Facing Porcupine Tree’s “Fear of a Blank Planet”: Prog Review #39

Porcupine Tree - "Fear of a Blank Planet"

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

Porcupine Tree may have just one album on Rolling Stone’s list of top 50 prog albums, but lead singer and songwriter Steve Wilson has actually been a consistent presence in my listening journey.

A Familiar Name

Porcupine Tree and Wilson have been among the most influential and celebrated forces in progressive music over the last 20 years or so (though the band originally formed in the late 80s, with their first album coming out in 1992). Not content to make his own ambitious music with a constantly evolving sound, Wilson also looks to the past, tinkering with the classics.

If you’ve been following along closely, you’ll notice that many of the albums I’ve reviewed have been remixed by Steven Wilson, an ongoing project he started with King Crimson’s Red in 2009. Wilson has become a curator of the best classic prog has to offer; I’m less enthusiastic about him as a creator.

Dark. Depressing. Beautiful.

The Porcupine Tree Sound

My feelings about Porcupine Tree are mixed. I appreciate the band’s songwriting ambitions and their willingness to not hew too closely to the dominant sounds in contemporary prog – IE: not too metal for me. At the same time, their sound is kind of a downer. I have a hard time getting excited about their albums, including last year’s Closure/Continuation, their first album since 2009.

Fear of a Blank Planet is a little different. This one came out in 2007, not long after I started calling myself a prog fan and began actively seeking out new bands to listen to. I was aware of Porcupine Tree, and when I saw that album in the new releases section of the store with a sticker saying “featuring Alex Lifeson,” it was an easy buy.

Lifeson, the Rush guitarist, contributed to the album’s centrepiece track, the 18-minute “Anesthetize.” I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly which guitar parts are Lifeson’s because there’s not much that’s Rush-like to this track, except for the noodling guitar solo that kicks off the heavier middle part of the song. Can it be that that’s the only thing he’s playing?

A Narrow Range

Not that the song isn’t great, in particular the closing section where everything slows down and the overlapping vocals convey a sense of overwhelming defeat. I don’t know what the song is about, but it does a great job of shifting the mood through its movements. This progression speaks to the band’s strengths in general. The song moves from bubbling sadness mixed with simmering resentment, to full blown rage in the long middle section, and then to a remorseful, stupefied conclusion.

As good as the band is at playing in these kinds of feelings, they feel limited by them to me. I’ve got to be in just the right mood for Porcupine Tree, and it’s not a mood I want to live in for very long.

But there are moments when the band strikes a finer balance between the dark guitar tones and elaborate melody. This formula comes together most effectively on “Sentimental.” The washed-out drums, soulful piano, and ghostly synths all play against a hint of “Anesthetize’s” angry, extra-trebly guitars, a hope for elevation above the darker feelings of the song that precedes it on the album.

Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way wish away each day.

-”Sentimental”

On the other side of “Anesthetize” is “My Ashes,” similar in tone to “Sentimental,” but more confident and elegant thanks to swelling strings and some tremolo effect on both the synths and guitar. It’s simpler and not as good, but it helps create a mood for the album that “Sentimental” alone can’t maintain.

Two of the other three tracks rely on clashing guitars with vocals that lean a little too resentful – “Fear of a Blank Planet” and “Way out of Here” are fine, but at 7 minutes each, they outstay their welcome despite outros and intros that presage or echo the more dynamic sounds of the middle tracks.

The album closer, “Sleep Together” is a little out of place with its sci-fi haunted house synths and vaguely industrial sound. But it’s also the most singable song (maybe tied with “Fear of a Blank Planet”) and it has a little more vitality than “Way out of Here” and “Fear of a Blank Planet.”

Despite being one of the albums on the list that I was already quite familiar with, Porcupine Tree’s Fear of Blank Planet left me in fear of a blank page with how little I have to say about it. All in all, it’s all right when you want something dark but not too heavy.

Rolling Stone Rankings

  1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

  2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

  3. Rush - Moving Pictures

  4. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

  5. Yes – Close to the Edge

  6. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

  7. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

  8. Can - Future Days

  9. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

  10. Yes - Fragile

  11. Rush - Hemispheres

  12. ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

  13. Pink Floyd - Animals

  14. Genesis - Foxtrot

  15. King Crimson - Red

  16. Gentle Giant - Octopus

  17. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

  18. Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

  19. Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

  20. King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic

  21. Camel - Mirage

  22. Rush - 2112

  23. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

  24. Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh

  25. The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

  26. Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

  27. Supertramp - Crime of the Century

  28. Opeth - Blackwater Park

  29. Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

  30. U.K. - U.K.

  31. Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning

  32. Kansas - Leftoverture

  33. TOOL - Lateralus

  34. Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink

  35. Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero

  36. Harmonium - Si on Avait Besoin d'une Cinquième Saison

  37. Marillion - Clutching at Straws

  38. Gong - You

  39. Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

ASK Rankings

  1. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

  2. Supertramp - Crime of the Century

  3. Genesis - Foxtrot

  4. Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink

  5. Marillion - Clutching at Straws

  6. Camel - Mirage

  7. Yes – Close to the Edge

  8. Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning

  9. King Crimson - Red

  10. Gentle Giant - Octopus

  11. Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

  12. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

  13. Harmonium - Si on Avait Besoin d'une Cinquième Saison

  14. Rush - 2112

  15. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

  16. ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

  17. U.K. - U.K

  18. Rush - Moving Pictures

  19. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

  20. Kansas - Leftoverture

  21. Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero

  22. The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

  23. Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

  24. Gong - You

  25. King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic

  26. Pink Floyd - Animals

  27. Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

  28. TOOL - Lateralus

  29. Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

  30. Yes - Fragile

  31. Rush - Hemispheres

  32. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

  33. Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh

  34. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

  35. Can - Future Days

  36. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

  37. Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

  38. Opeth - Blackwater Park

  39. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

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