The Incident

Ok, the album is out, and some time has passed, so let´s talk about it!

I, for one, will say something that for most of you must mean close to nothing. The Incident can be bought in almost every mainstream record shop in Argentina! I can´t tell you how strange and cool that is. Of course I INMEDIATLY bought it.

But on to buisness

What do you think of this album? The first thing I can think of is that I will need time to digest it, much more than with any other Porcupine Tree album. Second it´s not very progressive musically (by that I mean the usual tempo changes, riffing and so on...) but it is very progressive conceptually, if that makes any sense. I will have to give it a few more spins, but the lack of melodies and hooks and overall coldness might not make it among my favorites of them. One thing I do admire them for making this kind of album. When I heard of a 55 min songs I inmediatly thought about a Fear of a blank planet-Anesthesize kind of epic... and that´s so not the case. If anything it´s more of a Nine Inch Nails meets Meshuggah album, with Roger Water´s shadow lurking around. Maybe my opinion will change dramatically (quite probable with this kind of outputs) but I do feel they need a bit of oomph... but I might be wrong!

What does surprise me is that the rating is overall VERY positive. I tought this wouldn´t go as a great album, not in this site at least, but I seem to be quite wrong... good for our "openmindness"!

Oh, and the second is great! Very Nil recurring, but I think releasing it as a double album with one disc being pretty much an Ep was a very smart move.

Now, you...

So it's not very progressive musically because it doesn't employ the usual musical traits of progressive music?

Moatilliatta wrote: So it's not very progressive musically because it doesn't employ the usual musical traits of progressive music?

Oh, not this sh*t. If you´ve heard the album you know what I mean. Progressive? Musically not that much. Artistic? Most definitly.

Evolver wrote: I picked it up yesterday, based on all the five star reviews here. I've listened to most of the first disk. So far, I'm unimpressed.  There are a few good tracks, but nothing overwhelmingly great. Mostly, I would call it alternative rock.  Not very progressive. Sorry guys.

This is precisely what I'm concerned about (I ordered the album yesterday and should get it sometime next week).

I have a feeling it will be overblown like In Absentia (no offense to those who love it, as I myself gave that album a four), which is to say, not really prog at all, but just good rock songs.

But we shall see.  In any event, I won't render a review after two listens like so many have done (they should be ashamed for that).

Evolver wrote: I picked it up yesterday, based on all the five star reviews here. I've listened to most of the first disk. So far, I'm unimpressed.  There are a few good tracks, but nothing overwhelmingly great. Mostly, I would call it alternative rock.  Not very progressive. Sorry guys.

^Ah, you and your intellectual counter-arguments! This would be a good point, the only problem I have with it is that you're mixing up the terms "prog" and "progressive," though. I thought this site had a thing about that.

Not progressive? Plain alternative rock? Did you even pay attention to what's going on in the music while you were listening to it?

Sorry, but even if this offends many people, I think that whoever doesn't "get" the progressiveness in The Incident does have a lot to learn about prog ...

$106 dollars for the super deluxe edition!  She won't even bat an eye..

^ it's the distinction between prog style and progressive approach ... it's obvious that The Incident is nothing like Genesis or Yes in terms of style. The problem, as I see it, is that many people think in terms of style *only* and completely forget the other aspects. Back in the 70s the prog artists usually used both. They invented new styles - also with the help of all new instruments like synthesizers, mellotron etc - but also had much experimentalism, avant-garde etc. in their music. IMO The Incident is a nice example of an album that has the experimentalism, avant-garde ... call it "progressive spirit" or - as I've settled for on PF - "progressive approach", but without the stylistic similarity, which makes it simply more difficult to recognize for those who look for synth solos and layers of mellotron.

^ I think Steven Wilson said otherwise in an interview I read ... unfortunately I don't have it here right now (at work), I can post an excerpt later.

I think that The Incident can be best called a "song cycle" ... it's a sequence of songs that are nicely connected, and there is a common theme and also some nice musical links between the songs. As far as I am concerned, it absolute screams "PROGRESSIVE" ... but - as I said above - not in terms of style. If you disagree that's fine with me, but I still think that I'm right about this. "Right" in that whatever PT do on The Incident, it should be called "progressive".