PORCUPINE TREE レコード& CD

Review: Porcupine Tree's Fear Of A Blank Planet gets an expansive reissue via Transmission, offering the most comprehensive edition of the iconic 2007 album to date. This deluxe edition is packaged in a 112-page hardback book featuring rare photographs by Lasse Hoile & Carl Glover, and an in-depth exploration of the album's creation by Stephen Humphries. The five-CD set includes newly remastered versions of Fear Of A Blank Planet and the Nil Recurring EP, alongside over 55 minutes of previously unreleased demos. Fans will also find live performances from The Garage in Saarbrucken in 2006, a BBC session, and an unplugged instore performance from 2007. The inclusion of these early live recordings offers fascinating insights into the evolution of the album's material. The Blu-ray disc includes remastered stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes, a 2024 documentary, and live footage from The Palladium in Koln. With contributions from prog legends Robert Fripp and Alex Lifeson, Fear Of A Blank Planet stands as one of the band's most celebrated works. This reissue provides a deep dive into the creation of an album that remains a cornerstone of progressive rock.

Review: 12 years. Twelve years. T-WELVE YEARS! It's been a decade plus two since Porcupine Tree bowed out with a spectacular One Last Job at London's Royal Albert Hall. There are few venues as fitting as that statesman of a concert hall for a band that sound like this. The English troupe have always been about these huge sounds, chords soaring above your head, riffs blazing, while tracks always threatening - and often following through - to veer off the straight and narrow into more experimental prog moods.

Now they're back with a much-anticipated, and long-delayed, comeback record. The question is, then, does it live up to expectations? The answer, thankfully, is yes, and then some. Closure/Continuation brings the crew's sound bang up to date, without forgetting who they are and always have been. It's a thing of beauty, but also thunderous power when it wants to unleash it.