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.

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.

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