Porcupine Tree
In Absentia

Late December 2002; I leave the house in the morning...damn, another damn workday! Anyway...I'm stopped at the traffic light right at the intersection adjacent to the office...there's a newsstand, so I stop...maybe I'll buy the December issue of *******(I won't write it, I don't want to advertise) music magazine. I arrive at the office, enter, take the elevator and meanwhile leaf through the magazine...I go straight to the reviews...look at that, PT is releasing a new work...who would have thought. I read the first lines and the end, nothing special...the disc of decline (figuratively speaking) for the reviewer. I finally sit down....after a few hours...a 15 min break. I reopen the magazine...read the whole review...maybe it was early morning, but I didn't understand a damn thing about what was written...all the opposite..in the end, 4 out of 5. Well...I say....the temptation is strong.

6:00 PM...I run out like a 6-year-old when the bell rings at noon...at supersonic speed, I launch myself into Via Grande to the first record store I find (there are three!!)...I buy the CD (strange to have found it... the review said the first copies arrived piecemeal and mostly imported....the usual bullshit!!)...I run home...put the CD in the player and...............PUFFFFF!!!

The English combo led by S.Wilson gave me the Christmas gift...we're at it again. The opener BLACKEST EYES closely recalls LIGHTBULB SUN from the previous work, both in melodic structure and rhythm. However, the chorus works great and the piece is marked by a nice electric guitar riff, monolithic, powerful, and pleasant. The second track TRAINS is also interesting, an electric-acoustic song full of mood and imbued with pleasing melody, with Wilson's thin voice in great shape. It moves on to the next three tracks which represent, in a sense, the zenith of the disc, based on the delicacy of LIPS OF ASHES, but also the contagious whirl of THE SOUND OF MUZAK; the splendid GRAVITY EYELIDS deserves special mention, characterized by Wilson's superb vocal lines, still impeccable.

The hard vein of the album's opening (Blackest Eyes) resurfaces in WEDDING NAILS and THE CREATOR HAS A MASTERTAPE, but it doesn't last long...considering, moreover, that these are the less inspired compositions of the entire work. It immediately regains altitude with the two concluding tracks HEARTATTACK IN A LAYBY and COLLAPSE THE LIGHT INTO EARTH which lower rhythms and volumes, bringing the PT back to levels that suit them.

In short...another test of PT's genius...a well-done album in every single part....but beware METAL-HEADS...it's not for you. It could be considered a "summa" of all previous works and for those unfamiliar with this splendid formation from Albion, it could also be significant (but not exhaustive). The advice, should you need it, is to invest without any hesitation.