Today I attended the Porcupine Tree playback for the new album, The Incident. Located at a London studio, the 55 minute epic was played through high quality 5.1 DTS surround sound speakers, showing off the advanced mixing skills of Darcy Proper, easily matching the sound experience of Deadwing.

It takes many, many listens to fully appreciate and notice all the subtleties of such a long song but even in a single session the unique Porcupine Tree sound was easily recognisable.

Starting very suddenly and changing often, a mixture of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds and Nine Inch Nails shines through the middle section as the “story” of the first song progresses. Intense electric guitar contrasts against “Trains”-like acoustic, interspersed with grand piano which could easily be from Insurgentes.

Indeed, The Incident would not be out of place on the In Absentia album with its heavy guitar riffs and swirling Barbieri synth effects.

We were only treated to the first song, broken down into 14 parts, with 4 remaining, but separate, songs still to be revealed. One thing is certain, this is going to be a good year for Porcupine Tree.

The Incident in the new album from Porcupine Tree, out September 21st 2009.

Wotcha all!
 
This will be a very short post as I don't have much time this morning to do the thing justice but here goes...
 
Air Studios, Hampstead, is a converted church which you could easily walk past if you did not know it was there but I did and I went in!
 
The actual event kicked off at around 6:15pm yesterday evening with SW hovering around checking speakers etc.  SW did apologise to all who were around the edges in that they would not get the whole 5.1 experience. We were let in early and I bagged the best seat right in the middle!
 
Anyway, the lights did not dim but the music did start and for the next 55mins we were exposed to another episode of PT brilliance. Unlike SoD I thought the whole thing held together really well, in fact, I think it is a much better crafted album than Fear. Nothing seemed out of place although the mood does change from track to track. Time Flies is certainly a brilliant 'hats off' to PF and was very reminiscent of parts of the Animals album. I really loved it but there was plenty more really good stuff too. Yes there are Opethesque heavy riffs in parts and some brilliant harmonies but overall it seemed to be a very tight almost Spartan affair in terms of the final effect. SW's vocals are really spot on and not hidden behind effects.
 
To answer some of the other questions on the forum regarding the other players... yes it is true that neither Colin or Richard's contributions are 'in your face' but they are very much there and really bring things alive. Colin is certainly playing a fretless for some of the time but I couldn't say that for every track. Richard uses lots of very subtle effects in addition to the standard keyboard stuff... really adds to the atmosphere. And Gavin is right in there with his usual variety of rhythms and tempos.
 
Some brilliant but simple riffs and rhythms are dotted throughout the album but in many ways this will be one to listen to from start to finish and then start over again.
 
All in all as good as I've heard and yes there are Insurgentes similarities but this is very definitely a PT album rather than a SW one.
 
I'll try and give a more full account of each track later today, if/when I find the time but for now I'm afraid I have to go.

Well Roadrunner Records UK and the band held 3 listening sessions today at Air Studios in North London. I was lucky enough to get a invite via the CRS and attended the evening session.

Mr Wilson and Mr Barbieri were present, but Steven was feeling a bit unwell (and no doubt had been chatting to other journos all day), so he didn't stick around for very long after the listening session. Steven did give a little intro talk but didn't really add to what you can already read on the Website or the Roadrunner site.

We were all sat in the main studio in the middle of a quad speaker setup which sounded fantastic, even though, seated as I was on the front-row, I probably didn't get the very best of sound

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2988717&l=c89fc1c7c6&id=685806666

We got to listen to the 55 min 'song cycle' (i.e. the first disk) and very nice it was too.

THE INCIDENT
i occam's razor (1.55)
ii the blind house (5.47)
iii great expectations (1.26)
iv kneel and disconnect (2.03)
v drawing the line (4.43)
vi the incident (5.20)
vii your unpleasant family (1.48)
viii the yellow windows of the evening train (2.00)
ix time flies (11.40)
x degree zero of liberty (1.45)
xi octane twisted (5.03)
xii the séance (2.39)
xiii circle of manias (2.18)
xiv i drive the hearse (6.41)

I think its impossible to review anything on the basis of one listen, but a few things which stood out were

1) The songs flow was good and there was a certain feel which was reminiscent of On the Sunday of Life - i.e. songs of various styles which bled into each other quite nicely. Early songs were punctuated by the heavy riffing of the opening number, but the later songs transition more smoothly.

2) The longest song - Time Flies at 11:40 was the song which stood out for me. There was a nice long guitar solo in the middle.

3) The oddest song was perhaps the title track which went from almost industrial sounding to pleasant breezy Porcupine Tree circa Lightbulb Sun. I wonder if Frippertronics were involved at the beginning ... but Fripp is not mentioned as being a guest on the album

As someone who like FoaBP but still found it a little indigestible in some ways, I think that this is a more accessible and less heavy Porcupine Tree.

Its gonna take a bit more digestion ... when (if) promo copies get sent out, but I think that there is certainly a little of everything in there for PT fans of all eras.

I'm sure that a report will appear soon in UK publications (print and online) as there were 3 of these sessions and I'd expect that the takeup was pretty good. I'd guess that those who were able to attend the sessions earlier in the day probably had the opportunity to interview members of the band, but having to work meant that the evening session was the only one I could attend.

We were also given a little handout with the lyrics and some details of the album. There don't appear to be any guest appearances though Wes does contribute some guitar - not sure if he counts as a 'guest' or not.

fuck pt

This coming Monday (JULY 13TH), we will reveal a taste of things to come from the upcoming album by PORCUPINE TREE- THE INCIDENT.

Check back here at 4pm Monday to hear a snippet of the title track from the new album, which in it's entirity lasts a staggering 55 minutes! We will also bring you the thoughts of some of the fans who attended a full 5.1 playback of the track in a studio here in London on the 6th July.

The album will now be released on SEPTEMBER 14TH in three formats- a standard double CD, and MP3 download and a Deluxe Edition (full details TBC).

if this was really the case why even market the album

pt are on roadrunner? ahahhaha

roadrunner is one of the worst record companies probably ever

theyre also pretty excessively 'corporate'