Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

I liked Porcupine Tree's Deadwing a lot, so when more than one person told me In Absentia was better it definitely piqued my interest. Overall, I'd say it is the superior album, although not by a whole lot. From what I can tell, Steven Wilson is the real driving creative force behind the band, and he knows how to use all of his assets. He has a very nice, calming singing voice, and he uses it a lot to create light and catchy choruses that can still have an edge. His voice along with some of their lighter tracks contrast sharply with their ability to really dig deep and bring some really good hard moments. As I've said before, it's not prog metal, just prog, but there are a lot of metal elements. I find Wilson has a tendency to use a lot of voice effects where it seems applicable. Usually it's distorted in some way like it's coming through a megaphone, and it lends a strangeness that fits the tone of the song really well. The band's musicianship is quite strong, they are capable of both very strong melodies and enjoyable breakdowns with good solo work. If you have the time, it's the kind of album that benefits from a real listen all the way through.

"Blackest Eyes" starts with a little picked, distorted intro before the explosive guitars come in, leading to the typical contrasting refrain. "Trains" follows with a great example of how different the band can be song to song. It's more acoustic and rhythmic. "Gravity Eyelids" starts as a really soft, minimal song before breaking down with a very hard and entertaining instrumental section. "Wedding Nails" is entirely instrumental, and features some really great guitar sequences. "Prodigal" has a good effect-pedaled melody before the chorus with strummed background. ".3" is another mostly instrumental, strongly atmospheric track with nice bass. "Strip the Soul" is another really good hard song with plenty of jamming to digest before the finale, "Collapse the Light Into Earth", ends it with a softer song with piano. Despite a variety of sounds it all fits together well as an album, and is really just crafted nicely.