Porcupine Tree

Deadwing (Lava)
By Brian Varney

Normally, I like to know as much as I can about music I like, but I’ve gotta honestly say that this can sometimes have undesired consequences. For instance, after doing a little bit of checking into Deadwing, I learned that it was conceived as the soundtrack to an unrealized film script by band leader Steven Wilson. Once I learned this, I began to regard the album with dread, since other bands have attempted similar things, the results almost always burdened by a cloud of silly pretentiousness. If, on the other hand, I hadn’t known this ahead of time, would I have approached Deadwing with such apprehension? I doubt it.

Luckily for us, Deadwing is good enough to discount the fears of even the most hardened of cynics, myself included. There’s a lot going on in Porcupine Tree‘s unique and epic fusion of classic rock, prog, and metal, these elements blended so well that you may like what you hear even if you don’t like one of these genres. Several of the tracks are lengthy and include long passages of near-ambience that I’ll have to assume feed back into the soundtrack concept, but these passages fit well enough with the more traditional songs surrounding them that surprisingly little of what you’ll hear feels superficial.

If you’re a fan of Opeth’s quieter moments (huge fans of Porcupine Tree, by the way, as evidenced by Damnation), there’s a good chance you’ll find Deadwing to be, at the very least, an interesting listen.
(www.lavarecords.com)