16.

Porcupine Tree

Fear Of A Blank Planet

After flirting briefly with mainstream acceptability with their last effort, Deadwing, Porcupine Tree retreat well back behind the prog iron curtain with this gargantuan offering. It only consists of six tracks, but they are all fucking epic. Not an album to dip into or take lightly, this is a real work of art, with multi-layered twisting intricate soundscapes punctuated by some thunderous riffs. The centrepiece of the record is the humongous ‘Anesthetize’, which clocks in at an unwieldy seventeen minutes. That’s not a song, that’s a mini-concept album. A track that takes you on an enthralling journey. Whilst it is not quite as good, this album reminds me a lot of my 2006 album of the year, Pure Reason Revolution’s The Dark Third. Certainly my favourite album by Porcupine Tree (though I don’t, to be fair, have any of their early work). It was a real shame that they came across as self-indulgent bores live, with exactly the same songs that appear so vibrant on this record.