Porcupine Tree
Fear Of A Blank Planet

I liked Porcupine Tree right from the start, from the first listen to "The Sky Moves Sydeways." I remember feeling a sense of well-being, immediately followed by hope. These feelings intensified when I added listening to the old "On the Sunday of Life" and the live "Coma Divine" (1997), which I would consider a watershed between the band's first period and its subsequent "evolution," let's call it that. In general, it became clear that Steven Wilson's sonic insights were wonderfully fresh and engaging, aided by a completely innovative and very modern musical formula, far from being a poor copy of old progressive bands.

The Porcupine Tree stood on three simple elements well balanced among themselves: a kind of psychedelic rock with ambient shades; catchy and evocative pop melodies; electronic hints mixed with bass lines almost in the style of trance music. Gradually the famous change of direction occurred, whether due to a drain of ideas, a need for change, or also an attempt for greater commercial visibility. The fact is that, after "Lightbulb Sun," the band increasingly embraced decidedly metallic sounds, thus giving birth to a kind of space rock where heavy tones were omnipresent. And from this period, in my opinion, a downward trajectory began. Especially from the perspective of the freshness of the music: "In Absentia" could potentially have been a nice commercial hit, but it wasn't. It certainly remains a pleasant album, but in the second half, it loses its way a bit, wandering in the maze of overly long and inconclusive songs. Let's not even talk about "Deadwing," just a couple of tracks and the cover are worth mentioning. Now the latest protagonist of what I hope will remain a triad has arrived, I'm sorry to say.

When I put on the album, I was still hypnotized by the big eyes of the child on the cover: him frightened by this white and empty world, me mainly by the listening I was about to do. A listening that flows without stumbling but also without any particular peaks. So I think a little and ask myself: what went wrong? The guys could and would know how to do far better. Maybe it's not their fault. Maybe it's my problem. Probably one just needs to get used to the new Porcupine Tree. But it’s stronger than me: the songs seem to flow anonymously, only rarely is the stage illuminated by some good insight. And when everything seems to have taken the right direction, here again are those heavy guitar strums, which continue for at least another two minutes, banal. I remember Wilson brings out a little guitar solo gem somewhere, but the moment is short-lived: the music quickly returns to being ineffective, and I feel like I'm hearing a passage from a "Deadwing" song again.

Of course, it must be clear that the album is played and packaged impeccably, in fact, this is probably the album where the new sound sought by Wilson in the previous two albums is fully achieved: for this reason, my feeling is that the music is too "manneristic", if you know what I mean. Everything is done in a painstaking manner: Wilson's warm arpeggios, Edwin's hypnotic bass, Barbieri's magical synths, Harrison's absolutely perfect percussion. But those arpeggios make me yawn a little, to be honest, that bass seems a bit dazed to me, those synths make me nervous. Even that metronome of Harrison begins to get on my nerves: there’s simply no comparison with the imagination of old Chris Maitland. The vocal parts are also pleasant, but perhaps too melodic, at times almost sugary: but wasn't it Wilson who attacked artists who made money with simple and catchy songs ( "Four chords that made a million" )? Anyway, by now this is the formula: pleasant pop and metal strumming perfectly integrated with the rest. Even the rare "progressive" inventions still suffer from the "heavy" and manneristic approach, never really taking flight. The moral of the story: even "Fear of a Blank Planet" feels cold and distant. So, my dear ones, there are two things: either Wilson makes the change in sound also with his heart and not just his head, or here something needs to be done immediately.

I can only conclude by saying that last September, when I saw their concert in Rome, they surprised the audience by previewing material that, they said: "It will end up in the new album. We do it for Rome, which is an audience we love very much." Delirium all around! And great praise for Wilson and the likable second guitarist. When they started playing, I said to myself: "There it is! Sounds like Deadwing..." Yet little by little, I let myself be swept away, and I greatly appreciated it, because on that occasion I also felt the heart. Which is perhaps what I love most about Porcupine Tree. Who, let's remember, are amazing live. Certainly, if Wilson would at least put on a pair of slippers.....