"Year Zero," Nine Inch Nails, release date April 16, 2007... damn, tomorrow! The same day as "Fear Of A Blank Planet"... I ask my wallet, "Can we afford to buy both?" It doesn't say anything but puts the payment slip for the five-string Spector bass under my nose... Alright, it's a no... Sleepless night, until a revelation: in the dark, the bluish gaze of a little girl and a voice: "Colin Edwin uses Spector basses..."... April 16, morning; I don't even look under the N in the record section, I grab one a little further away... Now let's hear what this bluish girl really has to say to me. Play.
A year ago, an acquaintance who always gets it wrong when he criticizes but always gets it right when he praises recommended "On The Sunday Of Life" (1991) to me; nice album, I agreed, so rich in ideas as well as all those debts someone like Steven Wilson inevitably has to the golden era of rock. Then, out of curiosity, I skip eleven years of Porcupine Tree's career and crash into "In Absentia," finding everything I was looking for: modern sound, stimulating compositions, perfect arrangements. I hadn't heard anything better, and within a few months, I caught up with all the porcupine's chapters; a series of seemingly impeccable albums that, however, dilute the newprog ambition now in predictable digressions (the scheme of "Russia On Ice" recycled multiple times), now in dubious pop concessions ("Lazarus"). The pleasure of listening to them, yes, that always persists...
...play...
The six tracks of "Fear Of A Blank Planet" are pure perfection, and this time they are even beyond appearances. Porcupine Tree is probably not destined for an absolute masterpiece, but they do have some of "their" masterpieces ("The Sky Moves Sideways," "In Absentia"); "Fear" is one of them. The infinitesimal attention to detail works on two fronts, delighting the listener and cooling the impact of a concept as cold as the cover; the technique of Wilson, Barbieri, Edwin, and Harrison is exquisite and yet always functional to the entirety of the sound; the premises were recycled but sooner or later they had to reach their executional peak. "Anesthetize," seventeen minutes that split the album in half, flows more than three minutes of Sanremo and is, with its riding a multitude of suggestions, perhaps the most emblematic piece of the Porcupine Tree style; the metal thrusts are more justified than ever, the electronics enter massively yet do not invade, everyone's taste (Wilson first and foremost) is the only source of warmth...
Happy and content, I haven't yet bothered to find a friend who chose "Year Zero"...
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 My Ashes (05:07)
All the things that I needed
And wasted my chances
I have found myself wanting
When my mother and father
Gave me their problems
I accepted them all
Nothing ever expected
I was rejected
But I came back for more
And my ashes drift beneath the silver sky
Where a boy rides on a bike but never smiles
And my ashes fall on all the things we said
On a box of photographs under the bed
I will stay in my own world
Under the covers
I will feel safe inside
A kiss that will burn me
And cure me of dreaming
I was always returning
And my ashes find a way beyond the fog
And return to save the child that I forgot
And my ashes fade among the things unseen
And a dream plays in reverse on piano keys
And my ashes drop upon a park in Wales
Never ending clouds of rain and distant sails
03 Anesthetize (17:42)
A good impression of myself
Not much to conceal
I'm saying nothing
But I'm saying nothing with feel
I simply am not here no way I...
Shut up be happy stop whining please
And because of who we are
We react in mock surprise
The curse of "there must be more"
So don't breathe here, don't leave your bags
I simply am not here no way I...
Shut up be happy stop whining please
***
The dust in my soul makes me feel the weight in my legs
My head in the clouds and I'm zoning out
I'm watching TV but I find it hard to stay conscious
I'm totally bored but I can't switch off
Only apathy from the pills in me
It's all in me, all in you
Electricity from the pills in me
It's all in me, all in you
Only MTV cold philosophy
We're lost in the mall, shuffling through the stores like zombies
Well what is the point? What can money buy?
My hands on a gun and I find the range, God tempt me
Well what did you say? Think I'm passing out
Only apathy from the pills in me
It's all in me, all in you
Electricity from the pills in me
It's all in me, all in you
Only MTV and cold philosophy
***
Water so warm that day
I counted out the waves
As they broke into surf
I smiled into the sun
The water so warm that day
I was counting out the waves
And I followed their short life
As they broke on the shoreline
I could see you
But I couldn't hear you
You were holding your hat in the breeze
Turning away from me
In this moment you were stolen
There's black across the sun
04 Sentimental (05:26)
I never wanna be old
And I don't want dependents
It's no fun to be told
That you can't blame your parents anymore
I'm finding it hard to hang from a star
Don't wanna be
I don't wanna be old
Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way they wish away each day
I don't really know
If I care what is normal
And I'm not really sure
If the pills I've been taking are helping
I'm wasting my life
Hurting inside
I don't really know
And I'm not really sure.....
Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way they wish away each day
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Gregor_Lake
Fear of a Blank Planet is certainly a further confirmation of the band’s maturity, allowing us to appreciate not only the technical prowess but also the compositional and arrangement tastes.
The standout piece of the album is the suite 'Anesthetize' which is smooth and fluid in all its 17 minutes, never suffering from repetitiveness or various expansions.
By DanteCruciani
The songs seem to flow anonymously, only rarely is the stage illuminated by some good insight.
Fear of a Blank Planet feels cold and distant.
By MORPHEO 33
Porcupine Tree continues to climb, album after album, to unattainable heights; to places where common people do not think and especially cannot reach.
Anesthetize is destined to become one of the band’s most beautiful and successful suites.
By splinter
Steven Wilson, as usual, leaves nothing to chance.
The title track is honestly one of my favorites written by the group and manages to impart an energy that few other of their songs can convey.
By NoodlesMurphy
From Steven's first guitar stroke, you recognize them, these Porcupine Tree.
Anesthetize... All perfect, a 10 and praise closure.