Deadwing by Porcupine Tree : The Best Band You've Never Heard Of

For those that haven't gotten into Porcupine Tree yet, their latestalbum, Deadwing, is actually an easy place to start.

When I say easy, I mean to say that the rest of PT's albums are very different - full of variety and impossible to single down to a single genre. Deadwing, at first, disappointed me because it's a much more focused contribution to progressive rock, and the opening title track kicks it off with probably the heaviest and most solid song on the disc. It was...different in terms of PT, and therefore hard to accept, although it has an ear-grabbing riff that'll knock someone on their ass if they aren't ready for it. Overall, it's that good.

Moving on, the second song is the first single for America, "Shallow," (intentional bash or not, it's hard to tell with UK bands) is PT's progression into a more pop-rock sound, and executed brilliant as such, making it still hard to accept as a PT fan but containing a vocal line that'll grate through your mind like a block of cheese (extra sharp cheddar, no less) and pass through casually, leaving a distinguished pleasure behind it.

Continuing on the note of rock orientation, the third song, "Lazarus," is one of the two songs that is left untouched by this increasing heaviness, and rightfully so, as it tells the story of a boy (named David?) and his confused, misguided place in the world. This is perhaps among the most fragile of songs in PT's history and therefore sticks out like a black eye on Deadwing.

And where one considers the song "Collapse the Light into Earth" from In Absentia, you can see a simularity with piano and orchestra - but here you have the full set with bass and drums included. The following song immediately kicks back into the prog-rock session with a little more 'soul' added in, and its name is rightfully "Halo" for this sound. And no, not the kind of self-proclaimed soul of Matchbox 20, but the real stuff and very tightly woven into the rock element with delayed and processed vocals.

Then comes the real meat of the album. In Absentia must have been a sort of test for American audiences, for it was their first release into America and the longest song doesn't quite reach 8 minutes. "Arriving Somewhere (But Not Here)" from Deadwing is clocked as 12:02 and contains elements from everywhere in their musical history.

Considering it's their first epic since Lightbulb Sun, it might be simple to just compare it to "Russia on Ice" from that album which clocked 13:03 - they're rather similar by structure, really. "Russia on Ice" followed a pattern of Part A: non-rock and Part B: rock instrumental and then a mellow resolution. "Arriving Somewhere" goes Part A, Part B, mellow interlude, then an A/B mix. And to describe the sound...well, it follows Deadwing's example further for the rock and has its own charm for the atmospheric/balladry.

Basically, to give a perspective, it's "Russia on Ice" with a healthy dose of LSD and a very unhealthy dose of steroids. With its similarity, however, the originally unaccepting PT fan (me) starts to see where they're going with this sound and how organic their implementations are. The rock's been there, it just hasn't had the full spotlight until recently.

"Mellotron Scratch" almost ran through as a delicate work of balladry...almost. But Steve Wilson couldn't leave it at that, oh no. The rock was there, and strangely enough, it was making more sense. It is perhaps this song that clued me in that I wasn't just listening to an album - I was taking a journey. And that journey continued with "Open Car," a racey and maturely-themed piece of prog that is just shy of pop style.

The combination of these two songs (tracks 6 & 7) started a little niche in my stomach where the rest of the disc would soon fill with something permanent and something quite pleasurable. The experience moved onto "The Start of Something Beautiful" and, may I say, it was something beautiful all the way through, start to finish. The extraodinary use of vocal effects and instrumental styling made a satisfying end result that could have very well ended the album right there. But PT ain't like that.

"Glass Arm Shattering" concludes Deadwing and just the way PT likes it; slow, steady, and delicate. The balladry is exquisite, although unfitting to the album, and builds at some point into a satisfying ambience where you wish it would continue to change and end differently than how it began to create a more fitting finale than what its opening presented. But it instead did the expected and cloned its beginning, which is perhaps my only lasting disappointment in the album.

It dropped off on a weird vibe and made it hard to retain the rest of the album, but discard it and you will most likely dwell on all you've heard for hours. Unless, of course, you listen to the secret song which is a re-make of "Shesmovedon" from Lightbulb Sun. Some cleaning and added effects enhanced it, but it's essentially the same song and thus threw me off my confused obsession with Deadwing having heard a song from a previous, more familiar 'era' of their music.

My advice: stop the CD when you hear the static at the end of track 9 and let the absorbing take place. It's not necessarily a themed album like In Absentia came off, but listen to it all the way through and you'll feel your own theme for it, one that can only be painted by emotions and not images or words.

You haven't taken a musical journey until you've listened to Deadwing, and I say this as a very confident Tool fan, among other amazing works and artists.