STEVEN WILSON

I am about a level one on this album, as the only tracks that are slightly familiar to me are Luminol and the title track. However, I know that this album is hailed by many as the best thing Steven Wilson has ever recorded (including with Porcupine Tree) I am truly looking forward to it.

Lets' go!

Track 1 - Luminol

It starts very suddenly with some staccato rhythms and kicking into a great bass and drum riff. BTW the band on this album is stellar:

Steven Wilson ? lead vocals, mellotron, keyboards, guitars, bass guitar on "The Holy Drinker"

Guthrie Govan ? lead guitar

Nick Beggs ? bass guitar, Chapman Stick on "The Holy Drinker", backing vocals

Adam Holzman ? keyboards, Hammond organ, piano, minimoog

Marco Minnemann ? drums, percussion

Theo Travis ? flute, saxophone, clarinet

Additional musicians

Jakko Jakszyk ? additional vocals on "Luminol" and "The Watchmaker"

Alan Parsons ? wah-wah guitar on "The Holy Drinker"[27]

Strings arranged by Dave Stewart, performed by the London Session Orchestra and recorded at Angel Studio 17 October 2012 (Soloist - Perry Montague-Mason)

Niko Tsonev ? Guitar solo on "The Watchmaker (demo)" and additional guitars on "Luminol (demo)".

By around 30 seconds the guitars and keys join in, and Theo Travis takes a flute solo. At around 1:15, however, we suddenly switch to harmony a Capella vocal. The rhythm kicks back in and mellotron joins in. Nick Beggs then takes a bass solo with Minneman joining on drums, and then other instruments join in one at a time. Eventually there is a distorted electric piano solo. At around 4:15 there is a transitional riff then clean electric guitar chords take over before Wilson starts singing in a call & response with harmony vocals. The mellotron returns at around 6:40, then there is an acoustic piano solo. This is great prog! The harmony vocals over the solo remind me a bit of Yes' South Side of the Sky. There is mellotron galore on this. It sounds more like the early 70s than the early 2010s. Such a rich sound. The sounds at 10 minutes are fantastic! Govan takes a solo at 11 minutes. For those who don't know. Govan is considered by many to be one of the greatest guitarists in the world in recent years. There is a short closing riff, and then we are out. Fantastic track.

Track 2 - Drive Home

This one begins with a clean electric guitar melody that is slightly reminiscent of Bach's Bourrée in E Minor. The vocals begin at around 30 seconds in, and sound highly processed with effects. There is subtle drumming and guitars as accompaniment. The chorus that follows has still more beautiful mellotron. At just before 4 minutes in there is a lovely instrumental break. At 4:44 there is beautiful 12 string guitar along with mellotron & flute. A soaring guitar solo follows. This one feels a bit Floyd-like to me. Govan does a bit of shredding as the song closes, but in the most beautiful way! Amazing track!

Track 3 - The Holy Drinker

Distorted electric piano kicks this one off. Everything about this album feels "old school" so far. The band lays down a nasty jazz fusion groove, Cool analog synth sounds come in. This is SO COOL! It gets a bit dissonant at times but never degenerates into noise. There is a riff a bit like KISS' Love Gun that ushers in the next part of the song at around 2:20. Vocals join in and then we have some heavy power chords. Killer odd meter riffs start at about 3:30. This track keeps throwing curves at me. It is so good. It has a live band feel for much of it. The fusion intro has given way to organic prog with a slightly Zeppelin meets Tull vibe. That crescendo at 6:45! Wow! Then we have a quiet section. This part has a bit of a "No Quarter" vibe. The sound explodes again by 8:50. Another great track. This album is blowing me away!

Track 4 - The Pin Drop

A nice clean electric guitar part accompanies Wilson's vocals at the higher end of his range. The full band kicks in with a quick 3-4 feel then there is a sax solo. Minneman's drumming is fabulous throughout. Mellotron, once again, plays a big part. Lots of great dynamic shifts keep it interesting as do the harmony vocals. Govan takes another terrific solo, then the vocals return. Great song!

Track 5 - The Watchmaker

The opening verse on this reminds me a bit of Genesis' "Cinema Show" in sound. The song stays mellow for a good while, but in a good way. There is a clean guitar melody and more mellotron around 3:30. Things begin to change at around 4:15. The guitar gets more strummy, and the rhythm section kicks in. Theo Travis' flute plays a large role in this album. Govan plays another stunning solo. Things quiet back down at around 6 minutes, then an arpeggiated piano part comes in, before Wilson resumes singing. The vocal harmonies around 7:15 are just fantastic. The musicianship is top notch! Amazing rhythm shift around 9 minutes. Beggs gets a bass feature. The groove becomes YYZ like. Then there are some more indescribable sounds that are simply amazing. Man, this album keeps giving me jaw-drops. Unbelievably great track.

Track 6 - The Raven that Refused to Sing.

We save the title track for last. I have definitely heard this one before. It starts with mellow piano & vocals. There is a slow crescendo happening as we go along, and Instruments join in one at a time. We are in a slow 7-4 here. A string section joins in at around 3:30. The sound of this song is mesmerizing. Smooth guitar lines complement the melody as the drums kick in and the song keeps up its slow build. The restraint in controlling the dynamics in this song is masterful. There is a false ending with 30 seconds left followed by some quiet piano notes. Beautiful song.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

There was not one second of that album I would change. I wondered how it got into the top 10 of this list [Prog Magazine's Top 100 Prog Albums of All Time] surrounded by 70s prog classics. Now I know. It deserves every accolade it gets. Wilson's masterpiece. 5 out of 5 Stars.

I am rating myself at level 1 for this one, as I am somewhat familiar with the song Deform to Form a Star and have indication that I have heard and enjoyed Remainder the Black Dog.

It appears that this album is divided into 2 sections on each of the 2 CDs as it was initially released. I will indicate that as the review progresses. Additionally, as always, I don't include "Bonus Tracks" as they can vary from one version of the album to the next. This album has a host of notable guest prog musicians that I will try to mention as I go along.

Part 1 (CD 1) - Deform to Form a Star:

Track 1 - Grace for Drowning

Some gentle piano chords start this one off. (Jordan Rudess is credited with Piano on this one). This is a very short track with non-word vocals. I believe it just sets the mood for the album.

Track 2 - Sectarian

This one features Nick Beggs on Chapman Stick, and Theo Travis and Ben Castle on woodwind instruments.

Acoustic guitar slowly fades in with drums (Nic France is the primary drummer on the album, but another notable musician turns up on some tracks) then some clean electric guitar on top. At around 1:05 a rhythm begins in the drums, to be joined by guitars, bass & synth. At just after 2 minutes a mellotron joins in and the dynamic level increases. Things ease back off just after the 3-minute mark. There is a brief synth-brass section then a jazzy electric piano solo, following that with the rhythm section behind. I am guessing that the bass notes are on the Chapman Stick, as I have not heard any quintessential "Stick" sounds. This is an excellent instrumental, with traces of King Crimson at times and of course Porcupine Tree. Quiet sounds fade out to bring us to?

Track 3 - Deform to Form a Star

Guests include Jordan Rudess on piano again, Mike Outram on guitar, and one Tony Levin on bass.

Soft piano starts us off in an almost classical manner. It changes to a more chordal pattern on the piano to bring in Wilson's vocals, for the first time singing lyrics on this album. Beautiful mellotron, acoustic guitar vans shimmering vocal harmonies join in just prior to 2:30. There is a clean guitar solo nest with almost slow marching snare rolls behind it. The sound/production on this is (of course) impeccable. After another verse & chorus, there is a distorted guitar solo. Loving the harmonies that build up at around 6:45. I like the way that Levin's bass follows the melody at times in the closing section.

Track 4 - No Part of Me

Guests on this one include Markus Reuter on "U8 Touch Guitar", Trey Gunn on Warr Guitar & Bass, Theo Travis returning on woodwinds, Mike Outram on guitar again, Nick Beggs providing a Bass solo (lots of Bass on this!) Pat Mastelotto on drums, and the London Session Orchestra playing an arrangement by Dave Stewart (the one from the Canterbury Scene).

We begin with some glockenspiel type bell sounds, to be augmented by additional percussion and synth sounds. Wilson joins in on the first verse vocals and the orchestra begins to accompany the proceedings. The sound is lush, but not in a sappy way. Then the rhythm kicks in at around 3:30. Mastelotto plays some outstanding drum parts here. I believe this is a soprano sax solo, but it almost sounds like a bagpipe. Things stop abruptly for some spacy sounds. That leads directly to ?

Track 5 - Postcard

(Dave Stewart provides a choir arrangement for "Synergy Vocals" as well as more strings here.)

This begins with a piano part with possibly some subtle acoustic guitar in the mix. Wilson joins in on the first verse vocals. There is a short orchestral part between the first and second verse. Drums, choir and bass kick in just before the 3-minute mark. Things quiet back down as the song comes to a close.

Track 6 - Raider Prelude

(More choral parts from Dave Stewart and Synergy Vocals on this one.)

The choir fades in beautifully and mysteriously here. The vocal sound is haunting. At around 1:10 there are some bass piano notes joining in. This is a very brief piece.

Track 7 - Remainder the Black Dog

Special guests include Steve Hackett (!!) on guitar, Theo Travis returns on winds, and Nick Beggs on both Bass & Chapman Stick.

Dissonant piano arpeggios start us off with vocals with many effects on it joining soon after. A slow plodding drumbeat and bass join in before the second verse. Awesome mellotron joins in at around 2:45. Theo Travis gives us an Avant-garde sax solo at around 4 minutes in. Awesome prog riffing joins in as we proceed. The band locks into a cool 7-8 rhythm. The acoustic guitar is featured. The playing on this is badass. If Wilson is playing all the keyboard parts on this, he is better on the keys than I realized. Hackett's guitar feedback is in the background at around 7:45. Nic France is playing drum parts that remind me of Gavin Harrison (that's a compliment).

Part 2 (CD 2) - Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye

Track 8 - Belle De Jour

(Dave Stewart arranged strings return on this one)

Acoustic guitars mixed with other sounds initiate this song. The strings join at around 1:15. This seems, much like the title track on part 1, to be a brief instrumental mood-setter for part 2. This is basically an augmented classical guitar piece.

Track 9 - Index

(No special guests credited here)

Synth sounds fade in followed by electric piano bass notes and snare drum rolls. Wilson joins in on lead vocals. There are various sound effects following verse 1. Verse 2 begins a cappella, excepting the percussion sounds. In the second part of the verse, the synths return with harmonized vocals. We are in a moderately slow 4-4 here, but the sound is captivating. He is building beautiful soundscapes here.

Track 10 - Track One

(Pat Mastelotto returns on drums, and Dave Stewart provides another string arrangement.)

It's interesting that track 10 is Track One ("Always mess with their minds?."). This one begins quietly again with nylon string guitar & vocals. At 1:10, the sound gets enormous. Then things come back down at around 2:45 with mellow guitars and a bluesy guitar solo on top of it. Things fade out with electric piano.

Track 11 - Raider II

This 23-minute epic includes the following players:

Mike Outram - Guitars

Sand Snowman - Acoustic Guitar (sounds like an alias name, but not sure if it is or not, and for whom it would be)

Theo Travis - Woodwinds

Nick Beggs - Chapman Stick

Nic France - Drums

Dave Stewart choir arrangement for the Synergy Vocals

Dave Kerzner - "Sound Design-Coda"

Deep foreboding piano starts us off. There are long pauses between phrases. A clarinet joins in as we go along. Steven Wilson's voice with effects enters next. The sound gets MASSIVE at 2:35. The feel of the song could best be described as "sinister." There is a strong early King Crimson feel on this one, almost like 21st Century Schizoid Man. Lots of flute and other wind instruments flourish the sound as we go along. I just read that this track is based on the BTK Killer Dennis Rader. That explains a lot. The big sound returns just before 8 minutes with gothic choir sounds. Then we get fast guitar/keyboard riffing. This is a prog-gasm. Things mellow out a bit for a sax solo with effects. Feeling a bit fusion-y here. Then we start jammin' at about 11:10. The quick riffs return. Then things get eerily quiet with just some spacy sounds. Things begin to crescendo slowly as we approach 16 minutes. The vocals return at around 16:45. A bass solo (possibly Beggs on the Stick) follows that. An accelerating ascending scale pattern starts happening around the 19-minute mark. The sax is going wild. Shades of KC again. It sounds like we are ending at around 20 minutes, but still 3 minutes to go. OK, things come back down with some sound effects, then the bass quietly takes over. A few jazzy guitar fills happen on top of that. Things seem to be gradually winding down. OUTSTANDING TRACK!

Track 12 - Like Dust I have Cleared from My Eye

(No guests on this one)

Steven gets the first word on this one, followed by a guitar strum. The various instruments add in one by one on this moderately slow ballad, along with vocal harmonies. Drums join in and he takes a bluesy guitar solo at around 2:45. Another verse follows. Wilson likes to have bits of songs that seem like we are floating through the void of space, and this song is no exception. As it turns out, though, it's the final 3 minutes of the song. That seems a bit excessive. Otherwise, it's a good song.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

What a great album! I like it much better than Insurgentes. I would stand this up with any Porcupine Tree album. Rader II can stand proudly in the company of the great "sidelong" tracks of prog. My only deduction is for the ending of "Like Dust?" That seemed to be unnecessarily padding the length of the album. I'm going to give this a 4.75 out of 5 stars.

Clicking 5, but really 4.75, 4 is too low.

As I prepare to listen to this one, I would say I am at level 1. I have heard a few tracks. I am more familiar with Porcupine Tree than Wilson's solo work, of which this is the first. With Gavin Harrison on board for much of the album it is bound to at least bear some resemblance to PT. Also, I see that Tony Levin plays on a few tracks, always a big plus. Let's get this ball rolling.

Track 1 - Harmony Korine

I think I have possibly heard this song before. We begin with triplet guitar arpeggios; Harrison's drums enter and give a nice rhythm before the vocals begin. The music opens up on the choruses. So far this would not be out of place on a PT album. At around 3:30, after an instrumental break, some bell-chime kind of sounds enter. Strong track, again, very PT-like.

Track 2 - Abandoner

We begin with a distorted distant drum machine beat, followed by electric piano and vocals. Slightly dissonant acoustic guitar enters after the first verse. The track is slowly building by adding various sounds as we progress. The second verse has harmony vocals. We have an instrumental break starting around 2:20, including son guitar feedback sounds and glockenspiel. Heavier guitar joins around 3:40. It is an interesting soundscape he is developing. The heavy guitar drops back out a short while before the abrupt ending. Good track but not as good as the one before it.

Track 3 - Salvaging

Various sustained sounds and effects start this one, then guitar & drums create a rhythm. The vocals join with distorted guitar flourishes. At around 3 minutes in, Harrison starts playing more fills with the rhythm and we have an instrumental break with an uncomplicated keyboard solo. The drumbeat is somewhat like Kashmir, but not exactly. The rhythm drops out before the 5-minute mark in favor of sustained string-like sounds. A 60-cycle hum buzz is audible at around 6 minutes in, then there is a slow crescendo building. Its slightly like a Day in the Life near the end of the track. Pretty good track.

Track 4 - Venero Para Las Hadas

Much of this album was recorded in Mexico City, so the influence is shown in the title Venero Para Las Hadas, which (after a quick Google check) is translated as the title of a 1984 Mexican Supernatural Horror film meaning "Poison for the Fairies". It begins with volume swells on clean guitar with a lot of reverb. The bass creates a simple eighth- note rhythm underneath as we go on with some sprinkles of piano on top. The sparse vocals join in over that soundscape. There is an instrumental break with some chord changes, but the overall tonality remains. So far, this track is very mellow. It seems like an experiment in creating a mood. Not bad, not great either.

Track 5 - No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun

I-Tunes tells me I have heard and liked this track before. Let's see if me from the present agrees with me from the past. We begin with a bit of a Dazed & Confused vibe turned sideways. Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess is on this one playing piano, with Levin on bass. Quite a prog supergroup in the making. Wilson is improvising guitar licks over a rhythm that has transitioned to something similar to the riff in Blackest Eyes from an earlier PT album. There is a slow dynamic build and then a big volume jump at around 3:10. Excellent Harrison drum fills. The instruments drop back down to bass & drums and quiet dynamics when the vocals enter around 4:00, but then we kick back in around 4:45. So, we are now getting alternating loud-soft dynamic sections. Rudess' piano solo starts at around 6:30. The piano style reminds me of Wakeman's playing in South Side of the Sky. This one would also fit nicely on a PT album. Excellent track.

Track 6 - Significant Other.

A moderately slow drumbeat and dreamy guitar with subtle bass. The vocals continue the dreamy vibe. Once again, we get sudden dynamic shifts?kind of a Steven Wilson trademark. Again, this could just have easily been a PT track. We end with background noise and more glockenspiel.

Track 7 - Only Child

A bass and drum groove with atmospheric keyboards begin this song, joined by vocals. The rhythm changes around 1:40, and the dynamics begin to build slightly. Again, sounds a lot like PT.

Track 8 - Twilight Coda

A mellow start here with keyboard & acoustic guitar. Rudess returns on piano. There are lots of background noises/sounds. Just a short instrumental?. not bad, not spectacular either.

Track 9 - Get All You Deserve

The mellowness carries over from the previous track. Piano & vocal with soft background sounds. Things slowly begin to build after 2 minutes. There is a heartbeat/pulse on the bass drum, but no steady drumming until about 4:00, when things start opening up more. Huge guitar sustained chords with other sounds in the background. Big crescendo! The background noises take the lead as the guitar fades. Then everything begins to fade before it stops abruptly.

Track 10 - Insurgentes

We kick off the title track/closer with piano and vocals. Moderately slow tempo. A little guitar melody joins between verses, then we have harmony vocals. A nice shift of feel at about 2:30. But then the song fades out after a minute or so. Kind of an anticlimactic ending.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: This very much could have been a Porcupine Tree album. Very little here would have felt out of place on one. It is very solid, but it didn't blow me away. I'm going to give it a 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

Hello fellow music lovers. Caught by surprise, this album didn't have much hype before its release apart from the great video of impossible tightrope which is how I found out about the album.

This album seems to be in a similar category to "to the bone" however Steven Wilson as usual has put together an album that conjures up different styles of progy music into one package which I like.

This album,in typical Steven Wilson fashion has absolutely great sonic excellence throughout, songs like "what life brings" has beautiful acoustic guitar and those beautiful lush vocal harmonies I really enjoy more so it's a nicely arranged with elements of rock, Pop and very slightly prog which is a throw back to the "lightbulb sun" album days.

The stand out track for most prog rockers will obviously be impossible tightrope. This tracks has elements that could be a 70's ECM record (but heavier) or something fusiony from a vertigo label album, it also has a great requiem/choir part in the middle and there are individual solos for key, sax and guitar so it explores some interesting territory.

Songs such as Economies of scale, then basically all tracks 7-10 have what I would describe as prog electronica rock but superbly executed in terms of additional acoustic instrumentation,theme of lyrics and arrangement etc. Whether the tracks are rock or electronica type of songs they all have great space, atmosphere and depth with cool guitars, keys and of course Gavin Harrison on drums mixed in there. If your into your audiophile Hi-Fi stuff you will really enjoy this album and it has a lot of dynamic range.

The song "The Harmony Codex" has an excellent monologue which is deep and touching in itself with an interesting audio trick which I forgotten what it's called.

In summary another great album from Steven that covers a lot of ground, has a very high degree of sonic excellence if listened to form start to finish it has a nice flow to it. A nice addition to any music lovers collection.

I rate it 3.75

Hi fellow Prog rockers and music lovers. Steven Wilson, early into his solo career comes out with an album that has every bit of sophistication, imagination and production quality of the great albums we know and love from the golden age of prog rock with a slight sense of contemporary.

Featuring some guest musicians that we are all well acquainted with such as Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) and Steve Hackett (Yes) and the somewhat familiar lineup of long time collaborators Nick Beggs and Theo Travis the musicianship is high quality but in some parts more so in terms of creativity and or imagination rather than "sport" playing although they have their individual moments to shine in their own right.

The album has a very early 70's vertigo swirl record production sound to the music that I would classify as eclectic/prog/fusion rock and in my view is more a night time album where you have the time and lack of distractions so one can really dig deep into the music because there is a lot of great content along with quite long tracks.

I give this Album a solid 4 stars and in my view it is definitely SW's best prog/eclectic fusion rock album which conjures up all the elements of a classic vertigo swirl album from the early 70's and beyond with added requiem/choir parts , beautiful use of space/atmosphere along with some contemporary programming of course has a beautiful audiophile engineering production standard throughout the album as we have come to expect from this artist.

Definitely get this album, you will not be dissapointed but approach with an open mind and allow enough time to hear the whole album as it has a flow to the tracks. This album definitely grew on me after a few full album listens and now its my favourite from Steven. GET THE SURROUND SOUND VERION AND ENJOY IN 5.1

This is the album SW is most proud of because it is the culmination of many decades struggle to find the right balance between aspiration and realization. All the Porcupine Tree albums were a search for effective jadedness, which essentially means people who don't like pop music have an outlet. He exhausted that direction and spent the last 15 years trying to find a voice that reflected his true love of blended musical styles. He is a true fusion player as his devotion to ABBA and David Bowie, along with YES and Gentle Giant fuse into his vision which is this album. This is 4.5 stars for effort and 4 stars for result.

Two years after "The Future Bites" and having released another album with Purcupine Tree in between, the prolific Steven Wilson returned to his old ways with another solo adventure called "The Harmony Codex"!

It is an album produced by Steven Wilson himself that abandons the more pop paths of his two previous works to once again enter a more progressive and experimental path, but which unfortunately fails to recover the brilliance of works like "The Raven that Refused to Sing" and "Hand Cannot Erase."

Perhaps for me the worst defect of this album is the style of many songs that seem repetitive and lacking in ideas, many of them turning out artificially elongated. That is something serious for someone who is used to listening to songs lasting more than half an hour without getting bored.

In any case, Steven Wilson fans are in luck, since at least this "The Harmony Codex" does manage to at least surpass the quality of the mediocre "To The Bone" and "The Future Bites". It is something!

Best Tracks: What Life Brings (the best song on the album and the only one that reminds us of Wilson's classic period. I especially like the accompaniment work on the keyboards), Impossible Tightrope (a song that recovers the instrumental brilliance of yesteryear, at least in part) and Time is Running Out (a track that makes another original use of the keyboard and offers us vocal melodies very typical of Wilson)

My Rating: ***

"The Long Way to Harmony." Steven Wilson's harmonies, of course. For a long time, I did not perceive this album, and frankly, it was the most "hard-to-get" release of ALL Steven's work (including absolutely all his bands). The cover - there is definitely something in this, something above the meaning, incomprehensible; here you need to ask the author. A very deceptive but vivid feeling is created when you listen to this record for the first time. It's like the record is too positive, and Steven decided to show the "bright sides" of hope, but this is fundamentally not the case! This is his darkest album, as far as possible. These are fragments of the "capitalist" depression, and loss of self-control, coupled with a sense of meaninglessness and disintegration of being. The concept of many of the album's songs is loss of hope and dehumanization. Fortunately, there are interpretations and texts on the official release website. The first impression is "What Life Brings", a direct reference to "12 Things I Forgot", only more expanded and rich in arrangements. A classic rock ballad, with a good measure of 70s prog rock. Perhaps the same "falling from the roof of the house" vibe is created by the dark, pulsating "Economy Of Scales; the composition seems to fall into the void, through the silence of a gloomy metropolis, window lights and cigarette smoke, loss, fatigue, unwillingness to live, due to moral decline. The thing itself is very beautiful, like a paper airplane soaring and falling down where there is no bottom. One of the best examples of Steven's beautiful singing. Heavy (by the standards of the album) "The Beautiful Scarecrow" - whose pulsating keyboards eerily stand up, like that very scarecrow through a nondescript landscape. Adam Holzman is a brilliant "gunner" familiar from Steven's previous solo albums (thank God, he did not refuse the services of a keyboard player on this disc). "Actual Brutal Facts". Ha! Disgusting, nasty, unpleasant! Yes, it's as ugly as possible, but thanks to this, the composition shoots out, sounding like a creepy dog barking. Steve just "spits" punch lines at the listener, like some Russian rapper of the premier class. Great! It works one hundred percent here! Perhaps the dirtiest and most impenetrable black spot in Wilson's music, maybe the guy just hated all this studio fuss and poured all his poison into this "real piece of [&*!#]", and therefore the thing sounds true and cool! Brutal, actual, according to the facts! Concept: something about toxic people and the danger of not acting on depreciation and devaluing blah blah. The main thing here is the music, the message! Yes! Filth, vice, horror and the reigning world of shadows, dog heads, hell and doom! The core and semantic "fist" of the album is the "Staircase" - an elite house, an expensive quadcopter, computers, drones, a car. But all this turns out to be really rotten and empty, due to the hero's lack of love and real affection for anything. A person is forced to run all his life, because stopping means depreciation, devaluation and death of what he has achieved ? this is a concept. There can be any interpretation here, as well as meanings, but the main thing is the music: as a sad result of the entire album, it goes darkly, crushed to nowhere, under the mournful lamentations of Steven Wilson. He put his whole soul into this admission, so much so that it gets scary for the guy. Steven is all inside out without skin:

Automaton drone You're lost with no phone And the home you made your own Can never be paid for The great in the small, the rise and the fall And you come back for more The need to belong And the will to do no wrong The ones that you lost, abandoned or crossed Will haunt you

It is no longer people who control processes and things, but people themselves who are controlled by technology and the greed of politicians who get under our skin with the help of trends and expensive things. Yes, perhaps this is the harsh truth of life. A cruel and fleeting world. A really dark and incredibly colorful album, richly published as usual, with the "noble modesty" of the packaging design. There are a dime a dozen meanings and harmonies here, and even "Rock Bottom" no longer seems such a creative disaster as at first glance. So why is the rate only 4? (it's actually 3, just out of great love for Steven) The fact is that "Impossible STRANGEHOLD" is still an icy dead end for me! Ten minutes of meaningless trampling in a place where the composition simply does not develop and does not fade, here I boldly say that Steven is experiencing serious difficulties as a composer. It would be better if this long senseless electric suffocating mess remained on the dusty master tapes without leaving the limits of Wilson's head. Or at least "decorate" some kind of deluxe edition bonus disc, but alas. Is this the part of the album that you want to cut out? Part of the album? What the hell? Damn it! It lasts as much as 10 minutes! I can't describe this without obscene, dirty language, I'm sorry. It destroys the harmony of the album completely. That's all for now.

With Porcupine Tree a going concern again thanks to Closure/Continuation, Steven decides to take a less purist prog approach on The Harmony Codex, his latest solo album. That's no surprise - after all, on albums like To the Bone and The Future Bites he'd already steered his solo releases away from the prog approach of albums like The Raven That Refused To Sing. Here, he seems to dabbling in a wide range of electronic sounds, with influences ranging from Nine Inch Nails to Vangelis to Air all detectable.

Painstakingly engineered and impeccably produced, it perhaps lacks a little in terms of sonic cohesiveness, but as far as collections of songs giving Wilson an opportunity to air his multi-instrumentalist skills, it's rather charming, and the sheer lushness of the sound of these compositions goes a long way towards making up for the lack of focus.

'The Harmony Codex' is the latest addition to the ever-expanding Steven Wilson catalogue. This ambitious solo album comes after the general disappointment that 'The Future Bites' was, when Wilson incorporated techniques and sounds coming from synth pop and electronica (releasing a massive four-disc set full of new tracks, demos, covers, and what have you), and after the great return of Porcupine Tree (this time as a trio) with 'Closure/Continuation', an album that received rave reviews, deservedly.

'THC', however, sounds like none of these aforementioned albums, as Wilson likes to draw a clear line between his solo releases and the releases of the bands he's in, whether it be PT, No-Man, or Blackfield. In this sense his 'Codex' is quite unique, as it stands as the undoubtedly most stylistically diverse of all SW solo works, so much that it could hardly be classified into a specific category, meaning that his attempt to create a genre-less album has been successful. It could be described as the evolution of 'Hand. Cannot. Erase' through a filter of TFB, some Pink Floyd, and some 80s alt rock and art pop, if this makes any sense.

This is well portrayed by the unusual opener 'Inclination', a great track that builds up slowly, entirely instrumental in its first half, and pretty much not featuring any "real instruments", if tapes, sequencers, and computer programmed effect could be considered "unreal" instruments. The mood of this song fits the typical Wilson-esque melancholic dread that everyone goes to him for. This is followed by a beautiful ballad in the style of early 70s psych prog, featuring Ninet Tayeb, the fantastic Israeli female singer that has helped him very often in some of his best songs - 'What Life Brings' is a tranquil and somber, unlike the previous track on here. 'Economies of Scale' is one of the highlights on the album, and the best representation of what interests Wilson most musically. It sounds like an upgrade of one of the songs on TFB, it features beautiful vocals, a picturesque build-up and a fantastic experimental instrumental. 'Impossible Tightrope' is the big 10-minute prog and fusion extravaganza, once again featuring some great playing. It is worth noting that the cast of musicians contributing to this album is absolutely massive, as the listener could see the names of Adam Holzmann, Craig Blundell, David Kollar, Niko Tsonev, Nick Beggs, Pat Mastelotto, Guy Pratt and David Kosten, among many others in the liner notes. One must say that knowing this for sure takes away the experience of listening to a band performing its collective work, which, of course, this album is not. The desired genre-less final product might have motivated the large cast of guest musicians but this also results to an extent in a bit of a disconnection here and there, as something is surely missing, another dimension that can be felt on other SW solo albums, a sense of intimacy that might have slipped away somewhere.

'Rock Bottom' is a strong duet between Wilson and Ninet, another one of the stronger compositions on the album, once again very melancholic and downtempo. 'Beautiful Scarecrow' is interesting but is not the best thing Wilson has produced, as it falls a bit short on having a particular direction or moment of release. The title track is a 10-minute electronic sequence, strongly resembling something that could have been done by Tangerine Dream in the early 70s. All I could say is that this is one of the tracks I can hardly stand. 'Time is Running Out' sounds a bit uninspired, both lyrically and musically. 'Actual Brutal Facts' is a very grim electronic rock exploration, definitely something new for Wilson, curious addition to the album, that unfortunately could not have saved the second half of the 'Codex' from sounding infinitely more tedious than the first one. 'Staircase' is another longer song, finally quoting Pink Floyd again in the nylon guitar strumming that is in the background. Rock instrumentation mixes beautifully with the electronic soundscapes on this track, that sounds a most like a synthesis between HCE and TFB.

It is always great to have one of your favorite artists come back with a new album but the strength of 'The Harmony Codex' seems to me not corresponding to the hype created before its release. As a project it is quite ambitious, quite sonically bold and showcases Wison's musical interests in a perfect way but to me the album suffers from the missing element mentioned before, making it more difficult to connect to it. It is richly produced and bolsters a great sound, but the quality of the songs and the creativity have both suffered from the shifting of interest from musical material to sonic presentation.