you'd make a better troll in world of warcraft LOL

ahahaha, that actually fits pretty well.

but yeah, it's amazing that they picked that cover over the other promo art. edited the real cover art (minus the text i assume) to the first post tho.

so it leaked today, the quality leaves a lot to be desired as it's some shitty 128kbps (i think) transcode in 320kbps with clipping in many songs but here are some opinions after hearing it three times!

- it's a whole different album from foabp. whereas foabp had this dark, dense, compressed, sometimes even atonal sound, the incident sounds much more lush. it has dark parts too but the production and the overall sound of the album is waaaaaay different except for some of the heavy bits which continue in the same direction foabp was going.
- speaking of heavy... this album is pretty much not heavy. it is clearly less heavy than foabp, deadwing or even in absentia. the first disc is 55 minutes and there are maybe 10 minutes of heavy parts there (and even less on second cd). and some of those parts aren't even all that heavy. some are just these HUGE sounding chords with ambience and it's pretty fucking cool and new! so yes, this album is not very heavy and a breath of fresh air.
- incredibly varied and more electronic as well. lots of ambience compared to past albums. and in lack of a better word right now, there are some parts which sound just weird. not bad but weird. like it doesn't even sound like something pt would do, drawing the line being a perfect example. a very fucking cool song by the way.
- LOTS and I mean LOTS of great sounding guitars here! a fair amount of soloing but not the boring, complex and gay like soloing, the guitar solos are very moody and even understated. imagine pink floyd and not dream theater.
- the first cd flows very well. it is not one song at all, you can tell this very clearly. calling it song cycle makes perfect sense although unfortunately the shit quality of the current leak partly ruins the flow with some clipping in the beginning of tracks.
- sw's vocals are seriously better than ever. they aren't treated very much on the album and sound kinda different as well. lots of emotion and tons of fantastic vocal melodies.
- lyrically it's a lot more loose than foabp. a fair amount of instrumental songs/parts in songs too. i need to upload this interview where sw talks about the concept and it's actually pretty cool and very different from foabp. overall the album is return to more abstract lyrics.
- it has a fair amount of some pretty experimental bits, it's a dense record and i know i'm not going to be making any final judgement before hearing it a dozen of times more and in better quality. despite being maybe pt's most experimental record, it's still more accessible than foabp due to the production. at least in my opinion.
- you cannot not love some of the piano bits on this album i promise.
- oh yeah prominent use of acoustic guitar.

anyway, first impression is very good! i'm not gonna post anything specific about songs yet but i think everyone is going to be surprised at some bits and it really is pretty fucking varied and very different from foabp.

yes that is exactly what i was trying to say

this album sucks do not get it

it leaked in flac

The Incident is considerably more similar to Lightbulb Sun than Fear of a Blank Planet so that's a good thing for you I suppose. Some heavy bits are reminiscent of FOABP though. I prefer FOABP to Lightbulb Sun myself but Lightbulb Sun is definitely one of PT's best releases, I'd say it's on equal grounds with Deadwing.

Anyway, the album flows much better with the proper rip and it sounds a whole lot better too. I have heard it about a dozen times so far and while I think it's up there with PT's best work, I think I'm still preferring FOABP at the moment. It's a bit hard to compare them though as they are pretty different and there are a lot of things I like about The Incident which FOABP doesn't have and vice versa. I'm just happy that the new album hasn't disappointed me and hopefully PT will do more electronic stuff in future, I really want to hear more songs like The Incident and Sleep Together.

Also, I think that you really have to appreciate the album experience to get full enjoyment out of The Incident. The short tracks are really good but if you listen to them out of context, they can leave you a bit cold as they are so short. But if you listen to the full album, they form a whole different kind of experience. For example, Great Expectations and Kneel and Disconnect make a great duo together, Your Unpleasant Family continues perfectly from The Incident and Octane Twisted, The Séance and Circle of Manias work really well together and Degree Zero of Liberty is a pretty cool intro to them as well. So yeah, if you aren't an album listener, I can see how this album might be a bit too much to swallow.