The Incident – Porcupine Tree
On the first few initial listens, Porcupine Tree’s The Incident has both the look and feel of being the British progressive rock band’s masterpiece.
Everything about this album — from its elegantly photographed cover art, to the fifty-five minute title track that takes up all of disc one — screams prog-rock epic. In these rather lofty aspirations, The Incident mostly succeeds. But there are a few bumps along the road to getting there.
The distribution of the songs for one thing, is, well a little weird. Clearly the epic track “The Incident,” is intended to be the focal point. But in doing so, the four tracks on the second disc, which together comprise all of twenty minutes plus change, make them feel almost like afterthoughts.
What has always separated Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree from many of their prog and metal peers, is the way PT focus on the songcraft first.
“The Incident” largely lives up to its advance billing as the rightful centerpiece of this album. It’s just a great sounding piece of work.
The bottom line? Not a good place to start. In Absentia is a suitable launch point for new listeners. If you’re already into the band, chances are you’re going to buy The Incident regardless of what the reviews say, so dig it as you will.
