Credits:

Porcupine Tree

Description:

In 2010, when Porcupine Tree was on hiatus, Donald Trump was hosting a quiz show. Spotify was still in its invite-only phase and most of the world was spinning on a fairly predictable axis. As they stepped back from the scene after their most successful album and biggest headlining show in their history at that point, the suburban horror stories and dystopian nightmares that frontman Stephen Wilson, who writes the lyrics, so vividly depicted in his songs, seemed safely out of reach They seemed to be things that could not happen in real life. They were dark fantasies that should have been unlikely to happen in reality. They remained brilliant anomalies. The year is 2022. The endless negative spiral of demagoguery, corruption, disease, paranoia, and post-truth continued, and the daily news began to resemble the full realization of Wilson's lyrics.After the Porcupine Tree (Wilson, Richard Barbieri, and Gavin Harrison) abruptly announced their return to active duty in late 2021, it was an appropriate time to return to active duty. Closure/Continuation is Porcupine Tree's eleventh studio album. It was secretly and sporadically recorded over the past decade and completed in 2020-21, when touring activities were taken away. The lyrics of the album reflect this period, including the ominous opening phrase of "Hard Culling" ("Son, go fetch the rifle now/I think there's something in the yard" [Son, go fetch the rifle now/I think there's something in the yard]), the coda (conclusion) of "Rats Return," in which the names of the dictators are listed like a roll call to attract attention, or the way the protagonist of "Walk the Plank" optimistically lets himself be carried away by the waves: disturbing and often uneasy. It helps that the music on which these words ride provides the perfect backdrop.From the opening seconds of the album, when a thunderous, intense bass line heralds the arrival of the labyrinthine "Harridan," to the tremendously swirling closing track, "Chimera's Wreck," the driving force behind the electronically committed sonic foundation of " Walk the Plank," and "Dignity," in which dreamy echoes transition into a gorgeous whirlwind of sound. This is a brilliant and timely return to form for one of this country's (England's) most innovative and influential bands. It is an album of forward-thinking rock music that is equal parts squalling noise and extended, melancholy melody, fed through a myriad of electronic filters. The hiatus is over. Closure has been achieved. The Porcupine Tree was to continue.

Tracklisting:

1.Harridan
2.Of The New Day