Accompanying the piece is a second disc full of more traditional rock songs in the vein of ''Deadwing'' or ''Fear of a Blank Planet''. So half the set is an attempt to reach out to the Prog side of the fanbase, and the other half will appeal to the more recent fans who have only just begun to discover Porcupine Tree's music. At least, that's how it seems to have been planned. I don't necessarily think it was always successful, but for the most part, it delivers at what it was trying to do, I think.

The title track, the 'epic' that everyone is so divided about, is really a collection of anecdotal lyrics which at first do not seem to be interconnected at all. This album is much less lyrically-driven than past efforts, and I suppose it was a nice change of pace. Still, I would have preferred another concept record with an actual narrative, but again, that's my ''In Absentia'' fandom creeping in where it doesn't belong. The songwriting is good, and the musicianship solid, as is the case with nearly every PT album, but what I was disappointed to discover at first was how empty this record is. What I mean is . . . there is a lot less substance than what you may expect.

Breaking it down, I would say three or four movements from ''The Incident'' actually stand out to me as something special. The opening, ''Occam's razor'', is rather weak, as is the section of the piece bearing the same title as the album. Both songs feel as if they are completely unrelated to each other, and both also seem to missing a lot of actual music, with dead space and background noise filling up huge gaps at a time. This CAN be interesting when done sparingly, but it happens so frequently throughout the whole thing that I began to feel drained after awhile of not hearing any real music. Sadly, this feeling still hits me no matter how many times I revisit ''The Incident'', and so I suppose it will always bother me a bit. But i did give it a chance to grow on me. Sometimes I just can't be swayed from my initial impressions of things.

That's not to say the piece as a whole isn't any good. Plenty of fine musical moment highlight and immortalize this album for me in many ways. I'm not like some of other reviewers here who couldn't point to a certain moment that affected them. For me, some points such as ''Time Flies'', which comes at the halfway point of the whole epic, really touch me emotionally. I mean, it's a clear rip-off of the ''Animals'' record by Pink Floyd, but it sure as hell beats all that moody, noise-rock crap that seems so ever-present on this particular outing. Sometimes a little familiarity can be refreshing. Especially in situations like this one.

Another really cool, groovy moment for me that I could listen to for hours is the ''Octane Twisted'' - ''Circle of Manias'' section. It rises, falls, then rises again to an entrancing, heavy guitar groove that puts me in mind of Meshuggah. The Tree also did this on their last full-blown studio effort, ''Fear of a Blank Planet'' during the ''Anesthetize'' track, and I had the same reaction then. I just love music that can lock in to a particular riff for long periods of time, yet also keep the listener enthralled without boring. So yes, that whole section of ''The Incident'' I also love.

Finally, the soft, melodic ''I Drive The Hearse'' that immediately follows the section I just described. It's probably my favorite part on the whole record. Somebody else already said described it as 'weak', and I am inclined to fear for that person's mental health, because I find it to be a compelling, lovely piece of music. But, to each his own, I suppose. Frankly, the only way somebody could find this song 'weak' is if they only like listening to overly-technical, pretentious jive. ''I Drive The Hearse'' certainly isn't that. It's very calm and laid back. A nice contrast to the aggressive groove-metal-inspired section that preceeded it, really. That's why I did not include it in my last paragraph, even though it follows immediately after track-wise. It feels like a completely different song, and really not part of the rest of the piece at all.

Something also brought up that I do not agree with is that nothing ever feels connected in this piece. While the long pauses and lack of instrumentation for those long bouts I described can indeed cause the song to feel disjointed, I do hear moments where previous melodies are revisited, and that is enough to make me feel the the piece flows better than others would have you believe in their reviews.

As a whole piece, ''The Incident'' works well enough to please fans, but newcomers will more often than not be turned away by the track's length, and as for whether or not it succeeded at being 'Prog', well . . . again, some people may not think so, but I don't care what 'style' you want to group this into; the bottom line is that the concept is very progressive, You won't see Nickleback doing a 55-minute track any time soon. Get my point?

Now, for the second disc. The remainder of the songs, with the exception of ''Flicker'', feel like throwaways, and I wonder why PT even bothered including this other disc, except for maybe they wanted to add some variety, and also these songs had more input from the rest of the band. Unfortunately, it shows.

Any time Steve Wilson stops captaining the ship that is Porcupine Tree, nothing fits musically. You've got ''Bonnie the Cat'', which is a very good track for the most part, but it's very jarring and disorienting at first, not to mention there is a guitar riff in there that is exactly the same as the chorus is Opeth's ''Ghost Reveries''. It rocks, but it's already been done before. That's a Dream Theater move, Steve, and you've done it twice in one album. Very unfortunate.

As I said, I really enjoyed ''Flicker'', and despite the obvious lack of direction, ''Bonnie'' is good. The remaining two tracks aren't much to write home about, though. ''Black Dahlia'' has its moments, but for the most part will rapidly fall down my list of favorite PT tracks, and as for ''Remember Me Lover'', well . . . I don't really remember it.

So there you have it. A good long track, two good single tracks and two forgettable ones. Not anywhere near a 'two out of five', but certainly not a 'five'. I think some people here are being much too harsh simply because they had incorrect expectations. At the same time, I can't believe how many people are considering it a 'masterpiece of progressive music' when it is so clearly not.

As for me, I give it a solid three. It's good, but not great. If you're a fan already, you'll like it, as long as you keep an open mind. Everybody else might have a harder time wading through the murk just so they can enjoy the few brilliant parts spread throughout the record.

When I joined up with this joint over three and a half years ago one of the first new-to-me bands I discovered was Porcupine Tree and for that I am grateful because their bold creativity has gone a long way in restoring my faith in the future of prog rock. In a nutshell, founder Steven Wilson and his cohorts make the kind of music that pushes all my buttons. I collected almost their entire catalogue of recordings and enjoyed hearing how they evolved over time into being what I consider the modern vanguard of the genre. In fact, I deem their pristine "Fear of a Blank Planet" to be the best album of the decade. No joke. That brilliant CD is the most poignant and brutally honest portrait of late adolescence/teenage angst and apathy since The Who's phenomenal "Quadrophenia" and the enveloping music is flawless. With that lofty assessment in mind, I'd lowered my expectations for "The Incident" simply because I didn't think it possible for them to equal their masterpiece and I was correct. They didn't. But they came damned close, delivering everything I love about this group without taking for granted or forsaking the unique characteristics that make them the force of nature they are. They're still growing. They're still exploring their unlimited potential.

The opener, "Occam's Razor," sounds like a massive, disgruntled upstairs tenant stomping on the floor of his flat, raining ceiling plaster down on our heads. Except it's God Almighty and he's had it up to here with the confused, vile melee going on below his peaceful heavenly abode. He pauses, stomps again, then broods while waiting for a response. To His disgust, mankind answers with more of the same old immoral crap in "The Blind House." The band hits it hard with Gavin Harrison's ferocious drums leading the charge as the group expertly employs their trademark manipulation of both light and heavy motifs to create magic. Steven's naked lyrics never fail to connect the dots and here he exposes the mind-control methods of the perverted monsters that quarantine their flock and cloak the sin of their unconscionable rape of the innocents beneath their ugly, unsanctified pastoral posturing. "Pray and violate/abuse your trust/false gods must/purge their lust/a family that lies/to seal your fate/to take the weight/of their self-hate," Wilson sings. At one point the song drifts into a sort of cosmic waiting room but God's indignation at the end is as violent and harsh as His inescapable justice. That gem is followed by "Great Expectations," a short burst full of the romantic PT approach that I can't ignore. It's also a preview of the mosaic pattern of presentation this album will adhere itself to. Essentially it's just a simple tune and I admire the self-restraint they impose by opting not to stretch it out into something it ain't.

"Kneel and Disconnect" is a somber piano, acoustic guitar and three-part harmony piece that bemoans the drudgery of a life lost in the futility of the human obsession with finding a fulfilling "career." For the lengthier "Drawing the Line" Gavin's finely-tuned tubs create a smooth, rolling sensation on the verses that stands in stark contrast to the stringent edge presented in the chorus and the swaying guitar solo is effectively disorienting. The words portray a man who has been under the thumb of the devil far too long and is finally taking back his soul. "Recording all my problems onto memory cards/your compassion unmoved/unto others what they always do to you/the most twisted of your rules," Steven rails in exasperation. They segue seamlessly into "The Incident," where a viscous, undulating synth groove sucks you into its irresistible tow and a sinister aura builds steadily up to Harrison's striking entrance. One of the many charms of this group is how they toss in a healthy dose of metal at just the right juncture to press their point home and they do that here to emphasize words describing the protagonist's panic at finding out what a sick puppy he's become. "When a car crash gets you off/you've lost your grip," he confesses. Later on the dark skies lighten a bit and the music becomes almost uplifting as he ponders the idea that all his gruesome neuroses stem from his desperate, narcissistic need to be loved and he repeats that revelation like a mantra. It's the cornerstone of the CD in more ways than one.

"Your Unpleasant Family" is a small ditty of passing importance but it's an example of how Steven shares his ordinary yet relatable thoughts and his slashing slide guitar work provides a nice change of scenery. The instrumental "The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train" emits a dense beauty not unlike a Monet painting as eerie synthesized voices appear in the aural mist like ghosts. Severely strummed acoustic guitars give "Time Flies" a driving urgency and by the time the full ensemble jumps in on the second verse to broaden the song's scope you're hooked like a marlin. Wilson's David Gilmore-ish bright- as-a-beacon descending guitar chords are spectacular and the floating instrumental break is contemplative and patient. The wicked guitar ride that ensues festers like doubt before it explodes in a fit of rage and frustration and at the tune's end the fragmented notes linger, suspended in air like afterthoughts. Steven has learned what everyone who crosses the threshold of 30 finds out in that "after a while you realize that time flies/and the best thing that you can do/is take whatever comes to you/'cause time flies," he admits. No one escapes the ticking of the clock, not even rock stars. In "Degree Zero of Liberty" God has been roused from His serene rest by our rude goings on once again and He throws another room-shaking tantrum to remind us that He's the ultimate landlord and He can evict us at any time if we dare push Him too far.

"Octane Twisted" has the signature PT melancholy, dreamlike texture that leads to a strong metallic interlude in which Gavin displays his ability to dominate and astonish with his amazing technique. It contains a great line that plunges to the heart of many a progger: "Give me something new, please, something I can love," he croons. "The Séance" is an extension of the previous number's spooky vibe but it's also a subdued roadside rest stop of reflection that culminates in a wall of terse acoustic guitars. "Circle of Manias" is an all-out foray into their metal wardrobe as they take you on an exhilarating ride that makes even this aging geezer bang his noggin. Disc 1's finale is its crowning jewel, the enthralling "I Drive the Hearse." On most of their albums there are always a few songs that are extraordinary and this is definitely of that ilk. It's awesomely arranged and performed, Wilson bares his soul in the remorseful lyrics and the song's gradual evaporation at the end is suitably deep and dramatic, thanks in no small part to bassist Colin Edwin's complimentary bass lines. "Silence is another way of saying what I want to say/and lying is another way of hoping it will go away/and you were always my mistake," Steven laments. The older you get the more likely it will be that you'll feel exactly the same about someone in your past. This tune is gorgeous.

Disc 2 is different in a sense because it's more of a combined group-writing effort but there's no dip in quality at all. "Flicker" owns a hypnotic feel that flows like a stream and it's one of those cuts that warrants careful attention being given to what's going on in the background. The musicianship is mind-boggling. The Ecclesiastically-inspired words are excellent, too. "Nothing is new here underneath the sun/all of the big new charlatans will sneer at us/barely a flicker of the light to come/only the people who always think they know best," Wilson intones, knowing they can't please everybody. On "Bonnie the Cat" we get a glimpse into the decidedly creepier corners of their psyche. Gavin's flaming footwork flabbergasts throughout and they all indulge freely in some intense molten metal exercises that'll singe your eyebrows. Keyboard man Richard Barbieri supplies the electric piano- heavy score for "Black Dahlia" and Wilson penned the lyrics for this low-key but lovely air of introspection. Again he draws on Solomon for wisdom. "There's nothing here for you under the sun/there's nothing new to do, it's all been done/so put your faith in another place," he sings. The album closer, "Remember Me Lover," is an instance of this talented band transcending even my high expectations. It's a magnificent composition containing a tapestry of varied textures and hues as well as a blend of hard and soft passions that thoroughly satisfies the prog mammal in me. I love no-holds-barred lyrics about relationships and Steven outdoes himself here with lines like "I didn't wanna feel like a slave to your mood swings/and I'm not saying anything I wouldn't say behind your back," he warbles without a trace of shame. They leave you with a devastatingly fierce coda that leads right up to the brink of a bottomless abyss. Yeah, boy, they wowed me again.

Obviously, I'm an unabashed PT fanman. I admit it. They deliver the brand of groceries that keep me alive and invigorated. If you don't care for what they've done since the millennium then you should skip this and save your lettuce. On the other hand, if you still spin "FOABP," "In Absentia" and "Deadwing" on a regular basis I then you'll be delighted with what they've produced here, as well. I get turned on by most everything they do from the pristine drum tracks to the gargantuan guitars to the thought-provoking lyrics and topical themes Wilson deals openly with. They haven't let me down yet. So how does a band follow up the album of the decade? With the album of the year, that's how. 4.6 stars.

With "Time Flies" being the only track I really liked here (it was obvious since it's based on some borrowed tunes from well-known Prog bands of the 70s, but I wouldn't regard this kind of homage as plagiarism), I wonder how the next album would sound like. I don't care for this one much, it's too bleak and powerless, I'm ready for the up-coming one which I hope will bring back my faith in PORCUPINE TREE. The glory days of "The Sky moves Sideways" or "Deadwing" are long gone now, each band should move further, but the direction taken by Steven Wilson & Co is somewhat confusing. Not recommended after all

The biggest stardom of contemporary progressive music

Porcupine Tree have established themselves as the most popular contemporary progressive rock band. This is not accidentally. They have their own style and their own conception of making music. They are trademark everyone have to conform with. Their newest album - The Incident, again shows their late mature style of playing and composing. Playing - because as a musicians they show real virtuosity and professionalism in making the production; composing - because Steven Wilson's songwriting is absolutely unique and impossible to be made by some else. Moreover, he makes some huge mistakes in earlier career with a lot of boring repetitions in his compositions. Now everything is estimated ideally.

Porcupine Tree's unique style have attracted a lot of fans of experimental, psychedelic and space music, including a lot of Pink Floyd's fans. Porcupine Tree is truely the seccessor of Pink Floyd, because they are the only one band to use the same conception of making music as Pink Floyd. Of course, in The Incident we can hear harder tunes, typical for the band. However, these harder tunes are again estimated perfectly for the most necessary moments of the album, where they followed the conception of the album.

What about the album? The Incident is a concept album about the life and some philosophical problems around it. The structure of the album is really innovative and the production of the album is perfect. Without being flawless, this album shows the genius of Steve Wilson. As I said this album is not flawless and some of its flaws can be feeled from the first time you hear the album. The most important flaw is in the fifth song - Drawing the Line, which is a middle class alternative song. Everything else on the album is highly impressive. The Incident is a mixture of psychedelic, space, crossover and metal music, combined in typical PT's style. Gavin Harrison is highly impressive on the album. I think his style on The Incident is perfect and adds some more intense sound. Probably the best progressive drummer now. The best moments on the album are The Blind House, Time Flies (in Animals' style), Octane Twisted, I Drive the Hearse and Remember Me Lover. The other songs are mostly links between these main moments. All these make The Incident one of the best PT albums and one of the best albums of 2009. 4,5 stars.

7/10

"The Incident" is a surprisingly really good effort by PT.

After the highly acclaimed "Fear Of A Blank Planet", Porcupine Tree release their fourth album with their new sound, the sadly underrated "The Incident". There was a lot of excitement for this album, and everybody couldn't wait for it to be released. I was able to get it a week before it's official release, and I must say I was expecting a lot less.

The style is pretty much the same as the last couple of albums from the band, some heavy metal influences as well as progressive/ Pink Floyd ones, psych rock, ambient,romantic ballads and catchy melodies. The structure of "The Incident though is much more different than the previous efforts of the band: in fact, all the first CD contains one long suite, "The Incident", divided in 14 songs that perfectly flow, thanks to some repetitions of some of the main themes, as well as different, brilliant ideas. Definitely one of PT's highest peaks of the last ten years.

The second CD manages to keep the same level as CD 1: thanks to songs like the relaxing Flicker, or the tense and at times violent "Bonnie The Cat", and the ending song "Remember Me Lover", which contains lots of romantic melodies and lyrics.

Unfortunately, this album will be surely forgotten, as it will get lost in the middle of all those huge masterpieces that PT released previously. But "The Incident" is a surprisingly really good effort by PT, even though it is getting a little underrated.

I write these few lines after assisting yesterday night to PT's concert in Barcelona. I need to listen to an album played live (any album, but mostly the most "difficult" ones, like this) before forming a full opinion on their value. Thus, I can frankly say that THE INCIDENT is a masterpiece of progressive rock, all ages, all styles, period. Mainly because it puts together jn oen piece of music (the title track) all those things we love about the band: the experimental edge (The incident, Kneel and disconnect, Octane twisted), the power (Occam's razor, Circle of manias), the seventies' feeling (the iccomensurable Time Flies, Kneel and disconnect), and the melody (Drawing the line, I drive the hoarse, black house). But it so does in non- predictable, highly creative ways. This record is more balanced by the previous records, like the "too pop" Stupid dream and Lightbulb sun, or the "too metal" FOABP and In Absentia, and does not let down the lovers of the band's most experimental period. For me, the Sky Moves Sideways remains the "dream album" of the post-seventied but The Incident is probably the best and more mature effort. Among the EP songs, I was particularly stricken by Bonnie the Cat and its splendid live rendition. Hands down, well done, Steven & company. PS majestic performance also by John Wesley yesterday, by the way.

A grower

Edit: Ignore the following review. The album is much better than I gave it credit for and I need to rewrite this. Ironically, this album grew on me while I lost most of my appreciation for Insurgentes. I've raised this rating to 4 and reduced Insurgentes to 3.

At the end of the day, The Incident simply feels like a great recipe that was unfinished, undercooked, choose your cliché. My honest opinion is that most artists require a certain amount of time to prepare each feast, and in this case Wilson used most of his kitchen magic in preparation of the exquisite "Insurgentes." That album struck me as a great progression for Wilson as an artist and a very satisfying experience for the listener. The Incident, while chalk full of promising bits and pieces never comes together as a great album. It feels lost, it meanders, it tries everything in the tackle box but the fish aren't biting. The intent may very well have been to make a "looser" album as a change from the clearly well structured FoaBP, he may have been trying to force the listener to accept something less defined. Sometimes albums like that can be a real adventure but in the case of The Incident it just didn't happen.

There are some really fantastic individual tracks here that jump the rating to an immediate "good-3" for me but that's as far as it goes. "Octane twisted" is a good track with the gentle Steven intro just launching into ferocious rock, the kind of real punch I wish Rush were still capable of. Songs like "The blind house" and "Time flies" in particular have this middle-aged angsty melody that Wilson is every bit as capable of tapping as he is teen angst on earlier work. I know exactly the feelings he is lamenting in a "suburb of heaven" that "seemed to make so much sense." I shared the same time and place, and the speed with which life passes becomes painfully clear to anyone past 30. While the lyrical concepts of the album are loftier than that of course, what is important to me is the emotional connection which come in fits and spurts throughout this album. Yet unlike "The Wall" where the minor pieces and connecting tissue always felt as wonderful as the meatier tracks, those pieces here feel more or less like outtake PT riffing and drifting. Harsh perhaps, but after so many plays it never feels as complete or as special as Insurgentes, In Absentia, or even FoaBP. It feels like something that would have succeeded much more as an EP, with the best material streamlined into 28 minutes.

So there I was, in Seattle on September 15th 2009.

It was a special day. Why? Because it would be the official release date of my favorite band's new album and they would start their INCIDENT tour in Seattle that very same day in The Moore Theatre at 1932 3rd Ave. I had never heard the album until that day. This would be a great environment to absorb it for the very first time. The first riffs of the album already gave me goose bumps. What an energetic band and what a great album. After September 15th this album would only continue to keep growing on me !

So after I got back home in The Netherlands the Special Edition of The Incident had arrived and I was eager to listen to it again, again and again. Now I could also hear the 5.1 remix of the album on the DVD-A. And even better: I would go see them again on October 12th in the Heineken Music Hall. I went there with my wife and some very close friends and wow, it sounded even better than one month before in The Moore Theatre! The set list was pretty much the same, but I didn't care. This was awesome and even my wife, who's not really into progressive rock like I am, was enjoying herself a lot ! All great stuff and wow, I can't simply describe how much I enjoy that great guitar solo on "I Drive The Hearse". That's just awesome !

And now what? I'm waiting for December 2nd and I will drive to Cologne with a very good friend then in order to see their show once more in Palladium. Can't wait. I'm exited already ! Maybe you guys should read some other reviews on this album as well, because this one was written by one of their biggest fans and I simply think this is one of their very best albums, because it has so much variety on it. Maybe you have to be a fan in order to like it so much as I do, but who cares, I can only rate it the full 5 stars. Sorry guys ! ;-)

Evenless

"The Incident" is the 10th full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Porcupine Tree. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in September 2009. "The Incident" features both a full album and a seperate second disc with a 4 song EP. Disc 1 contains one 55:08 minute long concept story, sub-divided into 14 tracks that seque into each other while disc 2 features the 4 EP tracks. I recently read an interview with frontman and main composer Steven Wilson, where he explained that he wasn´t fully satisfied with the fact that the band had chosen to release "Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)" and "Nil Recurring (2007)" as two seperate releases. He didn´t feel that "Nil Recurring (2007)" got enough attention compared to "Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)". So this time around, when Steven Wilson had written some songs that he didn´t feel fit the overall concept of "The Incident", he opted to release those songs on an EP which would be released with the full album. So with "The Incident" you get a full album plus an EP for the price of only the album. A real treat if you ask me.

The 14 tracks that make out the 55 minutes long concept story on disc 1 are quite the exciting journey to my ears. As always it´s the melancholic emotions that are in focus and the songs go from subtle quiet parts to more energetic and loud ones. The songs are generally shorter than usual except for the 11:40 minute long "Time Flies". The choice of track order is exceptionally well thought out IMO which makes for an excellent listening experience. It´s obvious that the songs were written for the concept and they work well within that concept. Tracks like "The Blind House", "Drawing the Line", "I Drive the Hearse" and "Time Flies" are simply born "classics" in Porcupine Tree´s discography. Many of the shorter tracks are very enjoyable too. Most work as atmospheric interludes that help bind the album together. I have to give a special mention "Your Unpleasant Family" too because the lyrics made me smile the first time I listened to the song. Great lyrics on that one. The 4 tracks on the EP are of the same high quality as the material on the main album. "Flicker" and "Black Dahlia" are pleasant high quality songs but it´s mostly the experimental "Bonnie the Cat" and the beautiful closer "Remember Me Lover" that stand out.

The production is excellent. Powerful and perfectly mixed. One of Steven Wilson´s best IMO.

Porcupine Tree albums usually takes a while to sink in for me, but "The Incident" really nailed me to the chair from first listen. It´s melodic, memorable, progressive, powerful yet pleasantly subtle. It´s the most complete release by the band so far. A 5 star (100%) rating is deserved.

There are the facts, then there is perception based partly upon experience, culture, and education. There is also politics, of which politically correctness is disingenuous in regards to facts. Then there is faith, which can be pure and absolute within the soul, and yet vulnerable to an extreme in relation to politics, perceptions, and fact. The intent may be absolution and humility to a greater power and a future bathed in eternal light.. Deceivers and charlatans will prey upon a pure and faithful soul. They see you kneeling in your blind house. They use your faith against you for their own earthly desires. "Breathe out. Blind House. Free Love. Feel Love."

That evil can so perfectly exist and lead astray those devoted in faith to God should not be a surprise to anyone. These are the facts- throughout the history of the world the fight between good and evil has been as much a war within each community as it is a war between nations. Now go write a novel about this. Go write a play about this. Or, if you are Porcupine Tree, go write a concept album about this. Make it epic.

This is a contemporary telling of an age-old tale. The photos in the jacket remind us of 2008, when the State of Texas removed 450 children from a ranch near El Dorado and from their parents, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). The Texas Supreme Court later ordered the children be returned to their parents.

In "The Blind House" you can almost hear the sect's leader, Warren Jeffs, speaking these words to the children, "It's no concern of theirs/The world aside/Corrupts my child/So trust these eyes."

Does Porcupine Tree tell this story in an epic way? Not completely, yet well enough to inspire. It is dark theme. It is dangerous. Their music is filled with angst, with pain, and twisted refrains.

This is a bold journey of music and story where the theme of betrayal is repeated in "Great Expectations" when Steven Wilson sings, "They locked you up/So I forgot you.forgot you. and again in "Drawing the Line" with the lyrics, "Unto others what they always do to you/The most twisted of your rules". Perhaps nothing is more powerful than "When a car crash gets you off you've lost your grip/When a [%*!#] is not enough you know you've slipped/When the church is full it means you've just been had". "The Incident" even feels like a car crash and a [%*!#] and church full of used and abused believers.

The entire story falters with what is easily the most accessible and enjoyable song on the album- Time Flies. This song stands out alone on Disc 1 as an antithesis to the epic tale being told. It contains one of the finest, passionate guitar solos since Pink Floyd's Animals and The Wall- the story is about memories and the harsh reality of life, "But after awhile you realize time flies/And the best thing that you can do is take whatever comes to you/'Cause time flies" Steven Wilson sings, "Can you stop smoking your cigar?" Framing the lyrics is a picture of two young boys standing arm in arm. It is a sweet/sad song, but hardly with the strong moral undertone that carries the rest of the songs to their conclusion.

In the powerful Octane Twisted, there is blood flowing out of the stream and in The Seance, the singer begs, "give me something new please, something I can love." Is the protagonist lost without his belief? "Given time I fix the roof/Given cash I speak the truth" he sings in I Drive the Hearse. For all intents and purposes, the story ends here.

Disc 2 has four excellent songs and the theme of the story may be within each song, but each song is so distinct from the other that it raises the question, did the label pressure Porcupine Tree to add a second disc to improve sales? There is a long, and nearly faithful continuity to the theme of this album that could have carried for a similar length on disc 2- yet this shorter disc feels like an afterthought, as if a second ending was hastily added. Of these last songs, Black Dahlia is a stellar piece, challenging Time Flies for top song on the album. As for this reviewer, he found great satisfaction in the very last song Remember Me Lover- it was a clear reminder of this reviewer's own personal decision to make life changes, "But now I've got to be the one to turn away. it's time to react".

Where so many bands stick to formula, it is refreshing to listen to The Incident. It is comforting to know that there are bands willing to challenge themselves to be something more than artists within a medium. Porcupine Tree takes risks, dares to elevate while taking us on a descent into dark subjects-where the real world lies. An epic journey, with only a few unscheduled stops along the way.

Perhaps if we stop calling Porcupine Tree progressive rock, they will once again make progressive rock.

For me, this album completes the transition that most people would probably argue started with Stupid Dream. (Personally, I feel this trend started slightly on Deadwing, and has only gotten worse from there.) This trend I'm speaking of is moving away from progressive music, to music much more in the alternative rock/indie/rock-pop scene. For me, Deadwing hinted at it, Fear Of A Blank Planet greeted it warmly, and now The Incident is soaking in it. It really is a shame for my ears. I hope this is just an experiment for Wilson and will not become a normal path for Porcupine Tree. Hopefully they will embrace the very escense of progressive rock and progressive to a higher level of music.

I suppose I should preface this review with two facts. One, I am a fan of this band. I am a fan of Steve Wilson and I think he can do amazing things and write very intelligent lyrics (and music) when he wants to. There are plenty of examples from the bands back catalogue, as well as from Wilson's recent solo album. Two, I do not like pop music. I do not like indie music. I find these genres too boring and uninteresting to take enjoyment out of them (aside from the occasional song). If you like pop/pop-rock/indie music then you will probably be able to soak in much more enjoyment out of this album then I have.

On to the disc. Initially I was very excited to hear the Tree was going to release a fifty-five minute song, especially after the disappointing FOABB. I thought this would be a return to form. Sadly not. First of all, its not really a fifty-five minute song, but fourteen individual songs stuck together with some vague connections between them. This would have been alright if the music was anywhere near enjoyable. Musically this album is very uninspired. Diminished atmosphere, very limited, and much more in the pop/indie direction than ever before. Lyrically this album is also a bust as the lyrics are even more juvenile than FOABB and aren't anywhere near the sophisticated and intelligent melancholy lyrics that Wilson is so adept at writing. There are a couple of somewhat interesting instrumental breaks occasionally thrown in, but certainly not enough to keep interest. The second disc is better, but no where near great. The music feels very flat and unproductive. Similar to the first disc, there are flickers (pun!) of enjoyment, but they are too fleeting. Another complaint I have is the sound quality. I was expecting excellence in this realm as well, being Mr. Wilson seems to be an audiophile. Perhaps its because I don't have the latest in 5.1 surround sound stereo or anything nearly that upscale in terms of listening equipment, so perhaps the sound quality is actually better, but I shall never know. (Perhaps a plus for this album ;-))

All in all, this album was a disappointment to say the least. Its a shame to hear quality musicians produce such banal music. I have yet to use a one star rating, but am afraid I must here. I am still a fan of this band, if only for their back catalogue and the hope that they have fully explored this world of music and are ready to move on (or back) to better things. Fans of pop/indie music will probably enjoy this. Fans of the old atmospheric Porcupine Tree probably will not. Sad but true, the biggest disappointment of 2009 to be sure (and I certainly hope it doesn't win the title for collab album of the year). One star.

Steven Wilson and company shows excellent craftsmanship on this most recent effort of their, but the moments of true brilliance seems to be few and far away this time around. Unless one really fancies mellow, sophisticated music with strong singer/songwriter leanings that is.

The 18 tracks on these two Cds are very much a mixed affair though. While the mellow and subdued tracks and themes does dominate, and most of them as far as I'm concerned lacks the small extras that transforms them into stunning sonic experiences, there's also quite a few numbers where the contrasts between acoustic guitar or piano-lead themes and harder-hitting riff-based passages are utilized to good effect. There's aalso a few quirky, heavier compositions that should satisfy those not too fond of the mellow stuff.

But by and large this is a subdued effort with select heavier passages and tracks rather than the opposite. The epic length Time Flies are among the most succesfull tracks, and is a rather good example of what the rest of the CD has to offer.

I was really impatient for this album to be released. I had heard the album preview and loved every clip, so I figured this would be my favorite release of the year.

Sadly, I was slightly disappointed, but not too much. For the most part, the songs are good to excellent, with The Blind House, Time Flies, Octane Twisted, I Drive the Hearse and Bonnie the Cat being particular highlights for me. However, the 55 minute long eponymous title track (more like a loose suite) wasn't as cohesive as I hoped it would be. Rather, it plays like a string of maybe 8 songs that just happen to be gaplessly melded together. The only real hint of leitmotif lies in the introductoin Occam's Razor and Degree Zero of Liberty, and it's not an entirely intriguing melody (mostly a few blistering chords played over and over again).

While a lot of that probably sounded really negative, this album is not without it's many merits, hence the 4/5 star rating. Once again, the songs are very good, especially the ones previously mentioned. Steven Wilson really knows how to produce tracks in such a way to bring out the best in them, and it shows. And of course, the drumming of Harrison is just as tight and smooth (at once!) as ever. It's overall a smooth, enjoyable listen, just not as epic as it was initially made out to be.

However, it's without a doubt a standard Porcupine Tree release, and that's never a bad thing.

For a very long time, I had had six favorite bands. They are my favorite bands for years. Genesis - Yes - GentleGiant - Pink Floyd - Van der Graaf Generator - Camel. There was quite a long time that no essential new band could be added to this list. The only exception maybe Sting, but Sting's music doesn't belong to the progressive music scene. True, but his music is briljant. After may years of hardly buying any cd, I met the name of Porcupine Tree a few years ago. If I remember well, "Porcupine Tree" was ever used as part of the lyrics of a Genesis song, and because of that I decided to order a cd of Porcupine Tree. Just as a guess. Let's see if would I like it. Besides that, It was time to discover some real new music. The album I bought was In Absentia. As is common with real good "complicated music", it takes some time to swallow the magnificance of themusic. After a while, I had to conclude that Porcupine Tree was addressing my "emotional musical needs" and this band really belongs to the list of my favorite bands. By the time that "The Incident" war released, I expected to be more or less dissappointed. I had enjoyed so much of their previous albums, both from the "old style" and the new one, having "metal" outbursts. It did expect it to be very diffucult to have the same "quality" again. I have to say, this album "The Incident" did not dissapoint me all! It is remarkable that again Porcupine Tree managed to release such a good album again. It puts the old style and new style in a optimal balance. For me, it is the best released album in 2009.

What a mess! As someone else wrote here, there is no "epic" on CD 1. The only track on disc 1 that is even remotely prog.rock is _Time Flies_ which is a nice ride and a perfect balance between PT's Delerium years space period and their current heavier sound(they finally got it right). _I Drive The Hearse_ is a nice mellow track in the Floyd/Crimson mold. Other than that, the other tracks either sound like a poor imitation of Opeth or a dead horse beaten repeatedly with power chords. Nothing cohesive. no recurring themes - just some strange sound effects and keyboard noodles in between tracks.

Disc 2 is the only thing that really saves this album from being a well done turkey. _Remember Me Lover_ is probably the finest PT track since _The Sound Of Muzak_. Classic PT sound with the amazing vocal harmonies and literate lyrics from Steven Wilson. The other 3 tracks are reminiscent of the _Stupid Dream_ era, but nothing really stands out. For fans only, this one(unfortunately). 2 stars.

2009 Biggest Let Downs: Part 1

2009 was said to be a great year for prog. Well, I'm not really sure whether to include myself in the group of people who believe this or not. Don't get me wrong, I've really enjoyed lots of works that came out last year, such as IQ's Frequency, Beardfish's Destined Solitaire or Mastodon's Crack The Skye just to cite some. The problems came out from the bands I was expecting probably the most. So, what 2009 really was for me was a year full of surprises, in terms of not knowing what to expect from each band, and that causing me to turn my back to some on my favourite artists for others instead. That was the case for Dream Theater (I wasn't really surprised that BCASL turned out to be as terrible as it was. It's just that whenever a new DT release is out I still keep the hope of finding something unique and fresh such as Images And Words), Queensryche, and, last but not least, Porcupine Tree.

Now, let's analyze PT's context before this release. They had the hard task of matching a masterpiece like Fear Of A Blank Planet, which, for me was the best release of 2007 by far. They had announced that the new album would be double and it would include a 55 minute epic. Expectations were real high for every PT fan (myself included).I really couldn't wait for this new album to come out. So, what happens when you desperately desire something so bad and when you finally get it, the taste in your mouth is not as sweet as you would suppose was going to be?. The dissapointment is even bigger than the initial desire. That's exactly how I felt after listening The Incident. It took a long time for me to finally decide to write a review on this. I was really anxious to express my thoughts on the new album, but, also I didn't want to rush out on it, since I've read tons of reviews of people stating that The Incident was an album that grows on you once you've listened to it several times.Sorry folks, that was not my case. First of all, there is no 55 minute epic in here. It's just a concept piece that is separated on 14 tracks which are hardly connected one to each other. Secondly, I've always defended Porcupine Tree from people I know who think they are a boring band. With The Incident it was really the first time I found a PT release boring and uninspired. So uninspired that two of the three tracks that I enjoy the most on disc one seem to be total rip off's from other bands. As many people have stated, Time Flies, the central piece of the supposedly epic, has too many similar elements with Pink Floyd's Dogs. So therefore, although it is quite enjoyable, it's hard for me to fully appreciate it. The other track is The Incident (track 6), which sounds pretty much like a Massive Attack song. I like Massive Attack, so this had to appeal me. The problem is that when I buy a Porcupine Tree album I want to listen to Porcupine Tree. Not Tricky, nor Daddy G, but Steven Wilson. In fact, whenever I listen to this song, it always seems to me that in any time of the song I will hear: "Moving up slowly inertia creeps" or "karmacoma, jamaica'aroma". I mean, come on!, is this the same band that two years ago wrote awesome and original tunes such as Anesthesize or Fear Of A Blank Planet?.The only real original Porcupine Tree moment in disc one is I Drive The Hearse, which unluckily is the last track, so it is difficult for me to reach there before I turn my cd player off. Some moments on The Blind House are pretty decent too. But the rest is either filler or a yawn concert.

Disc Two hasn't got much more to offer, with one exception.But before we get to the songs, why the need to make a double album if all the songs fit together in a single cd?. The only advantage I get from it is that these songs won't be included in the next Porcupine Tree album, so it is a nice opportunity to start again fresh and new. Ok, now, let's get to the last tracks. Flicker has a certain Pink Floyd feel (just a feel)and it is an average PT tune. Nothing remarkable, but not that bad either. In fact, it really stands outin what the whole album is. Next we get another track with vocals "a la massive attack". Only that this time, Bonnie the cat doesn't appeal to me even a little bit. I usually tend to skip this song because I don't find almost anything to rescue. Perhaps the last part, in which the song gets a little heavier. Nevertheless, it is quite an experimental song. It didn't work on me, but some people may find it interesting. It may be worth to listen to it and take your own conclusions. My thoughts over black dahlia are similar to Flicker. Average Porcupine Tree. So I don't feel the need to extend this review further just for this track. Finally we get to Remember Me Lover. And this, my friends, is what Porcupine Tree should be about.Beautiful song. It is a very laid back track that grows a bit on the chorus. Afterwards it gets a little heavier just to get laid back and heavy once again. Great arrangements and rhythm transitions all over this track. Really recommended.

So, it is true. I didn't like The Incident. I think it was a wrong step in the band's direction. But hey, all the greats have taken some wrong steps along the way. I think it's just a stone in the middle of the road. Steven Wilson is a genius and I have no doubts that the next Porcupine Tree release will blow our minds once again. It's just a matter of waiting a couple of years for that to happen.

Well to say this was a let down I think it's an understatement. Porcupine Tree are one of the most important prog bands right now, so the hype that is created around every release is huge and still growing. I got into PT around the period of Fear of a Blank Planet and The Incident, so naturally I had huge hopes about this album. The first listen was great, but at times passes by, several things came to mind. First, this is not an "epic" or anything, just a bunch of songs related by one riff, similar to the case of 6DOIT. Now, that's really not a big problem for me, but most of the tracks feel forced, or are just fillers. The high point if the first cd is probably Time Flies, which is obviously, an homage to Floyd, but I don't mind that. The title track, has very bland vocals, something I would't have expected from Wilson, but oh well. Moving to the second cd which is painfully short, we find some of the better tracks(sadly).I really like Bonnie The Cat, as it tries something interesting with it's rhythm section, and the highlight of this double album it's for me Remember my lover, as I feel this doesn't feel as forced as much of this album and has the feeling of old PT albums. Comparing the sound of this album to the past ones, I would say that this is more acoustic than FOABP. This is not a bad album by any means, it's just that with the songwriting abilities that Wilson has, I expected more. Still we can hope that the next album'll be better.

Well, I'm quite glad I waited as long as I have to write my thoughts on this album.

My first impression was one of mild interest. This slowly turned into a lack of interest, and I shelved the album for a month or so. However, upon listening to it over the past few weeks, it has revealed itself to me as a decent, if flawed album.

First off, this is not an epic by any stretch. It is a pretty cohesive concept album though, at least musically. I think of it more like The Wall or The Lamb in terms of structure (though certainly not in terms of content). I still feel like some of the shorter, connecting pieces should have been more fleshed out as whole songs, but on the other hand they all work pretty well as interludes.

As far as actual songs, The Blind House, The Incident, Time Flies, Octane Twisted, and especially I Drive The Hearse are all excellent PTree tracks. These did not reveal themselves instantly to me (except Time Flies, which appealed to me right away because of it's blatant Pink Floyd homage), but with repeated listens I've come to realize they are pretty much typical PTree material with good atmosphere and decent melody. The melodies are there on this album, but they are for the most part not as immediate as many previous albums. Though I Drive The Hearse is as good as anything Wilson has ever written for the band. The controversial I Draw the Line has also grown on me, but I still find the chorus to be a bit irritating and unnecessarily "indie" in nature. Like something from REM or even Green Day. Just not my thing, though I think ultimately Wilson did a decent job juxtaposing the two very different aspects of the song. It just bugs me that the verses are so appealing and the chorus so unappealing.

The short tracks are all good to my ears, but again, I always find myself wishing they were fleshed out as songs. The exception is the opening track (and the reprise later in the album) and The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train. The former is a great opening for the album (though seems kind of weak for a recurring motif, but I like it anyway), the latter a wonderful intro for the Floyd tune. Times Flies is a blatant homage to Floyd, and Wilson has not pretended otherwise. He's openly admitted that he wrote the parts to be as close to parts from the Animals album as possible without being so close as to get sued. In that sense, I can appreciate the song and I think he did a wonderful job with it. Very much a return to the Sky Moves Sideways album (which was itself a more blatant homage to Floyd, in my opinion.....and I love that album as well).

I'm a little annoyed at Wilson for not just putting the tracks on the second CD on to the first. He could have easily separated them from The Incident by putting a several minute gap between them or something. As it is, it seems like a waste of plastic to separate them. However, like most people I got the album for $10, so it's not such a big deal to me really. I think the songs on the second CD are all quite good, even Black Dalia, and I'm very glad to have them. Remember Me Lover is classic PTree, and Bonnie The Cat, which I don't think is the best song on the CD by any stretch, is still an enjoyable bass and drums exposition (Harrison really shows us his stuff on this one!).

Overall then, I find this far better than the previous album, Fear Of A Blank Planet. But compared to the 4 albums before that, I find it doesn't measure up nearly as well. On the whole I give it a 3, perhaps a bit higher. It is much better than FOABP, which I also gave 3 stars to, but it certainly isn't up to the level of Deadwing which I gave 4 stars to. In any case, I recommend giving this many listens, as I think people with too high expectations are missing out on a pretty darn good album. This is essential for PTree fans, but people newer to the band would do better to start with In Absentia or Lightbulb Sun. Just keep in mind that this band is really not progressive in any sense of the word.

Porcupine Tree prove longevity is still possible in the world of prog.

PTree are undoubtedly one of the most influential groups of the past decade. Their albums in the early years are as weird as it gets with some dedicated to one sole idea and one song. Now on this latest release they present another one track conceptual album.

The main reason to purchase this is the 55 minute epic title track. 'The Incident' is a multi movement suite that features many songs merging seamlessly together to capture a narrative concept concerning a road accident, which is becoming popular on prog concept albums (The Human Equation, Octave).

The Incident is excellent in every respect, musically and lyrically it delivers, merging crunching metal guitars and ambient soundscapes of mellotron effortlessly; shades of dark and light. There are some tough fuzz guitars on these tracks and those melodic ethereal vocals of Wilson have never been better.

'Time Flies' is Porcupine Tree at their best, an incredible composition that is compelling and powerful. It is the highlight of ths very competent album.

The second CD features about 20 minutes of extras, at least they feel like it. They are Ok but no where near the epic title track. Its a bold move to release an album in this manner but it delivers and if only for 'The Incident' it will be hailed as a classic Porcupine Tree CD. It does not measure up to 'In Absentia' or 'Deadwing' but is still an excellent album, showcasing the sheer inventiveness and musical virtuosity of Porcupine Tree. I can't wait to see or hear them perform this live. 4 stars.

The first Porcupine Tree album I got, I was looking forward to hearing a full abum for the first time. The first disc is the concept 55 Minutes long, and the second disc a collection of four songs that were produced from the sessions. The art direction continues with Lasse Hollie at the helm, and give a strange view of what's going on within the storyline about different Incidents such as a car crashing at an intersection, the lost of live, to find a fallen family member within a seance.

OCCAM'S RAZOR, a short heavy instrumental that sounds like somethings trying to crash through a wall or something (I turned the volume up quite high, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when the first note hit) THE BLIND HOUSE, the first actually song and I really liked it. The vocals are nice and again the drumming is very good as well as eerie keyboards by richard and a nice sound produced on the guitar. GREAT EXPECTATIONS, its like a soft rock song at least in the first ten seconds with the acousticness, then comes the drumming as always a nice listen. KNEEL AND DISCONNECT, a great keyboard driven song (it blends nicely from the last song though feels polar opposite, like the sun and moon or something), thumbs up go to Richard for this. and it goes smoothly into... DRAWING THE LINE, this song is slightly different from the last and adds a sense of urgency over the repeated guitars. THE INCIDENT, beginning with strange syth sounds and Steven voice adds an eerie statement to the proceedings YOUR UNPLEASANT FAMILY, a short song (I wonder if its connected to the last one at all) THE YELLOW WINDOWS OF THE EVENING TRAIN, a short instrumental ambient song with is really mellow though only lasts for 2 minutes TIME FLIES, the longest song on the album and definatly a highlight. Starts of as a catchy rock song basically and changes after about 4 miunutes into a quiet riff from Steven and the magic behind the drums. DEGREE ZERO OF LIBERTY, similar to the first song, an almost continuation maybe a sign that its changing into something different. OCTANE TWISTED, starts with a nice sombre guitar with very odd lyrics from Wilson, then goes off into a more heavy intrumental part with louder drums, guitars and keyboards, then reverts back with a great drumming part from Gavin THE SEANCE, Goes quiet again with this song, and gives a glimsp of how good they are at the softer stuff. CIRCLE OF MANIAS, a short song with strange far off vocal of 'ahh', and again the music is so greatly put together as is particlularly heavy. I DRIVE THE HEARSE, back with another sombre song Wilson really likes being Melancholy doesn't he, a hearse driver always driving the dead around HOW FUN!! No really it would be.

and onto disc two, FLICKER, the first of the second cds songs. Its a nice as always the vocals are top notch, maybe its just me but its always hard to hear the bass with this band but i'm sure if I just try to concentrate I could hear it. BONNIE THE CAT, a really good song probably my favorite of the disc two songs, its similar to the last but in the middle goes off into a instrumental of such BLACK DAHLIA, I dunno this song reminds me of indie band Snow Patrol, had the unfortunate incident (mind the pun) of having my girlfriend put them on and ruined it for me, although i quite like this song its probably the weakest on the album. REMEMBER ME LOVER, a moderatly long song (second longest on this album after TIME FLIES) the keyboards on it is really nice, as well as the vocals from Steven. In comes the drumming and brings all the weirdness together and voila.

After seemingly taking forever to write this, I give this pretty darn good album 4 stars.

Wow, another masterpiece.

Porcupine Tree never fail to deliver, and this album proves it. A 50 minute piece of music. How are they going to pull that off. A little like this.

To be honest each seperate song on the piece is considered as a song in itself.

There is quite a cool Tarentino meets ghost movie like concpet around this album, and the concept was quite cool, but it's not necessary, the music itself is just amazing.

This was also the first suite of 2009, followed by The Whirlwind (there's probabbly more that I don't know of)

C.D. 1

I. Occam's Razor - Nice clashy intro. Pure Porcupine Tree. Reminds me of the start of Ummagumma.

II. The Blind House - Amazing way to start the piece. When the mellotron kicks in this song really comes into fruition.

III. Great Expectations - Great interlude with some amazing acoustic passages.

IV. Kneel & Disconnect - Amazing layered vocals and some lovely piano passages.

V. Drawing The Line - Reminds me of Godspeed You Black Emperor! The chorus is funny because an angry posh English man sounds funny. Very groovy song as well.

VI. The Incident - I love a dark electronica sound (I love Bjork basically). The chorus is also very catchy. Quite dark for Porcupine Tree.

VII. Your Unpleasent Family - I love the vocals in this song. Very beautiful. The guitar solo is amazing as well.

VIII. The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train - Very beautiful ambient section with some lovely mellotron parts.

IX. Time Flies - Wow, I didn't expect this song to be this good. Although I have a bit of a bone to pick with this song . This does sound and nearlly but not is Dogs by Pink Floyd. All in all this one of the best songs I've heard this band do and it should be heard.

X. Degree Zero Of Infinity - I love the return of the main theme. Fits perfectly.

XI. Octane Twisted - The main theme is now morphed into this amazing section. Major tonal shift. The polyrhythyms are excellent.

XII. The Séance - I love the return of the vocal theme. Amazing and very eerie.

XIII. Circle Of Manias - If Meshuggah heard this they'd be scratching their overinflated heads.

XIV. I Drive The Hearse - Reminds me of Shesmovedon. Incredibly beautiful and an amazing way to end this masterpiece.

C.D. 2

1. Flicker - Very calm and soothing, The instrumental parts are amazing. I love the chant like vocals.

2. Bonnie The Cat - Obvious Opeth influence. I love the almost spoken parts. Very sinister.

3. Black Dahlia - Very calm and soothing. The title doesn't suit it.

4. Remember Me Lover - A lovely wee love song. Aaah.

CONCLUSION: Obviously the first disc beats the second disc. If you don't have this, then shame you!

The Tree's third phase?

Introduction

We got a 55 minutes song plus a 20 minutes side B, we got a double disc, we got too much hype for a mere common release that comes out from the controversial Deadwing and the wonderfull Fear of a Blank Planet, if isn't enough put the good single Nil Recurring and the solo album by Wilson Insurgentes. After these points this Incident put the listener with too many expectations...

Main Theme

...only to give a bad feeling of used (look at In Absentia) tunes in the first three tracks (since they divided the ''song'' in tracks I'll refer to The Incident as the disc or single track not as the full lenght 55 min song that it pretend to be), the feel of altready seen ends with 4th track, 2 minutes of slow emptiness. Drawing The Line comes out with a new movement, here we see again the great group that gave us many years of good music, following a different path The Incident is a brand new song with a good charge that flows in Your Unpleasant Family which works like a coda and The yellow windows... works as prelude for the following song. Apart from the lenght (11 mins) Time Flies brings another feel of new wind similar to 7th track, seriously I'm a bit bored of it, even with good tunes is a bit redundant. Passing to the last portion of the disc wi see a ''clone'' from the first track (Degree Zero of Liberty) and finally a piece that worth something: Octane Twisted brings back the feel of FoaBP with quick changes and stunning rymths only to end in an anonymus and plain The Seance long 2 minutes and an half, Circle of Manias bring almost a stunning drum solo with some psych backgrounds, nothing special after all even if Harrison's work worth alone a track. Last one (14th) pretends to be a slow ballade and this can be surprising but it achieves the goal, maybe making the end less boring than the start.

Reprise

Flicker starts as a mellow carpet of sounds and his slowness maybe is what disc one miss, the story here seems to go on another way but everithing impact on a solid stone made of the same thing of The Incident giving nothing more than 6 minutes of drum-noise (yes Harrison this time don't make the point), Black Dahlia is another slow song even too short, anyway is nothing more than a reworked I Drive the Hearse (14th song of first disc), everything is going worse and worse, and last track from the second disc is just a bit too much long (funny the fact that they have made short good songs and long bad ones), anyway isn't the worst and can be counted as a plus in the overall.

Coda

In the end what we've got here? 2 disc that make a sub-par with Deadwing, some shining gems isolated in a plain album that doesn't achieve the goal as ''concept'' (there is any concept in the background? If there is one please tell me, I really want to know). Maybe as an edge album between two different styles this incident count as a good attempt, surely isn't a good point to start listen PT's music. By the way Harrison isn't at his best, and looks like he didn't even played/wrote some tracks moreover isn't a coincidence that Gavin is working with Robert Fripp at new King Crimson's album (I love prog-gossip). Last but not less important: the rating... 2. Really I'm giving 3 to it only for the ''new kind of sound'' coming out from these PT, but as said before if you want to listen PT go elsewere and come back after classics like UtD, Absentia or FoaBP.

"Kneel and disconnect" ?just disconnected-

First, a three star review is not bad OK? In fact, is a good but not essential album and I think this is the perfect album the exemplify that.

The heavy riffing of Wilson guitars here and there are really cool, the more atmospheric parts played with effects and keyboard oriented are good, the drumming of Harrison is great, as always, dynamic and fresh and is evident that the players understand each other in the best form. Is that enough to make a great album? My most honest answer is that no, is not enough and I will try to extend a little.

The music is enjoyable most of the time, especially if you like Alternative Rock with long arrangements, which PT is the best example and maybe the most successful Alternative Rock band in prog. The problem that I found of this production is the lack of any emotion what so ever. The vocal limitations of Steven Wilson are evident and at the end, his interpretation is lame, boring and cold. Most of the time, I feel that the music rescue that but hearing Wilsons vocals I just wonder how far is the next instrumental break, is just like that.

There's no emotion shared in this music, no matter if the song talks about anger, sadness, happiness or whatever, he just brings out depressive vocals and I feel so empty about it. So, maybe the PT fans are use to it, but I feel that Deadwing and In Absentia, Wilson brought out a little more emotion and the music is more alive than here.

For new fans, don't start here if you want to hear Porcupine Tree, listen to In Absentia better. For the rest, if you like Alternative Rock in prog, I suggest Oceansize more than this. Of course, if you don't want emotion but just pure cold catchy music in a depressive way, here is your album.

I wonder how cool could be PT with a better singer, of course, Wilson is the essence of PT, but I might like it a lot more. No highlights in this album, it's supposed to be a conceptual album so, give it a try if you like the description above, or if you don't agree with me about the essence of music. 3 stars.

Eddie Murphy syndrome.

Poor Eddie. Just grab a People's Magazine and check out how grabbed by the throat this guy is. I mean, 6 children from 4 different women? The old wallet must be worn. I have one word for you: alimony.

Steven Wilson also suffers from too many 'projects' at the same time (sorry Eddie). He gives, and gives and gives...and what's left for the poor Porcupine? Crumbs. Hey, who could endure such a musical brain hemorragia? Who could brag that they can take care of 4 or 5 projects at the same time? Something will suffer. Just like Eddie's movies, I guess.

Well, the Incident surely suffers from lack of attention. Wilson being so busy everywhere, the older child has lacks of coherence and has a hard time to be even. The fire's gone most part, but there's still good moments. If you could take some ideas from No-Man, Insurgentes and Blackfield...you could have a monumental statement.

If Clive Nolan was the most busy man of the 90's, Steven Wilson is clearly THE title older of this decade.

Is The Incident as good musically as Stupid Dream or Lightbulb Sun? No, probably not but I do like it more than Fear of a Blank Planet. Regarding the material itself, my first listen was a bit "meh" but after giving it a chance, I realized that there are some amazing lyrics here, which continue past themes of murder, death and the afterlife explored on In Absentia and Deadwing. I also believe that there is an overall theme to The Incident that Wilson is not talking about nor is he obligated. Connecting the dots I come up with something like this...

1) Occam's Razor - The explanation for something unknown is probably the most likely one. This seems to target religion and brainwashing, which is heavily featured in the first few songs.

2) The Blind House - Young girl and future spouse is sent to a religious all-girl boarding school to protect her from the real world. There she learns about lesbian love with lyrics like, "Free Love" and "Bring love to all my sisters", not to mention, "You don't need to know their secrets". This sets the stage for her inability to "love" the male protagonist. Probably one of the more mainstream songs on the album

3) Great Expectations - What the girl could have been had she not been "locked up" in the religious school.

4) Kneel and Disconnect - Title reaffirms religion disconnects one from the real world.

5) Drawing the Line - Our protagonist is being drawn to the girl, even though he tries to resist what he knows will be a destructive relationship, i.e., "I'm drawing the line, I'm taking control, I'm shutting you out". A nice melody however I find the chorus to be a bit annoying.

Note: There is no expected song regarding the actual marriage, which makes a statement in itself...i.e., the marriage should never have happened.

6) The Incident - Life changing event (car accident) that makes the protagonist realize that his life is being wasted married to this person who cannot love in the way that he desires. The line, "Got a feeling that I want you to be there" is the first indication that he is fantasizing about the death of his wife in the accident. One of my favorite songs in the cycle.

7) Your Unpleasant Family - The wrecked car is a metaphor for his wrecked life in which the husband realizes that her family is the source of his wife's issues.

8) Yellow Windows of the Evening Train - A childhood reference which leads into...

9) Time Flies - Remembering a childhood true love who gives him good advice, "You are what you make of yourself". Basically saying his current predicament is his own choice. Probably the best song on the album and certainly pays homage to Pink Floyd's Animals.

10) Degree Zero of Liberty - The current relationship robs him of the freedom and true love that he once experienced.

11) Octane Twisted - He kills his wife and the line, "Give me a sign that I can breath air" indicates that she still has a hold on him. Also, the DVD contains a bonus version of this song with imagery of a man murdering a woman.

12) The Seance - Again, the line "Give me a sign that I can breath air" indicates that he is unable to release himself from her hold even after death.

13) Circle of Manias - One mania (desire, futility, depression, denial) follows another in endless succession, describing the husband's incurable mental state. Nice rockin' tune with some heavy riffs.

14) I Drive the Hearse - The protagonist daydreams about driving the hearse containing his wife's body, which he believes is his only chance at freedom from his never-ending manias. Various lines reiterate his misery, "When you cry, I take the blame", "You were always my mistake", "When this boredom wears me out", "Denial is a better way". A great song that reminds me a bit of Feel So Low from Lightbulb Sun.

Regarding the songs on disc 2, I think that they are leftovers from The Incident that either didn't quite make the grade lyrically (Flicker) or they are too dark and gruesome. For example...

Bonnie the Cat - Our protagonist discovers that his wife is pregnant and knowing how the child would be raised by the mother and her parents, "I know what will be", decides that it is better to kill her.

Remember Me Lover - Refers to his earlier love from "Time Flies", which we learn was also a destructive relationship.

Black Dahlia - Reveals that he kills the earlier lover. This really adds to the dark tone of the album because now we have a serial killer, which is no surprise if you've read the lyrics to the album In Absentia.

Another interesting observation is that Wilson goes out of his way to dismiss these songs as being a cohesive whole, referring to them instead as separate incidents in his life. He also seems to have purposely chosen song titles that do not reflect the lyrical content. For example, Bonnie the Cat he claims is just a jumble of lyrics that he could think of no better song title. Yet if you read the lyrics carefully, you can see how the song fits in with the concept as I describe above. Again, I think that perhaps Wilson viewed the concept as too dark and gruesome to be acceptable by many fans. Nevertheless, this is a cohesive, deep concept album and deserving of four stars.

It' the first time i listen to PORCUPINE and i've been told so much about that band;that i feel a little bit disapointed . I was hoping for some strange and beautifull landscapes but all i have here is very monotonous and monochord music except track 10 that reminds me of PINK FLOYD (ANIMALS) but the rest of the album appears to me , just dark and not very inspired .Of course it's not that bad ,well played ,well produced, but i can't realy get hight through the whole album even after several spins.The music misses colours and diversity and i realy wonder how poeple can dream and feel fine with that ? It makes me feel the same as when i heard that ugly CRIMSON live album (EARTHBOUND ) even if it sounds , of course , better here.2,5 is the best i can do .

I really wish THE INCIDENT was the epic only...

The main album THE INCIDENT isn't bad by any means, but after the incredible hype surrounding it and my love for BLANK PLANET, this is a letdown. They seem to be regressing to what DEADWING represented, but with a bit more of a symphonic touch. The guitar sounds are more vibrant and less metal, and its the easiest difference I notice between this album and the last album.

The reviewers here seem pretty split on how the epic ''The Incident'' works; some say it is a full- fledged epic, others claim it's nothing more than fourteen disjoint songs. I say it's halfway in between. The opening theme in ''Occam's Razor'' is somewhat reprised in ''Degree Zero of Liberty''. I actually enjoy more of the shorter tunes like ''Your Unpleasant Family'', ''Yellow Windows'', ''Kneel and Disconnect'' and ''Circle of Manias'' (the only piece that sounds like it could fit on BLANK PLANET) for the atmospheres. ''I Drive the Hearse'' is my sentimental choice pick even if it's a tad cliche.

There are a few fits that I have. The title track is the black hole of the epic with a horrible drum- machine sounding beat and tacky trip hop checks. ''Drawing the Line'' has a nice piano intro, but the chorus brings out the weakest of Wilson's nasaly indie vocals. ''Time Flies'' has potential, but it lasts a tad too long and the name checking of albums at the beginning is cringeworthy at best. Still, ''The Incident'' epic is a pretty interesting piece of music that is on the bubble of four stars had one thing been taken away.

The extra EP at the end makes no sense. The combined time of the EP and the epic could fit on just one disc, but (it seems like) for continuity's sake, they are separate. If the main album has its charm, the EP is practically disposable. There isn't a track worth remembering off here. The presence of this bonus disc ruins my rating of THE INCIDENT since this is how it's packaged from the beginning.

Not as bad as people are saying.

All right, so The Incident is not really a 55-minute epic. If you really wanted to consolidate the 14 songs on this album into longer pieces, maybe you could get away with 6 songs or so. But it does not have the cohesion that artists like Neal Morse craft their epics with.

But that is OK! All the songs on this album are still good, even ones like "Drawing the Line" which I see everyone ragging on here. I personally enjoy the chorus very much. The title track does take some getting used to, as does "Time Flies" with its monstrous, noisy middle section, but they are worth giving repeated listening to. The "Octane Twisted-Seance-Circle of Manias" segment is pure prog metal brilliance.

If you liked other Porcupine Tree albums, definitely give this one a shot. I will confess that it is weaker than their last three albums, but still an honest piece of modern prog.

Another good work from mr. Wilson.For another time he proves that he's a talent.There are two cd's.The first cd is The incident(one track with 14 parts/smaller tracks).The second cd is an ep(Remember me lover is its title).The incident is great.There are wonderful ideas.The music is angry,dark,quiet,cathartic and ethereal.We have a strong beginning in The incident(Occam's razor).And it finishes quietly.Remember me lover is interesting.It contains 4 tracks.Good ep.I believe that it's a good thought that the cd released together with the ep.I don't have problem with that.

The artwork is good.It shows almost for what the album talks.It describes the system like it is a game I think.

My favorite tracks from The incident are:The blind house(it's almost a love song),Drawing the line(A sad song about problems which contains an amount of confidence.The lyric"Recording all my problems onto memory cards"is fantastic),The incident("I want to be loved":Nice lyric),The seance,Circle of manias(Meshuggah time) and I drive the hearse.

My favorite track from ep is Flicker.

My grade:7,5/10

With Incident, the Steven Wilson train appears to be running out of steam. All the signs are there for an utterly average album: little outside contribution from guest musicians, trying to follow up from a generally well-received concept album (Fear of a Blank Planet), and--most importantly--an obvious lack of cohesion and musical ideas.

Devoting lots of space to ambience and atmospherics may fool some as powerful musical ideas, but I'm not buying it. In the same vein, haphazardly repeating a few unremarkable melodies throughout the album does not do all that much to build coherence.

Based on the above, you may think that I view this as a bad album. Certainly not! However, the band is somewhat a victim of past success, as each new album must add something unique to the catalog, or else risk fans simply turning to previous material when in the mood for some Porcupine Tree. That's the case with me: in Incident, I see a well-produced album with a few engaging melodies, but find myself simply much preferring previous albums when I need some PT.

Fortunately, there are two major exceptions to this feeling: Time Flies and Octane Twisted. Whether you view the former as somewhat of a copycat (and I do not), it's a good song regardless. The latter is the PT that I enjoy: rocking out, with plenty of action from Harrison (which is noticeably lacking throughout much of the album).

All in all, I'm just not sure what PT was attempting with this album, as there is some pandering to fans (i.e., Time Flies), some exploration of new avenues (via tender ambience), and some simply uncreative songwriting (Exhibit A: the incredibly uninspired quarter note, power chord intro sequence).

Here's hoping the guys find time between tours to rest up and find the direction and inspiration the seems so lacking on Incident.

To buy this album for me was a disillusion. Trapped by the great Fear of a blank planet, The incident has nothing to do which what I was expected. As many times happens, maybe the conceptual thing limited the creativity of the songwriters, especially of Steve Wilson.

The first CD tries to be an unique long track of almost 60 minutes tracked in fourteen songs. Eight of these songs are of less than three minutes, an in my opinion are just fillers or bridges. The longer tracks are mainly vocally driven and the musical sustention only in a few times has the typical heavy side of Porcupine Tree, and in general terms sounds uninspired. The tracks Drawing the line, Time flies and I drive the hearse are the ones that catch my attention. Time flies is a deliberate emulation of the Pink Floyd epic Dogs. Is not bad but lacks of diversity.

The second CD is a short one with only four songs that sum a bit more than twenty minutes. Here we have not the concept thing, but everything continues in the same way, uninspired and a bit annoying. Bonni the cat is mainly instrumental with guitars riffs but nothing special. Balck dahlia is a ballad and Remember me lover another ballad with a heavy interlude. This last song is rather good.

As another difference with their others albums, here Steve Wilson share the songwriting with the other musicians in many tracks. For my tastes, that seems not to be an improvement, unless in this album. Hope that in the next one the band recover its creativity.

As much as I love Porcupine Tree, I have yet to hear a "perfect" 5 star effort from them. There always seems to be a song or 2 that don't hit me in the right places, and I skip over. If this were a single CD release, it may just crack the 5 star level. But the bonus cd material leaves me nothing in my memory. Boring. Only "Remember Me Lover" holds my interest long. The main album though is teriffic. The first 9 tracks or so are some of the best PT work I have heard. Whether it is a song-cycle or seperate songs makes little difference to me. I won't go into a track by track analysis since that has been done many times before by many others, but I would say this CD deserves a 4.75 stars. The second CD only 3 stars, so an average of about 4 or so.

An album that helps us think Big!

I think, the beauty of enjoying progrock music is the total experience on listening the music not in song-by-song basis but the whole album as one experience. Doing so, at the end we can only say the entire album instead of which songs are the major hits of the album. This kind of prog attitude helps me enrich my total understanding how to see things entirely not on piecemeal basis. Yes, in the past it did not happen that way because I knew rock and prog music based on the song instead of album. Say "The Musical Box" of Genesis, I was not aware (and I did not really care) what album this song was. So was the case with "Roundabout" I did not quite care about the song being part of Fragile album. In some cases, I was forced to THINK in an album-way like when I knew Tull's Thick As A Brick or Yes' Tales From Topographic Ocean. But still, the thinking was more on "songs" instead of "album" in its entirety. For example I liked The Revealing Science of God, so I kept playing the song only and not trying to play next track or I rarely did that. In the case of Genesis "Foxtrot" I tended to play Horizon - Supper's Ready - Can Utility and The Coastliners. Why? By that time we were not used to think album but think on the basis of song.

Lately we knew what was so called as 'concept' album that forced us to think about overall storyline, for example the Rael story in The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. In a way, our love on prog music has educated us (especially myself) to think holistically. It does matter to me as this, in a way, relates to my professional life as Strategy Consultant. The way I learn enjoying prog music has helped crafting my competence to be a good consultant...and well yeah ...talking about business strategy, we have to think in a holistic way, not piecemeal ....seeing the BIG PICTURE. Thanks to prog music! You rule the world, really!

Well sorry for the long introduction that you might have thought that it has NOTHING to do with Porcupine Tree's "Incident" album review. You are wrong. This album reminds me back to reflect on what good progressive music is all about - helping people to create better life, better world. We are given by God a major responsibility to take care the world around us. Enjoying progmusic helps us create the nuance to think in a big picture and shaping our motivation to take ownership of that responsibility. That's the way I think. Prog has helped me a lot in shaping my life, including this excellent album by Porcupine Tree.

I have been a long time fan of PT since I got the live set Comma Divine that blew my mind the first time I heard their music especially through their groundbreaking "Waiting" performed wonderfully by the band. Since then I kept buying their albums and EPs. Not all of them are excellent but most of them are good and excellent.

I got this CD just recently from a friend of mine, Nico, who has just visited the US for his business trip. He asked me what thing he should buy for me and I asked this one. Finally I got it. Thanks, Nico! I am so excited listening to this album from first track to the end. I did not really care the song titles as the music plays seamlessly from one track to another with a very good ambient that makes me enjoy the listening journey from start to the end of CD 2. Looking at the duration, actually this album fits into one CD. But, I have observed that CDs with album duration greater than 65 minutes usually will experience technical glitches couple of months later because, probably, too much information is stored in one optical CD. I think the albums from The Flower Kings have duration of more than 65 minutes in one CD. It usually starts with some problems later. It's better this album by PT stored in two CDs.

The music of this album flows very nicely with some variations of ambient style, stunning guitar solo, powerful riffs and nice vocal line. I find the drumwork as well as bassguitar are very good. Keyboard is of course an important part of the album. Porcupine Tree is masterful in creating soundscape. During the course of the album you will find how the soundscape master, Steve Wilson, takes his role in creating great total experience to the listeners. You can enjoy the subtleties when you play it with decent sound system set. As I enjoy the music, sometimes I looked at the track title which was written as "The Incident" (6th track) and later on I found again in "Time Flies" (9th track). Why? Because in those two tracks I found something progressively different than what I experience with other tracks. But again, the good thing is that I enjoy the music its entirety. What I am happy is that the music of Porcupine Tree takes largely the Pink Floyd style but improve it in so many ways, like inserting great and powerful riffs, vocal harmony and excellent sound production. Even though Disc 2 is basically additional songs that are not part of overall storyline, bt they still sound like parts of the whole album.

Overall, I highly recommend this album to all prog freaks as the music is really excellent and very easy to digest. It might be this is the kind of new generation prog music. The fans of Porcupine Tree MUST have this CD and the fans of Pink Floyd, you should try it and I am sure you will happy that the souk of Pink Floyd music is still alive until now and possibly in the future. By the time I am finalizing this write-up, I am at the middle part of "Time Flies" where it has a well crafted interlude with stunning guitar solo. Oh man ....it's really great interlude and it's so rocking! (look at the drum beats, it's sooooooo different!). Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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.

Time flies... when you're enjoying yourself

Released in 2009, 'The incident' is Porcupine Tree's tenth studio album. Although on the face of it this is a double CD release, it is really a single CD and an EP, and even then the whole lot could fit onto one CD. While not a concept album as such, the first CD is occupied by a single track running to some 55 minutes and is described as a 'song cycle about beginnings and endings'. The phrase 'The incident' reflects a situation Steve Wilson came across which was signed as a 'Police incident', and his reflections on the far more humane circumstances behind the practical but disassociated signage. This led to him reflecting on other occasions where the cold summarising of a situation failed to capture the emotional reality of what had happened. A number of these are then reflected in the 14 sections which make up the track. Conveniently, the CD release is manufactured to have each section as a separate track, rather than having the obscure sub-sections sometime used.

These sections vary greatly in length from the brief dramatic guitar fanfare of the opening 'Occam's Razor' to the almost 12 minutes of the magnificent 'Time flies'. Overall, the piece is constructed more on the lines of 'Supper's ready' or side 2 of 'Abbey road' rather than of 'Close to the edge' or 'Thick as a brick'. What I mean by that is that the sections here are by and large autonomous, and can be listened to in isolation. As with all great prog epics though, the whole is of course much more than the sum of the parts.

There is a fine diversity to the content here, with pop orientated rock sitting perfectly alongside offbeat time signatures and reflective sensitivity. At times our feet are tapping out a beat, at times we are impulsively singing along, and at times we are listening intently to processed vocals and disguised melodies. The title section/track even strays into symphonic territories with delightful orchestration.

Steve Wilson's love of all things Floydian comes through strongly on the aforementioned "Time flies", which draws in sounds and styles from several different eras of Pink Floyd. This track was selected in edited form for release as a single. As with any composition on this scale, "The incident" is not for the feint hearted. While certain passages are pretty accessible, it takes quite a number of listens, and ideally attendance at a live performance, to properly get it.

While I mentioned earlier that the tracks on the second disc could have been accommodated on disc one, Porcupine Tree wished to emphasise the fact that 'The incident' was a complete piece, not just a succession of individual songs. The four other tracks recorded for the album were therefore placed on a separate disc (a sort of 'Nil recurring, part 2'). Each of these is an individual piece, with no connection to either the main title suite or the other tracks on the EP. That said, these tracks are very much from the same mould musically. They range from the pop harmonies of 'Flicker' to the full on thrash of 'Bonnie the cat', the 20 minutes or so of the EP offering as much diversity as on the main title epic.

If I have a minor gripe about 'The incident' as a whole, it is for me just a little too tight. It may seem strange to criticise an album with a 55 minute track as too tight, but not a second is wasted here. I would have liked to have heard a bit more in the way of instrumental development, including greater use of lead guitar soloing and repetition of themes. That though is just a personal thought,and should not put you off what is a superb prog album for the 21st century.

The undeserved bashing needs to end

Porcupine Tree is a widely loved band in the progressive community. Since the early 90s, the band has released a number of classic records, from the quirky debut On the Sunday of Life to the more metallic and incredibly diverse In Absentia. With their latest album, The Incident, the band's second album on the acclaimed (and also declaimed) label Roadrunner Records, host of many a prog-lover's bands, the band truly exemplifies the sound they began to approach back in 2002. The album is essentially one 55 minute long epic, with an EP length disc 2. Comprised of a more metallic edge, a fiercer outlook, and a dynamic range of sonic excellence, the album truly is a treat. Sadly, compared to 2007's great Fear of a Blank Planet, many were skeptical with the release and the album's ratings quickly began to decline. Although this album may not be your everyday Porcupine Tree album, it certainly packs a fantastic punch and is a great display of this band's excellent prowess.

Porcupine Tree is known for its more psychedelic output of the 90s. In the 2000s, the new drummer Gavin Harrison announced almost a new era for the band, with a sharper turn in the Progressive Metal direction with his appearance on In Absentia. The band has steadily progressed in that direction ever since. On this album, a whole slew of influences can be heard, from a slightly psychedelic to mellower rock, great punchy metal lines, and even some more art-pop oriented regions all appearing on the fantastic epic. Although this may not reach the level of the superb long epic like "The Whirlwind" or "Mei", but it certainly marks a superb display of modern prog. Steve Wilson has shown his compositional knowhow many a times, and this album only extends this. With tasty sections and rhythmic and harmonically beautiful sections, this album certainly has a delicious proggy flair to it. Even on my first listen I was captivated by a few incredible tracks, most notably Time Flies and I Drive the Hearse. Although the lyrical theme can seem silly at first, it quickly delves into more philosophical matter and at times has some superb lyrics. Overall, the album is a real treat. Although at times one may speculate the band has sold into a more poppy region of music, the album really stays true to its original genre and is a great album for the year.

I'd like to talk about two tracks on this album that really strike a chord with me on this album - Time Flies and I Drive the Hearse. Both are incredible, impeccably composed and mastered and overall just wonderfully done. When I had first heard Porcupine Tree around 2007 or 2008, I was still a huge metalhead and thought most of the band's music, which was overall much lighter, was boring and not listen-worthy. Despite the fact, I got The Incident. When I heard Time Flies, I was blown away. The gentle chords, the simple yet complex rhythms and the potent atmosphere created by the truly genius Richard Barbieri really made a spectacular effect on me - it showed me the power of more "simple" music; that music didn't need to have shredding solos or intense riffing sessions, that it truly could just be this incredible blend of psychedelics, popularly leaning melodies, and an overall wonderful atmosphere that could make up a spectacular song. Overall, this track is genius and a wonderful gem on this album.

The next real kicker for me was the final movement, I Drive the Hearse. This is probably one of the most pop-oriented tracks on the album, yet I absolutely love it. The incredible simplicity of it, the fantastic lyrics, and the overall spectacular atmosphere of the music really turned me on to this classic of the PT discography. Although it may seem one of those "sell-out" sort of tracks, it really is an almost retro-PT track, reaching into the back catalogs of PT's sound and extracting a truly marvelous song - and an incredibly addition to this album.

It's quite sad how this album is poo-pooed by so many critics. It really is a great album, and although it may not be a masterpiece of the band's discography, it really is a magnificent addition to a line of great albums. Yes, the band seems to be moving in a more popularly leaning direction, but this album is in no way pop - it still has that PT vibe, the slightly psychedelic, almost metallic, superbly progressive, and overall great atmosphere associated with a Wilson production. Overall, the album is a great addition to anyone's collection that is yearning for a more accessible but still fantastic prog record. 4 stars.

Despite the incident, time flies ...

"The Incident" is my third experience with the Porcupine Tree after the wonderful "In Absentia"and "Fear of a Blank Planet". As good as "Fear ...", but far from being better than" In Absentia ", this be a strong album, although not in all its moments.

The problem in "The Incident " is the title track, which dominates the first disc is quite disconected ones.Actually, were it not for some of its sections and the second disc, I would have given 2 or 3 stars.I will be frankly, I love progressive rock epics, but I think a song that is already over 40 minutes is too much, even if it is divided into several sections, each one song (the exceptions to this are "Thick as Brick" Jethro's Tull and "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Dream Theater). The best moments here are" The Blind House" and, of course, " Time Flies ", which is the centerpiece of the album and whose middle section reminds me of " Animals "Pink Floyd.

Disc 2 is much better, and is the reason which I give 4 stars.Man, I gotta say, I think I'm in love with "Black Dahlia" ...

In the end, I had the feeling that this album deserved something between 3 and 4 stars 4 stars.I think that would be fairer.

Tristephobia?

After having been constantly bombarded by road-safety propaganda, it was almost a relief to find myself in a real accident. JG Ballard (Crash)

I'm glad I didn't review this album when I originally intended to (several months ago) as I would have probably given The Incident a near fatal rodent flogging it certainly doesn't deserve. Yep, a real stealthy and prowling 'grower' this one so be patient with it, as the melodies, hooks and goodies within will take some time to worm their way into your affections.

The old music-hall adage of 'keep them begging for more' takes an ironic twist here as the pre-release teasing indulged in by Roadrunner Records (and probably abetted by the band) created unrealistically high expectations for Porcupine Tree's 10th album. As far as 'a seamless 55 minute conceptual piece' goes it ain't on a par with Echolyn's sublime Mei but as a thematically linked song suite a la Supper's Ready, it really is rather nifty. However, shackling an unfinished and rudderless collection of experimental 'ditties with the fuller figure' by way of a second helping onto the whole enterprise merely has a sated public heading for the exits long before the cessation of this dubious fan fare. What niggles I have with this otherwise fine album are centred around two main fronts: 1 - the 2nd CD simply runs out of steam well before the end with Bonnie the Cat redolent of an affectionate but wretched homage to NIN. Wilson has the wistful and poignant tonsilry down-pat but his attempt at latent whispered menace a la Trent Reznor comes across as a librarian attempting an obscene phone call secure in the knowledge that his target recipient is out of town. Ditch the excess baggage fellas. 2 - Wilson has a very endearing and musical voice but it simply ain't got a second gear within which to rev into. This seems to be why the emotional peaks are arrived at either via massed harmony vocals as compensating weight or explosive salvoes of distorted guitar riffing where you would otherwise expect to hear the suitably anguished visceral holler of a Robert Smith or a Black Francis. I'm haunted by the idea that in the future there will emerge a storage medium sufficient to hold every single recorded version of Wagner's Ring Cycle, Greg Lake's weekly groceries list, the entire zip codes of Middle Earth plus 3550 bonus tracks on an object the size of an ant's contact lens. We may live long enough to see this phenomenon but probably not long enough to sample one of its contents. If entities as prodigiously talented as Porcupine Tree cannot fill 76 minutes with music of an unremittingly high standard, what chance do their lesser spotted brethren have?

It's unlikely that the endemic phobia that afflicts our present age i.e. 'fear of sadness' will earn sufficient brownie points to warrant acknowledgement by dint of a name from the staunchly carefree or terminally cheerful in our midst. The irony of the 'unspeakable' undergoing a makeover from roadkill the cat dragged in to flouncing down a catwalk decked out in designer neurosis gear would not be lost on you I hope.

When a car crash gets you off you've lost your grip When a f.u.c.k is not enough you know you've slipped When the church is full you know you've just been had When the world has gone to seed your'e so detached

This is bleak but never wallows or gorges itself from the trough of despair. I also think it carries echoes of the themes explored on Bowie's Outside album and Ballard's frankly repellent 1973 novel Crash (I'm trying to get through this review without recourse to using the word 'dark' - Bugger, I just blew it.) By way of mitigation, the angst in the roomy Wilson pants is mollified by The Incident's central song Time Flies being the most uplifting and (gulp) hopeful on the entire album. It's interesting that Wilson drops salutary references to pre Prog landmarks such as Sgt Pepper and Are You Experienced? here i.e. it's the soil that begets the fruit: prickly, spiky or otherwise according to your taste. Like many of us, Steve is fascinated by the disparity in his perception of time as the ageing process takes hold. Those summer holidays he experienced as a child seemed to last forever while now in adulthood, time appears to have acquired Nike running shoes. It's hardly a piece of insightful genius but it's expressed with a touching vulnerability wedded to music that is genuinely inspired and carries not a trace of excess sentimentality.

She said nothing ever happens if you don't make it happen And if you can't laugh and smile and laughing in the summer showers that's still the way I see you now

PT would I'm sure be the first to admit that Roger Waters nailed this sucker over 20 years ago:

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time, plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

I am five years older than Steve Wilson and I suspect that we both spent our formative years listening to the Cure, U2, the Banshees, the Pixies, Depeche Mode, Rush, Television, NIN and cast a fond gaze in the rear view mirror to give way to the likes of early 70's classic Prog, the Beatles, Hendrix et al. Keith Emerson is now 67 years old, so picture him if you will circa 1971 sauntering down Portobello Rd in fringed Indian jacket whistling a nagging tune. We can only guess at what the melody might have been but it sure as hell wasn't I'm Stranded by the Saints. That progressively minded musicians from different generations should bring a wide array of unprecedented influences to their oeuvre is a plain vanilla no-brainer so why is this album criticised in some quarters for being 'too indie rock/too poppy' or routinely dismissed as 'post-post punk?' On reading such barbs, Wilson must feel like a fish that's being criticised for refusing the offer of a towel. Some of the wonderful guitar timbres dialled up by Mr W on this record reference the likes of Hendrix and Gilmour but sit quite comfortably and very effectively with the more contemporary sound palettes inspired by John McGeoch, Tom Verlaine, the Edge and Robert Smith (so suck it up hippys)

The aforementioned colours that Wilson sprinkles into his work are mostly textural anyway i.e. the compositional aesthetics hold sway to the primacy of lyrical and memorable song-writing with exploratory instrumental departures being but the icing on the cake. (Ya gotta eat yer meat and two veg to earn yer puddy mateys and even the most revered and complex prog has always exemplified this hard won lesson)

That enormous pealing and unresolved chord at the outset which is reprised later on in the piece carries a hint of 2112 by Rush and could be punningly emblematic or serve as a leitmotif for the entire undertaking. As is the norm for the British School of Melancholy nothing is ever solved or remedied but merely confronted and grudgingly acknowledged as real. The fantasy elements that are such a staple of Metal and Prog are here equated with a perishable innocence that the author concedes is well past its bedtime but still pines for the wonder and awe that maturity can never hope to replicate. Wilson's muse shares with that of Water's Dark Side of the Moon an unnerving candour and refreshing humility when faced with fears of our own mortality and the futility of our search for healthy stimulus in an ever increasingly jaded world.

Silence is another way of saying what I want to say Lying is another way of hoping it will go away

What I particularly admire about Steve Wilson is his refusal to appease a lucrative demographic with sugar coated pacifiers e.g. he knows full well that 'Prog Messiah' status is but a sprinkling of Mellotron, Hammond, Moog and 13/16 time signature from his grasp but steadfastly declines to dress his noughties model in retro chic apparel. Free of virtuostic blather and hippy cosmiche w.a.n.k, Porcupine Tree represent a glimpse of where rock music might be heading in the future.

BTW Portobello Rd in London is home to the world's largest antique market (you work it out)

The Inevitable Drop

Unlike a lot of people, my experience with The Incident was somewhat backwards. Following an album as exquisite and fantastic as Fear of a Blank Planet was always going to be a difficult job, and the fact that Porcupine Tree had been steadily improving for decades must have had many people eager for something perfect. I can imagine the disappointment, because I have experienced it before with other albums. The Catalyst Fire and Coal come straight to mind, in terms of albums that I took some time to enjoy because of the fact that they were weaker than their predecessors. When I first got into this album, and thought it was nearly Steven's best, and I wrote off all the negative criticism as simply people being disappointed. This was the second album from Wilson that I properly got into, after Fear of a Blank Planet sparked my interest in all things progressive. And I really loved it, at the time. I loved how it wasn't a collection of songs, but a series of shorter tracks that add to each other, and while I never raised it to the levels of Fear of a Blank Planet, I did think it was an incredible album. Not so much anymore.

The biggest problem with The Incident is that it drowns under its own ambition. The material here isn't bad, and it could be really good, with a hell of a lot more focus, but that's what is missing. Steven has tried to outdo Fear of a Blank Planet, the epitome of his ambition and musical greatness, and in doing so has kind of crushed himself. It's an album with decent material to build songs from that has been built together in the strangest way - elongated out to an unreasonable length, mashed together to form a faux 'epic', and the in-between bits laced with filler.

Obviously, I must first address the "55-minute song", which, as my quotation marks suggest, is not a 55-minute song at all. It's a very odd piece of music that seems to regularly forget what it is aiming to be. During the first few tracks it definitely feels as if it could be a legendary epic, with "Occam's Razor" and "The Blind House" making for an explosive and epic introduction, and the next few songs, essentially up to the title track, all flowing together smoothly. I always loved "Great Expectations", even if its length left so much to be desired. It has such a simple and beautiful chord progression with a great vocal melody from Steven floating over the top. And then it transitions nicely into "Kneel and Disconnect", which does nearly the exact same thing, again. Both of these songs could have been great, if they had been fleshed out more, and The Incident, as a 55-minute song, could have been great, if it had used these as central motifs to base the music around, but instead it just goes from one piece to another without any sense of continuation. All the parts are good, but on the whole it just stacks up to? a stack of half-songs.

And honestly, I would be fine with that, if there was a bit more to remind us that this was a 55-minute song. Where are the recurring themes? Where are the lyrical plot points? Are these songs even about the same thing? Why is there silence between tracks? I understand that I could just ignore these and treat it as a piece of music, but the thing is that it ends up in this weird middle ground where half of it feels like it's trying to be an epic and the other half just doesn't bother. The only distinct melody that gets reprised later on is the one from "Octane Twisted", which also appears in "The Seance". And that would be cool, if The Seance wasn't the next song. Seriously, a thematic reprise melody should hark back to the introduction, or to a part way back in the song, not to a part that happened two minutes ago. I'm sure Steven was patting himself on the back for being conceptual when he re-used the (admittedly excellent) chord progression from "The Blind House" under the verse of "Octane Twisted", but who actually noticed that? I did, but only because my band covered The Blind House, and one day it dawned on me. The possibilities for this "epic" are limitless and amazing, but it just doesn't click. At all.

Now that I've had a bit of a rave about what irritates me about this album, I feel I should touch on what is great about it, because I do still like it. While the melodies and progressions on here may not be as good as the ones on PT's previous three record, they are still excellent. Learning how to play many of these songs on guitar has really showed me how much Steven has matured as a guitar composer. The chords here are weird, they're unique - there are some shapes here that I've never played in my entire life, and yet they feel so natural melodically. The recurring progression from The Blind House, that reprises under Octane Twisted and The Seance is one of those one that you can play to yourself and come up with a million different melody variations on - it's amazing he didn't just use it for the entire 55-minute piece. "Time Flies", the weird epic-within-an-epic, has another excellent progression for the song's main melody, which is possibly what saves it from being a complete Pink Floyd rip-off. It's clear that the use of these weird and interesting chords shows Steven running low on ideas and trying to find new ones (the only song here with the world-famous Steven Wilson chord is "Great Expectations"), but I certainly admire his ingenuity in composition.

Aside from "Circle of Manias", which is one of the terrible filler tracks here, the first disk does get an excellent last section, after the mini-epic Time Flies (which neither flows into the rest of the first disk nor has any lyrical or melodic relevance). Both "Octane Twisted" and "The Seance", which are more or less the same song, are amazing - containing the chord progression from "The Blind House" with an even better lead melody, a great layered vocal refrain, and one of those trademark huge riffs. Those guitarists out there will also recognise this as a shifted and rhythm-changed version of the album's opening riff, but the 5/4 time signature shifts it so much that it becomes so much better. It's so good that when the melody reprises in "The Seance", I actually get a bit disappointed that we don't get that riff coming back in again and going for another round. And then there's "I Drive The Hearse", which is the disk's acoustic-led closing track. The capo fiddling reminds immediately of "Trains", and the melody has such a wonderful sense of closure to it. If I were to rearrange this album (and I regularly think about how much better it could have been), i don't think I would change this song at all.

Outside of the "55-minute song", we have a bonus disk of four extra tracks, that are obviously all pretty good quality, given the fact that Porcupine Tree's b-sides are generally excellent, but I still can't help but feel they're B-sides. "Flicker" is pretty useless, although it's not bad. It just sort of floats by without much happening, good or bad. "Bonnie The Cat" is another of PT's kind of unnecessary alternative metal tracks, in the vein of Strip the Soul or Cheating the Polygraph, or even the almost-bad "Circle of Manias" from the first disc. And it really doesn't amass to much - it's a weird rhythm-heavy track that rips of Tool a tad much. But the other two songs on the end are excellent. "Black Dahlia" is one of Steven's best acoustic tracks, nearly reaching the greatness of some of his ballads on In Absentia and Deadwing, and "Remember Me Lover", with its excellent heavy section at the end, feels like the first true Porcupine Tree song on this album.

The Incident is still a great album, because it still contains Steven's trademark brilliance in constructing melodies and chord progressions, but as a whole it feels weirdly unfinished. The first disk contains some odd decisions in structuring, as well as some downright weak moments, and the second disk just feels like an annex of pretty simple b-sides. I can feel for the people who are disappointed, because even if this album was properly structured, and a proper length, and threw all the filler tracks out the window, it would probably still be their weakest album since Lightbulb Sun. As one of those people who loves Steven completely, I still enjoy this, but on the whole this is nothing that Steven hasn't done better in the past. But it could have been so much more.

8.1

Originally written for my Facebook page/blog: www.facebook.com/neoprogisbestprog

To all the reviewers who say this lacks any kind of musical themes, I say "what?". Beginning with the first intro track and into the second track "The Blind House" there are musical themes throughout the disc. There is a continuity I feel all through this dark and magnificent album. Many chord patterns, key structures and whatnot are masterfully woven together and brought out at just the right time. Not so much in the second disc, however, which is why it may have been separated. I think that this is their best effort to date. While In Absentia and FOABP are regarded highly, and I do enjoy them, I feel that they are less mature than this album and as such are lacking compared to The Incident. Highlights for me are the title track "The Incident" which has one of the best musical changes in the history of music (this occurs well into the song and could be missed) and Octane Twisted. With this album I feel that they have crossed over into a more legendary status. Compared to The Incident, I believe their earlier albums are more "forced" whereas this one seems so much more natural. I think this album will be looked back upon as their best effort so far. This album fills my need for good music and feeds my metal appreciation as well.

This is a dark and heavy album, and a great addition to any collection. I give it a 4.5 and I'll rate it a 4. Less than 10 albums get an actual 5 from me, and this isn't one of them, but It's in my top 50 anyway.

You can listen to this album like a soundtrack of a dark movie about dysfunctional relationships. You get through different moods from the calm of the ambient parts to the violence of the metal parts. Some samples are used to create those ambient passages which are not surprising, knowing the love of Steven Wilson for this style of music. He blends everything perfectly with some beautiful arrangements and a production that doesn't miss anything. There's a lot os short tracks here between some tracks ranging from 5 minutes to 11, but those tracks are part of a long song. The keyboards of Richard Barbieri are always tasteful and brings a nice contrast with the heavy guitar parts. This album is more enjoyable in surround sound, the DVD-A version has also 3 videos in surround sound.

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.

Few fresh ideas - Metal Riffs meaningless - Few compositions inspired

Some moments of lucidity surrounded by stuffed insipid and directionless loud rumblings. Too many alternative rock passages. Fortunately, Wilson changed course for subsequent solo career. Evidently the group had completed a cycle and was somewhat worn musically, which is notorious here. Lyrically does not reach the status of earlier works.

Maybe it's a matter of taste, but I've heard several times in a good period of time this record and has not changed my opinion.

I rescued Time Flies and I Drive the Hearse. The Blind House and Bonnie the Cat are only acceptable or passable.

Dead leaves at the end of the Tree.

There's something heartbreaking about The Incident that I've never quite been able to put my finger on. The story at the core of the album would probably like me to believe that it's the entire concept that puts a damper on each and every listen that I have of the album but that's just not it. If the album had actually achieved what it had set out to do by hitting my heartstrings in a way that made me feel for a character or concept the album would be a triumph - and that's not how I feel.

No, the heartbreaking thing about The Incident is that the whole thing feels lackluster. Half-assed. Effortless. Tired riffs and monotonous singing may have attempted to bring across an emotion that started with the rather nihilistic Fear of a Blank Planet but without the care and attention that was brought into each well crafted song. The 55-minute song cycle that makes up the first disc of the album has so few ideas stretched out over so long a time period that often times it feels like a drone album done by a drone band trying to expand into rock and roll without knowing how. The guitars clunk, the vocals whine and there are very few standouts that make my hair stand on end the way this band usually can.

Even Time Flies, the notable standout (and single) of the album is not without major flaws. Clocking at nearly 12-minutes it becomes the only song to actually leave a place in the listener's mind. However, any prog fan with depth to their catalog will not easily be able to dismiss the fact that it rings so heavily of the riff to Pink Floyd's Dogs that they will likely be put off of it.

The redeeming part to having made purchase of this album is the second disc. What a shame that is is only 20 minutes long! If they had combined this with the Nil Recurring recordings and released that as a kind of FOABP 2 they would have been met with much greater success! The odd tone and grumblings of Bonnie The Cat ring back to their Signify days while expanding on their current themes. Flicker is such a haunting melody that it DOES send shivers down my spine and Remember Me Lover takes us back to a darker version of Up The Downstair and finally ends off the hour plus long album.

In conclusion, The Incident is not without it's merits. It is simply unfortunate to see a band so lauded in the progressive, metal and alternative communities release an album that feels like an afterthought. Steven Wilson clearly had other things on his mind when the album was released, having already released his album Insurgents. His solo career has taken the music of Porcupine Tree to an entirely new level and continues to be truly progressive, but it's too bad he left the Tree to fall with no one around to hear it.

2 stars for an album that is worthwhile for the 2nd disc (a must for fans) but an ultimately disappointing, perhaps final, release by a once titan of the genre we adore. If you have not already become familiar with their music check out Up The Downstair or The Sky Moves Sideways if you are a fan of Floyd-flavored psych rock, or Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet for brooding Opeth style psych-heavy-progressive bombast, or Stupid Dream and In Absentia for top notch song-driven crossover prog with feeling. Avoid this release until familiar with what made the band an impressive force and solidified Steven Wilson as a demi-God of music.

Yet another great album from my favorite current progressive band and frontman Steven Wilson and once again, a lot of reviews for the album. This album obviously is not getting the love from the ProgArchives reviewers that some of the band's past albums received, and even though I agree it's not their best, especially following the last 3 albums, I don't believe it deserves the harsh criticism that it has received. I still find it an enjoyable album and definitely still at a higher quality than a lot of artists. The songwriting is still stellar, the concept is great, and the prog elements are all there. But, even with that, and with the album also coming in between some excellent albums also released by Steven Wilson as solo albums, this album does suffer from something. For some reason, the songs overall don't have the same impact on me, or just aren't quite as memorable as they have been on previous albums. The music is still leaning towards heaviness, but not quite as heavy as previous. There is still an excellent use of dynamics also. So where does it suffer?

The album is made up of a very long, multi-movement song cycle lasting around 55 minutes with 14 movements. The concept of the song cycle is an attempt to personalize the use of the word "Incident" to describe what would be a life-changing occurrence in someone's life. Even though an actual automobile accident inspired the work, SW wanted to make the concept more general to include any type of incident. The song cycle is made up of many medium to short tracks which are interesting and varied enough, but may be the reason for the slightly lower quality of the album because of a lack of development among the tracks. Some themes are recurring, but they are not necessarily catchy enough to remember right away, and it takes the listener a little longer to appreciate the album. This could be part of the reason why so many reviewers are harder on this album, and I feel is the reason why it has a little less appeal to me than the previous albums. But I'm not saying that I don't like this album, because I do. I still listen to it a lot, but there is a slightly lower amount of enthusiasm for it from me than on some of PT's other albums. There are a few longer tracks, namely "Time Flies", which is the centerpiece of the album at over 11 minutes, and definitely the most memorable track on the album, and also "I Drive the Hearse", which is still only just shy of 7 minutes. There are some great guitar parts in here, especially in tracks like "Circle of Manias", but I find myself wishing for more development anyway.

After the song-cycle is over, there are 4 more tracks unrelated to the main concept, and these make up the 2nd CD in the album which runs an additional 20 minutes. "Flicker" and "Black Dahlia" are both ok songs that don't stand out a lot. "Bonnie the Cat' is awesome and probably one of my favorite PT songs, but it is probably the most original song on the album. Finally, "Remember Me Lover" starts out as a slow burn and quietly, but the intensity increases as it goes on and develops into an excellent heavy guitar sound before calming again. A nice melody and it has the great development that helps give the tune the life that was present on previous albums.

So, anyway, it's not their best effort, but it's still excellent and still a worthy effort nonetheless. Many bands would do great to only have an album as good as this. But we come to expect so much from PT and SW, so when something is a small step back from previous output, then we tend to be a little more aware of a slight dip in quality. If you are just starting to explore PT, then make sure to start with "Deadwing" or "In Absentia" first, then you might venture to this album later. If you have a choice, make sure to pick one of SW's better solo albums over this one too, but don't just ignore this one either, because it is still an excellent addition to your collection. And it really is better than a lot of people have given it credit for. 4 stars.

Porcupine Tree have always been known as a polarizing band, but who knew that their last release for the forseeable future would also be their weakest? Created two years after the acclaimed Fear of a Blank Planet, The Incident is perhaps the most ambitious work that Steven Wilson and co. have created thus far. The concept revolves around the topic of incidents and numerous traumatic events, and is connected by (technically) a 55- minute track. While the song is split up into numerous movements, it's clear that Wilson intended for this to be a full-fledged epic that would string together each piece of the concept. And all of this certainly sounded promising to say the least; the subject sounds like it would lend itself to some very powerful and emotionally resonant pieces of rock music. But there's the age-old question: did it all work? Well... no, it didn't.

Let's make something clear right away: Porcupine Tree have never failed at being technically proficient, precise, and atmospheric in their albums; this record is certainly no exception to that. Also, as with previous albums, Wilson has learned some new tricks this time around, mainly in the metal department. Opeth, Meshuggah, and even Nine Inch Nails could be cited as valid influences here, especially on heavier tracks like "Circle of Manias" and "The Blind House." Even the opening number "Occam's Razor" does it's job really well, its intense singular notes ringing out and exuding suspense and intrigue with each passing burst of distortion. But it's not long until things go awry, and it all starts with Steven Wilson's voice. I guess the best place to start, considering it's where almost everyone starts regarding this, is with the poppy song "Drawing the Line." Wilson constantly sounds out of breath during the chorus, which is a bit odd considering how he was able to belt out those high notes in "Shallow" just four years prior. But the real issue lies in how detached he sounds throughout the whole piece. Again, the guitar work, Colin Edwin's bass work, Gavin Harrison's drum work, and Richard Barbieri's keyboard work all sound good; however, why give a damn when you can't summon any passion with your voice and get people interested? The title track is the worst offender; Wilson's voice sounds nicely sinister during the industrial segment, but just sounds lethargic and lazy during the alternative rock- based chorus.

Unfortunately, this all leads to the bigger issue at hand: the whole damn album sounds very detached. No song on The Incident is bad by any means, but the problem is that it focuses on a bunch of different incidents of trauma and destruction rather than just one or two. How can people get invested in these people and their scars when Wilson's songs just fly by them and hurry on to the next topic at hand? The shorter songs like "Great Expectations" and "Your Unpleasant Family" are the absolute worst when it comes to this, because without any flow or emotional development to carry them, they just sound blatantly unfinished and utterly pointless. These issues also make many of the album's payoffs pointless, because they don't feel earned. That is, except for two masterpieces: "Time Flies" and "I Drive the Hearse." These songs are longer, more developed, and are absolutely gorgeous works that are actually somewhat reminiscent of the band's Lightbulb Sun days. These songs are clearly the highlights of this whole thing; "Time Flies" is especially notable because of a long drawn- out Pink Floyd-inspired droning section in the middle. It doesn't really fit the rest of the song, but it's a neat and inventive detour for an album that's honestly not as ambitious as its concept suggested. "I Drive the Hearse" is more of a standard ballad, but is still a beautiful piece and features some of Wilson's most delicate guitar and vocal work thus far.

It's a real shame when the rest of the experience is so damn mediocre and disjointed, though. Sadder, yet, is the fact that this is our last impression of Porcupine Tree for the time being and it has to be so weak. I remember the album initially having sort of a "wow" factor when I was younger, mainly because of the long- winded concept and (at least perceived) variety in the songs' tempos and dynamics. However, upon really peeling the layers of the record, it was proven to me just how bad its songwriting and ESPECIALLY its flow were. I guess I should briefly mention the second disc before signing out; honestly, it's not really worth discussing. The song's are decent, but don't pertain to the main experience and only serve to drag it out even longer. However, I will give a positive nod to "Bonnie the Cat" which has a cool sneaky atmosphere in terms of vocals and softer dynamics, as well as some impressive drumming by Harrison. Regardless, The Incident's ambition clearly didn't match the final cut. I really hope that Wilson brings the band back together for at least one more record, because we certainly deserve a better finale than this.

(Originally published on Sputnikmusic)

Review Nº 25

This is my first review of a Porcupine Tree album. Porcupine Tree is a British progressive rock group formed in 1987 by Steven Wilson, their mastermind, mainly composer and front man. They're one of the best and most important bands to emerge from UK in the last years. They have the guidance of the visionary Steven, who have modernised progressive rock by adding a dash of everything that's happened to music in these days since the genres heyday.

Usually, I start my reviews from a band by my favourite album, their most striking album or their debut album. In this case, I decided to start with the last musical work from the band, because when I made this review I have seen the presentation of the album in a live concert in my country. So, therefore, and after all, I had the two versions, both the studio and the live versions, very fresh in my mind. So, as you can see, I had already made this review some time ago.

'The Incident' is the tenth studio album of Porcupine Tree and was released in 2009. The recording sessions of the album have been started in February 2009, and it was released on September. 'The Incident' is a concept album based on a Wilson's idea. The original idea appeared when he was caught in a motorway traffic jam driving and he passed a road accident. Then, he thought that an accident is something so traumatic and destructive for the people involved, that he decided to make a concept album about it. Therefore, he decided to search some other type of accidents reported in the media and in the news. So, the concept of the album is about several types of accidents very different, like a car crash, a drowning in a river, or a massacre in a religious cult in Texas. Curiously, he decided to call it 'The Incident' not 'The Accident', because he considered the word 'The Incident' a more detached word.

For those who aren't familiar with my progressive biography, I need to say that I'm Portuguese and despite I was born in Lisbon, I live in a small town in the north of Portugal, Viana do Castelo, for some years. On the live tour of Porcupine Tree's 'The Incident', the band had two concerts marked to Portugal. The first was in 20.11.2009 in Lisbon and the second was in 21.11.2009 in Porto. Although I have some family in Lisbon, I live about 400 Km away, and so I decided to go to the Porto's concert with my youngest son. The distance is not far away. It's only about 75 Km away.

I only bought the album in the beginning of November, because the concert was very close to that date. I must say that I was somewhat disappointed with the first listening of the album. After their splendid previous studio album 'Fear Of A Blank Planet' released in 2007, I confess that I expected much more of this new work. So, it was with some expectation, that I waited the presentation of the album live, and above all, because, despite the group had already acted in Portugal in other occasions, for me, it would be the first time that I would see a Porcupine Tree live concert.

The concert was divided in two distinct parts. In the first part the band performed the 55 minutes 'The Incident', without interruption, and in the second part the band played tracks from some other previous studio albums. The only thing I can say is that I became astonished with the concert. Porcupine Tree is really a wonderful live band. When I returned home and I listen to the album again, I maintained my first impression. It still didn't sound to me as good. I usually prefer studio works instead live works. But in this case I confess that 'The Incident' is better performed live than listen on the studio version. The album has a much faster rhythm and is quite heavier than on its studio version. However, to make this review, I had to listen to the album another couple of times. And oddly, I must confess that the more I listen to the album, it better sounds to me. Curiously, I saw, in the same year, three other live concerts in my country. The first was in Lisbon, Dream Theater+Pendragon in June, the second was also in Lisbon the Eagles concert in July, and the third was in Porto, the Progressive Nation 2009-Dream Theater+Opeth+Bigelf+Unexpected in October. However, I must confess that the Porcupine Tree live concert was the best and my favourite of all.

Conclusion: 'The Incident' is in reality a great album, more acoustic and less heavy than the last ones. It's an album with two CD's. The first CD is an ambitious musical project with a fifty five minutes piece of music divided into fourteen separate tracks. The second CD has only four tracks. In my humble opinion, the second CD doesn't explore the same line of the first and it shows the more experimental musical side of Steve. We can say that it's a kind of a bonus CD. So, for this reason, I practically skipped it away, from my review. Certainly, 'The Incident' is the most autobiographical album by Steven, because all the songs are somehow a little bit personal. Probably, it isn't for everyone. It takes time to absorb it. Undoubtedly, we are in presence of an excellent album by one of the greatest progressive bands, which has one of the best progressive artists in our days. Probably, my fault was to have so many expectations about it.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

It is hard to write about a truly favorite band, when for the first time in your life they let you down with their new album. And whilst this is exactly what happened here, I will try to focus on the positives as well, because although my rating might seem low, they are still Porcupine tree, being miles ahead of so many other contemporary bands. Even with this mediocre album of theirs, which it is.

Ok so first of all, no listener, who read any reviews, will be fooled by the promise of the "55-minute-long song" of the first cd, which it is not. Being the string of various songs it is, cleverly (and at places less cleverly) glued together, it has its ups and downs, but rather downs, certainly being the weaker element of this double cd. Songs like the opening "Blind house" try to bring back Porcupine tree's heavier side (with limited success), whilst "Drawing the line" or "Your unpleasant family" do nothing but answer the question of why the band is currently on a hiatus. This is why. These are average pop-rock ideas struggling to seem Porcupine tree, yet failing to find their place in the band's discography, in the end just showing the sad fact that they are lacking new ideas or that chemistry between them does not work anymore. The same goes for the 12-minute-long "Time flies" also, with an important side note being that the middle part (undoubtedly inspired by Pink Floyd) is one hell of a Porcupine tree riffage. Luckily, it then gives way to songs of the same quality, bringing us the heavier part of the first cd, through a string of four heavier songs, peaking in "Circle of manias", which is one of the best they created in the metal department. And when "I drive the hearse" closes this spiral of songs as well as the cd, for the first time the listener is finally reminded what this band used to sound like. The second cd is then nothing but an EP not fitting the structure of the first cd, yet being by far the strongest part of The incident. "Bonnie the cat" stands out like a rock, being a superheavy song built up around Gavin Harrison's amazing idea of a tricky groove, but Black dahlia also gets the job done (though some might say it is a bit too simple, not expanding on its own ideas enough), let alone the closing song, again reaching back to the roots well enough to satisfy hardcore PT fans.

All in all, Gavin Harrison is still the drummer of his age, Steven Wilson still has some outstanding ideas, but the whole thing just fails to deliver, allowing me to not be mad at them for their hiatus, which is probably what they need right now. Having said that, I can only hope that Wilson's solo break will do him good, letting him return to his roots in the future, if that is what he wants, with something that is much stronger than The Incident. Until then, may they rest in piece.

It took me a long time to warm to The Incident. Part of the issue is the presentation: supposedly it's one big 55 minute piece and a coda of a few additional songs on the second CD, but it's pretty self-evident that the 55 minute piece was conceived as separate songs (there's even bits where the music flat-out stops and then another "song" starts), so the idea that this was Porcupine Tree's Thick as a Brick or something is at best tenuous.

In fact, with less than 20 minutes of material on CD 2, it would really have been entirely possible to just put this out as a single-CD album, and indeed that's exactly what the most recent CD reissue has done. This makes it feel like the original release was to an extent a calculated attempt to play with the appetites of the prog fanbase, since the market was all too willing to buy 2CD albums which could have happily been a single disc if the filler were trimmed away.

Still, at least Porcupine Tree do us the favour of not bothering with the filler. At points feeling like a natural development of the sound of Fear of a Blank Planet, at other stages the album captures the band testing out other sounds. This isn't necessarily always to its benefit - Drawing the Line finds Steven Wilson attempting a forceful, hard-rocking chorus which is, to say the least, not very Porcupine Tree and also not particularly convincing - and in general it feels like the band were flailing around a bit here looking for a new direction and not finding one, which I suppose is why they went on a long hiatus after this.

Still, even if I don't quite think it hangs together as a cohesive piece of work, it's got lots of compelling bits and pieces here and there, and so I think my previous two and a half star assessment of it was about 1 star's worth too stingy. It's far from bad - in fact, it's mostly good, but from Porcupine Tree we're used to great.

This well-ranked recording oddly seems to be the result of Steven Wilson not caring about Porcupine Tree anymore. This is nothing if not confusing.

On the one hand, the act of writing a 55 minute song cycle seems like it would preclude the possibility of neglect. But "Time Flies" might be the worst, most boringly derivative piece of music Wilson has even been involved in. It is really hard to imagine him in the studio thinking that this is great in any way. And really, if he was not thinking that, then why put it out?

Long lost are the hypnotic soundscapes, interesting arrangements, tense and terse sections leading to amazing resolution, thoughtful ripping off of his heroes, etc. Even the sound is less than great; at some points it sounds thin and just a bit neglected.

That in itself is a disappointing accomplishment considering the combined talent of the members of the band & Wilson's generally amazing sonic abilities.

Not unlike Deadwing, after listening to this for a few months, I determined there will never be a situation where I want to hear it again.

This is a fine Porcupine Tree album. It's not one of the handful of their best, but it's still an entertaining release. There's an enjoyable performance/interview on YouTube called "Mhz" from 2003. In it Wilson discusses how much he loves the traditional idea of an album, as an entity. He believes CDs have taken away the enjoyment of listening to a whole album as an immersive experience.

Unlike most people it seems, I actually prefer the second disc of THE INCIDENT. The variety in these four songs makes for an excellent 21 minutes of listening. The songs on the first disc aren't as enjoyable as individual pieces. They seems like parts of a whole, rather than finished songs, which requires more time and attention. However, I'm sure that's exactly how Steve Wilson intended it. If you can devote some time to extended listening, THE INCIDENT is definitely worthwhile. I'm bumping this up the half star to 4.

Fear of a Blank Planet represents Porcupine Tree at their peak. Steven Wilson's favorite themes of sensory overload, social alienation and influence of mass media are given free rein, especially in the brutal 17-minute piece, Anesthetize, which takes the name of the Atlanta concert in the promotional tour of the album, the band's best ever concert.

Where do you go from here?

Porcupine Tree's next studio album features their 55-minute musical suite, The Incident" and a bonus EP disc of four songs. There really are only three memorable numbers in the 55-minute suite, "The Blind House", "The Incident" and "Time Flies". "The Blind House" is a typical pop flavored Steven Wilson song with a blistering start, a catchy guitar melody and slow fade out. "The Incident" is a deeper harder fleshed out Porcupine Tree piece. Its concept is of being stuck in a traffic jam at the scene of an accident where someone has died and experiencing a surreal episode of imagining the dead spirit of the person entering into the car and sitting next to you. "Time Flies" is the uplifting piece in the suite and the longest, totaling eleven minutes in length. It is autobiographical and the most progressive with changes of pace and time and liberally quotes from David Gilmour's rhythm guitar section from the Pink Floyd classic, "Dogs" from the Animals album. Quoting is a legitimate form of musical expression from an improvisational artist like Steven Wilson who is tracing the steps of his musical influences growing up, but understandingly may grate with some listeners who want to compare it with Pink Floyd.

The remainder of the 55-minute suite is Steven Wilson doodling, while the remaining members of the band work on their resumes for their post Porcupine Tree careers.

As a parting gift for Porcupine Tree fans, Porcupine Tree have released a bonus disc of four pretty, decent songs on a second CD. "Bonnie The Cat" is the best piece here and may in fact be the best song off the entire album. The fear is you may struggle to get through the first CD and then choose to ignore the bonus songs, which are all good.

The Incident isn't the masterpiece fans of Porcupine Tree might have hoped for from the band's last album, but who's complaining when you have a repertoire as good as In Absentia, Deadwing and Fear Of A Blank Planet?

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Posted Thursday, August 27, 2020 | Review Permalink

The controversy, the controversy. PT still constitute the absolute zenith of music in my eyes and, if The Incident is disappointing, it says much about the standards Wilson has imposed on us. My rating oscillates frequently between 4 and 5 [insert obligatory comment about "4.5"]. I freely concede it's the weakest Porcupine Tree album since at least Stupid Dream, but leagues better than anything PT put out before 1998. In terms of the multiplicities of criticisms it has faced: alright, "55-minute song" was misdirection, and without it, the bifurcation into two discs is unnecessary, but it has enough recurring musical and thematic motifs to qualify as at least linked, without being repetitive, answering the two (incompatible) charges levelled at it. Yes, it sold faster than any previous PT release, but that says more about anticipation and FOABP than this album, surely? More to the point, it did so despite being the least commercially-oriented record since Signify. This is so far from a collection of pop songs. It's dense, extremely dark, sprawling and challenging. It recycles old ideas? Up to a point; it still pushes the Porcupine Tree sound into new areas (the title track in particular), and it's worth considering that the album's structure and make-up turns its back on the pattern running through previous releases. Turning to the song cycle itself, we have 14 tracks, mostly in suite, with 6 main compositions and 8 auxiliary interludes. Of the former, "The Blind House" and "Octane Twisted" are probably the weakest, typifying the quintessential soft-explosive PT formula, although the former offers a few tantalising hooks and the latter an intriguing acoustic motif. Nevertheless, these tracks ultimately fall outside of what one might reasonably consider 'essential'. The title track has its moments, and the "I want to be loved" refrain attains a creepiness on this record that no other PT release would really afford it (except, thinking about it, In Absentia, on which it would have become the creepiest refrain ever?), but, most importantly, displays a NEW DIRECTION, the volatile industrial dirge that defined "Insurgentes", Wilson's solo debut of the previous year, and the logical conclusion of Porcupine Tree, some might argue. The remaining three 'longs' are all extremely strong. With considerable regret, "Drawing the Line" gets daubed as the weakest of the three, with the wickedly gothic lyrics of the verses unmatched in the repetitive chorus (that being said, the chorus' "cinematic but crude" anthemic desperation is criminally underrated by those who cry "indie rock"). The overall instrumentation and sonic palette, particularly before the first chorus, is exceptional, as good as anything else in the PT discography. "I Drive the Hearse" is heartbreaking, an acoustic lamentation, a nursery rhyme for the clinically depressed, an extraordinary closer. Most strikingly, it largely revolves around major chords, making the subject matter (in short, "when she cries, I take the blame") even more haunting. And then, the 12-minute piece-de-resistance in the middle. I've reviewed this track in more depth as a single; suffice to say, it's a masterpiece, its more-than-passing resemblance to classics heightens, rather than poisons, its appeal, and it still sets the benchmark for wistful nostalgic melancholia. The transitions are more hit-and-miss. I can't pretend to be a huge fan of riffs, so when I hear Circle of Manias dismissed as second-rate TOOL, the "TOOL" comparison is more off-putting than the second-rate business. Kneel and Disconnect and "Yellow Windows?" are both pretty but hardly world-beating (although, again, that says more about Wilson's standards). On the other hand, Great Expectations is classic youth-gone-wrong Wilsonian summery prettiness, while Degree Zero of Liberty takes the slightly underwhelming opening crashes of Occam's Razor and makes them interesting. As for the second disc, allegedly emphasising the coherency of the cycle for those whose eyebrows remain raised and doubts indelible, the songs are mixed. Flicker and Black Dahlia are pretty and oddly moving (particularly the latter), if forgettable, Bonnie the Cat seems to enjoy a mixed reception; I'm going with the "bit of an industrial mess" camp. Then, "the last Porcupine Tree song", and it's a good one. A stadiumesque, anthemic triumphalism pervades the choruses, but "We Are The Champions" this is not; an extraordinary victory lap with the most caustic bitterness of Wilson's career. I have never heard a career closer approaching this in quality (if King Crimson hadn't reformed in the '80s, then of course "Starless" would have taken that title). And then that's that. Although The Incident was written during considerable in-group tension, this isn't the sound of a band collapsing; it's the sound of a band that, perhaps, has lost confidence in its future, so pulls a final trick that's not so much experimentation, not leaping to a new place, but digging down into the depths of its dark sound (apologies for the alliteration). Four stars. 10/10 ? Time Flies 9.5/10 ? I Drive the Hearse, Remember Me Lover 9/10 ? Drawing the Line, Great Expectations 8.5/10 ? Black Dahlia, Degree Zero of Liberty, The Incident 8/10 ? The Séance, Octane Twisted 7.5/10 - Flicker, Your Unpleasant Family, Occam's Razor, The Blind House 7/10 ? Kneel and Disconnect, Bonnie the Cat, The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train 6.5/10 ? Circle of Manias

Following up on a masterpiece like "Fear of a Blank Planet" was not an easy task!

And for this, Porcupine Tree decided to create concept album much more varied in terms of tessituras and environments, but also with a more irregular compositional quality, which made it a great disappointment for many of us.

The incredible hook and stunning songs of "Deadwing" and "Fear of a Blank Plantet" were gone! What the hell?

However, the production is still spectacular, and above all, Gavin Harrison's work on drums is absolutely amazing again. For that alone, "The Incident" is already worth listening to, despite being one of Porcupine Tree's weakest efforts.

Hopefully the next "Closure/Continuation" will be able to bring us back the best years of the band!

Best Tracks: The Blind House (great riff, evocative chorus and a great and furious mellotron towards the end), Time Flies (the star song of the album, and also the longest), Octane Twisted (great instrumental work, especially on the drums) and Remember Me Lover (the only song that can compete in terms of quality with their previous album)

My Rating: ***

Going into The Incident, I am a level 3.5, I'd say. I owned the CD version, but haven't listened to the whole album straight through for a while. I remember liking it, though. Let's see if I still do.

Incidentally (see what I did there?), here is the concept behind the album, copied from Wikipedia:

The concept for The Incident emerged as Wilson was caught in a motorway traffic jam whilst driving past a road accident:

"There was a sign saying 'POLICE ? INCIDENT' and everyone was slowing down to see what had happened... Afterwards, it struck me that 'incident' is a very detached word for something so destructive and traumatic for the people involved. And then I had the sensation that the spirit of someone that had died in the accident entered into my car and was sitting next to me. The irony of such a cold expression for such seismic events appealed to me, and I began to pick out other 'incidents' reported in the media and news, I wrote about the evacuation of teenage girls from a religious cult in Texas, a family terrorizing its neighbors, a body found floating in a river by some people on a fishing trip, and more. Each song is written in the first person and tries to humanize the detached media reportage".

? Steven Wilson[8]

Furthermore, Disc 1 (the first 14 Tracks) are considered to be a "song cycle" of just over 55 minutes. Disc 2 contains "bonus tracks" , but I am including them here, as they are included on all versions of the album, at least as far as I know.

Disc 1:

Track 1 - Occam's Razor

This is essentially the intro to the album. It's basically power chords, accented by the rhythm section, with some spacy sound effects in between. Simple, but I like it.

Track 2 - The Blind House

We kick-off in 5-4 with a heavy riff. Things chill a bit when Wilson begins singing the first verse. The verses alternate between 6-4 and 5-4. The opening riff returns between verses. Harmony vocals join on the second verse. We are in 4-4 for the choruses. At around 3:50, we have spacy synth and percussive sounds. Wilson adds vocals as we go along. We have heavy riffage again before the song ends.

Track 3 - Great Expectations

A very short track at just 1:26, we begin with acoustic guitar and vocals. The band kicks in heavily at around 25 seconds. We ease back off into a steady rhythm for the next verse. Then the heavy part returns to end the song.

Track 4 - Kneel and Disconnect

This one starts straight away after the previous one, and is also very short at around 2 minutes long. Piano starts us off here with a bit of acoustic strumming. Vocals follow next. Nice harmonies on the chorus. Simple, but beautiful piano is featured from Barbieri as we move into?

Track 5 - Drawing the Line

This is one of the tracks I remember liking most from this album. Keyboards start us off with some cool Gavin Harrison drum parts, joined by Wilson's vocals on the first verse.. The chorus kicks in at about 1:30, and we're rockin'! A guitar solo follows the chorus. The second verse follows, then another chorus. A second guitar solo brings us to?.

Track 6 - The Incident

Trippy synth sounds start us off here, along with a drum machine beat and whispered vocals, that morph into a whisper-sing. There are lots of various sounds in the mix including vibrato guitar sounds. Eventually the vocals build more with lyrics being sung in octaves. At just after 1:30 a heavy yet funky guitar and bass riff join the mix. This song is structured by the adding of parts. Next in are harmony vocals, then Harrison on drums. Later we have vocals obscured by effects. At around 3:40 the song opens into a more traditional sound releasing the tension built by the preceding sections. It is an effective musical strategy. The music is gradually crescendoing as we proceed until we begin?.

Track 7 - Your Unpleasant Family

This one begins with acoustic guitar backed with Keys. The vocals begin with "your unpleasant family smashed up my car?(answered with backing vocals) totally uncalled for." and we're off. The rhythm kicks in at about 50 seconds in with a guitar solo. This one is also a short track at around 2 minutes. It leads us into?

Track 8 - The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train

?Which is also around 2 minutes long. This one begins with a quiet organ. It reminds me very slightly of the organ intro to "Your Time is Gonna Come" from LZ1 at first, but then it changes with vocal-like sounds possibly produced by a mellotron. This brief musical interlude brings us to?.

Track 9 - Time Flies

This is ironically the longest track on the album at just a bit under 12 minutes long. I consider it to be the showcase of the album and the one I remember best. It begins with an acoustic guitar part reminiscent of PF's Dogs. The opening line references being born in 1967, the year of Sgt. Pepper & Are You Experienced. The underlying rhythm is maintained until around 3:55. Then we have an arpeggiated acoustic guitar pattern that gets augmented by different instruments as we go along. Some of the sounds remind me of PF's Time intro, but more 21st century. The instrumental segment is very dramatic, with a great guitar solo. The "Dogs" rhythm returns at around 8:10. This whole track is an excellent example of Wilson's guitar style. He is a fantastic player, but I don't think of him as a virtuoso, as such. He does use his skills and style to maximum effect for the songs. Outstanding song, top shelf PT.

Track 10 - Degree Zero of Liberty

The Occam's Razor power chords are recapitulated here from the beginning of the album. This time they are followed by some chords being stylishly strummed on electric guitar that is only slightly distorted. Then the power chords return in this brief interlude.

Track 11 - Octane Twisted

Wilson begins with acoustic guitar arpeggios with a solo on the top. The rest of the band joins for the first verse, which has a nice countermelody appearing as we progress. Then we have a heavier part with odd meters. Then we have a tight riff to create a bed for the guitar solo. Then the heavy chords return. There is a nice mellow part at around 4 minutes. This takes us to?.

Track 12- The Seance

This also begins with mellow acoustic guitar arpeggios, then after the first verse he changes to strumming. Excellent harmonizing on the second verse. This is another brief one at 2:39 There are some nice synth parts, then some strident guitar strums. This brings us to ?.

Track 13 - Circle of Manias

Another short part at 2:19. This begins with tight-odd metered riffing between Wilson, Edwin & Harrison. Barbierei then adds a keyboard part over the top. This one reminds me slightly of Wedding Nails from the earlier PT album In Absentia in the ending part of the song.

Track 14 - I Drive the Hearse

This is the closing song of the cycle, and rounds out Disc 1 of the original release. This one begins quietly with vocals accompanied by guitar. We reach the main "hook" ? "Silence is another way of saying what I wanna say?" before long. Then we get into a 5-4 chord progression. This song is an excellent example of Wilson's "Hauntingly Beautiful" style of songwriting/arranging. There is an excellent guitar solo at around 4 minutes, which is punctuated by great harmony vocals on the line "when I get down I drive the hearse." There is a long slow fade out to conclude the song and cycle.

Disc 2:

Track 15 - Flicker

Now we begin the 4 stand-alone tracks that are NOT part of the main song cycle. Synth sounds slowly fade in to start us off here. The vocals begin in an odd meter, with acoustic guitar & rhythm section. Things begin to build gradually. Awesome vocal harmonies start around 3 minutes in, and we close out with sort of "bubbly" sounds that make me think of an aquarium.

Track 16 - Bonnie the Cat

Sound effects start things here. Harrison & Edwin give us a tight- almost funky- rhythm. Then Wilson joins in on vocals with a lot of effects, alternating with heavy guitar rhythms. Barbieri mostly stays in the background but to nice effect. There is a brief pause for some electronic-staticky types of sounds. The guitar solo is very "experimental," shall we say. Then we get a grungy type of riff for an excellent instrumental break. Harrison's drumming really shines on this one. This is probably the most "far-out" type of song on the album, but I really like it.

Track 17- Black Dahlia

Electric piano initiates this one with vocals with effects on it. A nice moderately slow tempo is established by the rhythm section. Here is another hauntingly beautiful one. As usual there are wonderful harmonies in the vocals. What Wilson does so well is create moods with his arrangements. This is another fine example of that.

Track 18 - Remember Me Lover

This is the second longest track at 7:32 to close out the album. Wilson begins quietly by establishing the main guitar progression. Barbieri plays subtle supporting key parts while Wilson begins singing. The rhythm section joins around 1:30 and we start building the sound level after a verse. The vocal rhythm is catchy. I love the vocal harmonies at 3 minutes, that lead to the heavier instrumental break. Sometimes PT are considered to be "progressive metal," but their heavier parts never seem to be heavy enough to justify that label. I think what it really does is add a nice broad dynamic range, which is sorely missing in most (not all) modern pop music. (Nobody ever accused PT of being pop, for sure!) Wonderful time changes happening from around 6:30 onward. This is classic PT for sure.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

This is a very strong PT album indeed. I don't like it quite as much as In Absentia, but it's close. All of the essential PT elements are there, for sure. There seems to be just a hair less energy in the performances on here to my ears. I give this a 4.5 out of 5 stars, compared to 4.75 for In Absentia. On the countdown, In Absentia was ranked a surprisingly low #66, compared to # 48 here [On Prog Magazine's list of the Top 100 Prog Albums of all Time]. There is plenty more PT and Steven Wilson to come, we'll see how they stack up.

Clicking 4, but really 4.5!