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Porcupine Tree: In absentia
22/08/07 || The Duff
Once Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson became acquainted with prog metal band Opeth, two things happened: firstly, he started to infuse heavier material into his regular brand of prog rock, and secondly, many a metalhead thought that Porcupine Tree was an acceptable bridge between artsy prog, sandal-wearing, green tea-drinking hippie music and the death metal realm shared by Mikael Åkerfeldt & Co. and beyond, if you were into the harsher domain of things, it was tolerated that you cross over and savor those pastures with greener, fluffier grass. The album “In Absentia” is where I came into the band’s music, along with every other metalhead crossing this bridge into more “open-minded”, “pleasant” and, to some, “homosexual” terrain.
The start of the album definitely displays Wilson’s mélange of prog rock with the heavier metal influence to outstanding effect, as the opening riff is heavy as fuck (read that as in a prog way), yet doesn’t appear out of place when suddenly giving way to the dreamy/artsy nature of prog, both styles complement each other to the fullest, in fact. The rest of the album maintains this high level of creativity and musicianship, and is a mixture of upbeat “Lightbulb Sun” elements and the now expected downhearted music that seems to reflect exactly what someone like Steven Wilson should have lived through – as we all know, people with glasses and long girly hair are bullied at school, and it’s just all downhill from then onward.
“Trains” and “Lips of Ashes” are really mellow tracks that are just great to sit back and relax to, similar tracks being peppered throughout – others mix up both heavy and mellow to great effect, much like the opener (such as “Gravity Eyelids”).
“The Sound of Muzak” opens with an almost slap-bass, jazz inspired guitar line that has a very rich tone allowing things to go down smoothly; the catchy chorus is also a definite plus to this song, as Wilson laments music as being “one of the wonders of the world/and it’s going down/it’s going down” (I must admit that, when I see Robbie Williams singing about “shaking his rudebox”, I’m inclined to concur).
Other highpoints to this release include the real funky “The Creator Has a Mastertape”, the instrumental “Wedding Nails”, the sombre “Heartattack in a Lay By” and the album’s centre-piece, “.3”, which starts out with a real cool bass-line and just builds up to a massive wall of sound that simply radiates feel.
I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of this band, as most of its earlier works seem either too pretentious or simply too proggy for my liking; only ever since his working with Opeth did Owen Wilson’s project really take off for me, as it was infused with enough of a metal vibe for me to appreciate things a little more without appearing to be an absolute pussy in front of my fellow metal brethren. In all seriousness, this album and the one that followed are both great pieces of work; this one, although not as varied as the band’s 2005 release, does benefit from slightly stronger music (and less of the occasional “been here, done that” presentiment), as well as songs that really belong together so as to give rise to an album that is almost concept in feel, yet still provides the advantage of being able to skip through to all of your faves without the feeling of missing out on a greater whole.
Some do speak ill of Porcupine Tree, stating that they are talented, but overall just a little too predictable/bland (going by Amazon reviewers here) – personally, I don’t think anything could be further from the truth; Steven Wilson’s band, for me, is the epitome of great, intelligently composed music that shall without question stand the test of time. “In Absentia” comes seriously recommended as a delight of an album in which one can truly lose him/herself, and doubtlessly one of the sub-genre’s best.
9 sandal-wearing hippies out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2002
- Label: Atlantic Records
- Website: www.porcupinetree.com
- Band
- Steven Wilson: guitars, vocals
- Colin Edwin: bass
- Gavin Harisson: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Blackest Eyes
- 02. Trains
- 03. Lips Of Ashes
- 04. The Sound OF Muzak
- 05. Gravity Eyelids
- 06. Wedding Nails
- 07. Prodigal
- 08. .3
- 09. The Creator Has A Mastertape
- 10. Heartattack In A Lay By
- 11. Strip The Soul
- 12. Collapse The Light Into Earth
