THE INCIDENT

Studio album #10 by Porcupine Tree is often seen as divisive, repetitive, exhausted or maybe even clumsy at times - all pieces of criticism that are completely lacking substance and opting for careless neglect rather than engaging in a more profound way with what represents the last great release by a band in its classic period, for what concerns PT's history before their long hiatus. 'The Incident' is a concept album released as a double by Roadrunner Records in September of 2009, and famously features the 55-minute-long title track, the centerpiece of the entire LP, and a second disc with four more songs that do not relate to the main story but complement (and represent) the musical pursuits of the band at the time. While it is true that stylistically we could not speak of the odd one out as 'The Incident' exhibits a style similar to preceding albums, it is the volume, the architecture and the songwriting as well as the emotive nature of the composition that comes to be the most striking feature of the album.

Inspired by a road incident and further informed by other similar occurrences, Wilson masterfully recreates the dazzling and terrifying atmosphere of such events - the contrast between the heavy guitars and the menacing, punctuating synths and effects added by Barbieri are once again central to the successful Porcupine Tree formula. Needless to say, the rhythm section is stellar as usual but what comes to the fore is the intelligent, nearly perfect sequencing of the separate tracks making up the mammoth piece (among which we may find classics like 'The Blind House', 'Time Flies', 'Octane Twisted' and 'I Drive the Hearse'). The music is further enhanced by the soloing as we hear some of Wilson's finest playing and some of the most inventive riffs in the entire catalogue. Each of the bonus tracks on the second disc is quite unique in terms of mood and rhythm and the entire album could only be seen as a solid continuation of a sound already established on previous releases - definitely an underrated canon album.