Hard as a rock to melody, complex to dreamy – the scope of the Porcupine tree is gigantic. After years of radio silence, British progressive rock is back. Fans can be happy.
The Porcupine Tree, which has long been one of the most influential progressive rock bands, hasn’t had anything new for over a decade.
Although the quartet’s powerful albums about mastermind Stephen Wilson (54) have become more successful over the years, the Briton discontinued his project around 2011. He was able to focus entirely on his solo albums, which rose commercially to hit many sites Single-digit chart of Great Britain and Germany.
The Porcupine Tree fan community, which has grown steadily over the band’s more than 20 years of development from touring psychedelic rock to lead, tune-metal, has recently seen Wilson’s solo work with contrast. These were somewhat fun for the genre and too shallow for some. Over the years, the question never stopped: Will the porcupine tree ever come back?
As an artist, you should never think: what fans want, what fans expect, Wilson recently told Rolling Stone. “You have to think: what do I want to do, what excites me?” Because if you’re not passionate about yourself, how can you expect to inspire others?
back as a trio
Now his band is finally back. As a trio without bassist Colin Edwin, but the sound is exactly where you’d expect the Porcupine Tree to be. With elaborate bass runs, solid slopes, wide keyboard decks, the best percussion of Gavin Harrison’s drummer, and finally meaningful extended melodies that sometimes lead to heavenly choruses.
The typical characteristics of Porcupine Tree’s voice between aggressiveness and melancholy characterize this first studio album since 2009. Fans can feel at home musically from the first second.
“Close/Continue” has been written over a long period of time. “We really enjoyed doing that,” Wilson told Rolling Stone. The album has all the hallmarks of the Porcupine Tree DNA but looks like an evolution. “The oldest lyrics are ten years old and when you think about what has happened in the world in the last ten years – it’s unbelievable. It seems like we are going from one global catastrophe to the next.” He himself, always interested in the wretched aspects, owes a lot of inspiration to this.
porcupine tree Pick up where you left off over a decade ago. But can the band relive the magic of their timeless smash hit albums like “In Absentia”? Germany’s fall concerts will show that, too. Wilson fans interested in the discussion will have something to talk about.
