Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

As a follow up to 2005’ Deadwing, with only 6-tracks, clocking in at 50 minutes should definitely bring the Alternative world into the minds of Progressive Metal heads out there beyond the infinity of experimentations. Those ideas might come in handy to follow through, the solar systems are out there to indicate to create a beautiful masterpiece delivered from the Wizardry of Porcupine Tree's frontman, Steven Wilson.
He and the band wrote Fear of a Blank Planet around in Tel Aviv and in London during the time they were promoting Deadwing and the Arriving Somewhere DVD in 2006 and it soon got attention while it was being performed live while fans attended the shows to hear the new material. The concept is very interesting to listen from start to finish. It dealt with the rebellious teen angst and their displeasure of the new beginning of a new-era of the 21st century and of course novelist, Bret Easton Ellis. The book, Lunar Park was a huge influence in Steven Wilson’s mind as to give the storyline a disturbing twist from a lyrical background and covering the author’s view of his father’s life being torn into irregular intervals as he looks through the details and viewing what he had done when he was a child.
The opening title-track is a dashing introduction with an acoustic guitar then becoming very heavy into a dashing whirlpool of terror guitar layered background to give that defying tensional beauty as Wilson sings the opening lines ‘Sunlight comin’ through the haze/I’ve tucked in the blinds to let it inside/The bed is all made so music still plays/TV, yeah it’s always on/A flicker of the screen, I’m moving out, your screams/Are basking in the shit flowing out of it.’ He deals with the ways of the youth of the teenage rebellious nation, and how the mainstream bullshit mass media are depend on the medications they take. My Ashes which is very funeral-like mournful song almost similar to an eerie version of Led Zeppelin’s 8-minute epic, No Quarter, the song deals with alienation and being isolated with his own parents by being rejected and disowned by them.
Then we get into the 16-minute epic, Anesthetize, this features guest guitarist Alex Lifeson of Rush fame who mentioned to Classic Rock Magazine during an interview that he’s a huge fan of Porcupine Tree. Steve knew that he wanted him to make a guest appearance of Fear of a Blank Planet, to create a heavy mood with mind-boggling guitar compositions that would fly off the motherfucking wall. It’s disturbing as in the mid-section goes into a space rock mode, heavy riffs, atmosphere view of the inferno, and some dalek moments that would make you feel terrified.
Again to continue on the eerie mood background, Sentimental is a perfect ballad. All of the moments turns dramatic and heavy moods to fill the void of someone either to blow their brains out or getting rid of their life for eternity; coming in with pills, not wanting to be old, and finding it hard to hang from a star. More of the themes of isolation pounders on with another atmospheric adventure, Way Out of Here, featuring a soundscape and mind-boggling guitar work done by King Crimson’s Robert Fripp while dedicating a tribute to Porcupine Tree fan, Arielle Daniel, who was killed by a train as if to pay tribute to a lost loved ones. Sleep Together, a wonderful darkness composition and going neo-classical rock ala Radiohead style, shows the views of erotic sex and the final days to be alive and then finding out it’s better to be up in the clouds than staying in the ground, is shattering metalistic tour de force.This is why Porcupine Tree are so fucking good and they have done this better than ever. Fear of a Blank Planet is an album that shows how fucked up the teenage years can really in reality and the years to come. This here is to tell the Emo fuckheads to wake the fuck up.