The Incident

Steven Wilson has always been out of step with the musical world, never ceding to fashion. Under a variety of names — No-Man, Bass Communion, Blackfield and Steven Wilson — he has recorded music that is meant for anyone willing to listen past the commercial music world’s need for a quick hit single and indulge themselves in something that’s sometimes classical in composition, progressive rock in arrangement and heavy with ambience and mood. With track five, “Drawing the Line,” Wilson breaks into nearly conventional hard rock, but it’s a slow, brooding walk to get there. In an age of MP3 singles, Wilson has crafted an 18-track musical piece where each track requires the other. Songs segue from one to the other, indulging in electronics (“The Incident”), exploring folk (“The Seance”) or sprawling through space (“Occam’s Razor,”) or both (“I Drive the Hearse”). During its near 12 minutes “Time Flies” encapsulates just about every style imaginable. Porcupine Tree explore territory that’s at once familiar, yet all their own.

In the early '70s, it was easy -- any band that performed "suites" that extended across entire album sides and dressed in capes and/or cloaks was a dead giveaway. However, when the early '80s rolled around, most former prog rockers trimmed out the fat from their compositions (and exchanged their medieval wear and kimonos for what looked like sports coats). Ever since, there have been bands that have aligned themselves to either of the aforementioned prog rock approaches. But along came Porcupine Tree, who somehow have found a way to incorporate both into their 2009 effort, The Incident. Set up similarly to Rush's 1978 classic, Hemispheres, The Incident is comprised of a single long song -- the title track -- that features many different movements (which would have taken up the entire side one back in the good ol' days of vinyl), as well as a handful of shorter compositions that close the album.

At this point, you know what you're going to get from Porcupine Tree. They've been around for over 15 years and have evolved quite a bit over time