Year Of Metal #024: Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
We dip once more into prog metal, and while the whole progressive movement will probably never be one in which I’m especially keen, this 2002 record feels the most successful I’ve heard so far. Along with Rush and Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree are one of the most well regarded acts in that subgenre. In Absentia pushes past the hour mark and all of the songs are on the lengthy side, but even when the music’s not entirely for me, the tracks merit the runtime by exploring ideas and developing, rather than resting on the same thing for an age or making sudden changes (i.e. actually progressing).
The best of the bunch is “Gravity Eyelids”, which unfurls and pays off magnificently. There’s a bit of Eno or Berlin-era Bowie to the opening, Steven Wilson’s nervous falsetto peeking over processed beats. The next passage brings in more standard rock instrumentation; the two forms overlap before an ever-so-2002 riff (chugging, palm muted) makes its presence felt. We’re into quasi-nu metal for a spell before reverting to its previous form. You could measure the track on the smoothest of curves; it’s an eight minute track that uses the time to the fullest.
Instrumental “Wedding Nails” is great fun, too. The album is at times if not po faced then certainly aiming for something serious and chunky. Here we just get some virtuoso musicians screwing about for a while. It’s got that loose, jamming feel that is mostly missing from In Absentia. It’s perhaps an obvious point to make but you can hear the genuine musical skill of the players, following Wilson’s lead as he takes them through movements like an improvising jazz act.
Reading a little about Porcupine Tree, they’re a tough band to truly place in a box, which I would imagine is how they want it. Wilson has worked with more explicitly metal bands like Opeth, but there are tracks on In Absentia that feel pretty far from metal, even when they inject in the heavy stuff. Most obvious is “Trains”, which begins with acoustic strumming and plaintive vocals and ends up with banjos and handclaps. I’m not too keen on this one; the melody’s a little sloshy and it feels like the band are chucking everything at the wall to see what sticks, rather than the more considered build of the best tracks.
Opener and lead single “Blackest Eyes” is also startlingly poppy, but I enjoy this one more. The production feels very ‘90s Britain - there are better comparisons but Spacehog is the first band that comes to mind - and I like the heft of it. It’s also disconcerting on first listen to rock out to the massive riff that starts things off, then drop into the sugar spun verses. You’d be hard pushed to call it metal, but it sounds great - and expensive.
Unlike the Dream Theater record, I never get the sense Porcupine Tree think they’re being cool or weird or anything like that. They’re just four music nerds and one pretty exceptional producer with free rein to do whatever they want. It’s not always my cup of tea but for the prog-minded among us, this is surely about as good as it gets.
