Porcupine Tree – In Absentia

Rock music was that neighborhood bad boy that parents told their kids to stay away from, he is free in all the ways that you are not, he rebels, he questions and he does't give a damn what you think of him. There was however a spark in that boy, there was something appealing in that unbridled freedom, his aura spreads like a plague, in came The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and things started getting real. Beatlemania happened, John Lennon claimed "We're more popular than Jesus", Jim Morrison became a cult figure and Jimi Hendrix literally lit the guitar on fire. The concerned parents were still not impressed, they had better things to hear like classical music, jazz etc, to them rock music does't have that artistic depth and the novelty of distorted guitars and power chords were fading like water drops on a pyre. The bad boy's hair was combed, his nails got trimmed and he was dressed well enough to take a selfie with her highness Elizabeth II, they called this civilized and cultured boy progressive rock.          

Progressive rock as the name suggests is progressive, forward thinking and pretentious, a ten minute song is completely normal and epic concepts and instrumental proficiency is almost mandatory. I have this theory regarding a small cereal called oats, oats is tasteless and boring on it's own however you can add stuffs like fruits, nuts, honey, milk to it make it one of the best known meals ever. Progressive rock is exactly the same thing, add psychedelia to it and you will get Pink Floyd, add classical music and jazz you get King Crimson, add some darkness to it you get Comus or in the modern scheme of things, add death metal to it you get Opeth, alternate rock you get Tool, djent and funny time signatures you will get Leprous and Caligula's Horse. 

So where does Porcupine Tree fit in?, well thats a tough question. In the late 1980s two youths Steven Wilson and Malcom Stocks decided to form a fictional band called Porcupine Tree (I tried to do the same with the name Elnaz, but thats a different story for a different day) they wrote back stories to the band, the 1970s rockstar life in every detail. They went even further, they made actual music for Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson took the matters serious and eventually he released On the Sunday of Life... under Porcupine Tree moniker. That album was released during the time when Pink Floyd started to see their carrier's dusk and for almost three albums Porcupine Tree was almost a Pink Floyd substitute. Things took a new turn with the album Stupid Dream, the songs where more 'pop' for a progressive rock album but still layered and orchestrated or in Steven Wilson's words "Vertically Complex", a few years later the stars aligned, the zeitgeist of extreme metal dawned upon the new prince of prog rock. Steven met Mikael Åkerfeldt and produced the Opeth masterpiece Blackwater Park, he became fascinated by the Norwegian black metal scene and the Swedish behemoths Meshuggah. This metal influence crept into the sound of Porcupine Tree and In Absentia followed.

         Steven Wilson 

One thing remains the same however, the music is almost always sad and melancholic and In Absentia is no different, the songs discusses themes like serial killers, criticism of modern world and causes that make people lose empathy. This album has probably the most well known Porcupine Tree song Trains, the song was my introduction to the band and I still don't fully understand the lyrics but it seems they are about nostalgia, about time slipping aways like a train ("Always the summers slipping away / find me a way for making it stay"). The Opeth influence is all apparent on the opening song Blackest Eyes, that main riff could have been on Ghost Reveries, the song explores adolescence and how it changes a boy ("A mother sings a lullaby to a child / sometime in the future the boy goes wild / and all his nerves feeling some kind of energy"), the song epitomize the album's sound perfectly, it's heavy, catchy and it has plenty of hooks. Lips of Ashes sounds like Steven Wilson's No-Man side project especially the album Together We're Stranger, the song is devoid of any percussion instruments but it's densely layered and psychedelic with an evocative guitar solo. 

The album do get a bit technical on the song The Sound of Muzak, the verse is in an odd 7/4 and the time signature changes to the standard 4/4 on the chorus but what impressed me most are the lyrics, they are critical of the present music industry, on how 'one of the wonders of the world' came down. 

"Now the sound of music 

comes in silver pills

engineered to suit you

building cheaper thrills

The music of rebellion

makes you wanna rage

but it's made by millionaires

nearly twice your age"

Those lines perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the 21st century popular music and the lyrics explores some sexual fantasizing in the next song Gravity Eyelids. I was taken aback by the lyrics at first, it's not something that you expect from a band with an image like Porcupine Tree, the atmosphere is tense and the vocals are intimate, Steven Wilson go almost Jeff Buckley on this. The whole tense build up is resolved in an another Opethian riff, Gravity Eyelids is my second favorite song of the album and my first is an odd choice to be honest.

Heartattack in a Layby is really a sad song, I discovered this song in one of my darkest days and whenever I hear that opening riff, I cannot help but think about those times passed. The lyrics are bare and simple and the song is all the more effective for it and when Steven sings "Don't feel too good" it is one of those shiver down the spine moments. I wonder if there is any other song lyrics that resonated with me more than these three lines

"If I close my eyes 

and fell asleep in this layby

would it all subside ?"

All the 12 songs of this album are great on its own as well as on the context of the album, but I cannot review all of them especially after writing about the most emotional part of the album. A part of the success of this new direction of the band its their drummer Gavin Harrison, he is easily one of the best progressive rock drummers around and he really has a great sense of groove. He is technical enough to play anything that Steven throws at him and his flair and skill elevates it to an another level. Like every Steven Wilson production, the album sounds perfect, it's polished and serves the music well, he is one of the best producers around and if he is involved, a great sounding record is guaranteed.

In Absentia is one of the few records that I own in a physical form with all of my other purchases being digital, I had to spent quite a fortune for it as it had to be imported but it's worth every penny. It is one of the best record I've heard and the album is widely considered as the band's greatest work. Porcupine Tree went on to make three more records in the similar vein, each one more expansive than the previous.

The band ultimately quit with Steven Wilson focusing on his solo project, his solo efforts are more progressive than his former band and Hand. Cannot. Erase is one of the greatest concept albums ever made. I do not miss Porcupine Tree however, there is this Polish band Riverside that comes close to their sound and Wilson's solo output I feel is more adventurous than what Porcupine Tree can ever be, he is no longer limited by his former band's legacy.   

The modern progressive rock scene has bands like Gazpacho, Riverside, Haken, Leprous and Opeth keeping flame alive but Steven Wilson is the one that ushered that flame into the 21st century and he continues to do so to this day.

             

LINKS FOR YOUR ENLIGHTMENT

Progressive Rock   Porcupine Tree   Pink Floyd   Steven Wilson

Jeff Buckley   Riverside   No-Man       

                

    

Firtan – Okeanos

I have this theory, people are afraid of the things that they don't understand, we all are afraid of gods, ghosts, death, darkness and the future. The fear stems from the voids of our know-how and we as a species have gone to great lengths to understand the unknown, as if knowledge brings us peace, for we all know we will never again smile in innocence like we did when we were just an infant. Somethings are best kept unknown and sometimes ignorance is a blessing. Why did I start of with this philosophical blather ? Well Firtan hails from Germany and they whisper, talk, sing, scream and growl in German and I don't understand a word of German. Should I be afraid then ? No, because there is no fear in love and I love this album.

Okeanos or Oceanus according to ancient Greeks was a divine personification of the sea, an enormous river encircling the world and this album has this ocean or water theme prevalent throughout its six songs. The water element may not be as apparent as it was in Leviathan by Mastodon but you can feel it by the way the riffs 'flow' and by the way the songs fade in and fade out to one another. The album starts of with the song Seegang (German for sea) and the song starts off with sea shore soundscapes, Mongolian throat singing and the first of the many German spoken word parts, when the drum kicks in you are treated with Blood Fire Death era Bathory war cries. Firtan loves contrasts and dynamic shifts in their music, there are 'light and dark' transitions throughout and an acoustic breakdown is never far away, however these transitions are not 'Opeth smooth' instead in most cases they are abrupt and somehow it works. Seegang has an acoustic breakdown in the beginning and the same is used as a motif throughout giving the song a distinct character, giving us a 'hook' to identify with.

            

The following two songs Tag Verweil and Nacht Verweil (Germen for dwelling in the day and dwelling in the night) has almost metalcore-ish riffing, chugs in the vein of modern day Decapitated but those are often layered with melodic leads and subtle symphonic touches. Nacht Verweil has a grand opening like the classic I am the Black Wizards by Emperor, it just explodes into a triumphant tremolo picking melody and the song introduces another Okeanos cynosure, the violins. Shout 'Violins in metal' on a mountain top and the words Ne Obliviscaris echoes back but unlike that Australian band, Firtan will never be known as 'that band with violins'. The violins are tastefully incorporated into the song, appearing in those parts where we expect a guitar solo, restrained but enough to leave an impression. It takes center stage however on the next song, an instrumental.

Purpur is more than an interlude, it is almost a highlight in itself. The violins are backed up by clean guitar arpeggios and they even traverse through eastern melodies almost bordering Indian classical music. I usually skip intrudes in metal albums but this one is special, whoever played violin on this song has put his or her soul into it. The song gives the album an emotional depth and it is perfectly placed on the center of the album's forty minute runtime.

The closer Siebente, letzte Einsamkeit (German for Seventh, last solitude) has doomy intro and when it picks up pace it has traditional heavy metal riffs with synths hovering around. There is a well executed time signature change towards the end with the drums, base and synths locking into a groove with the guitar motif still continuing, giving that part a disjointed feel. The song and Okeanos comes to a close as the guitars and drums make way for the synths, ending the album on a melancholic note, a solemn conclusion for what has been a truly memorable excursion.

 
The album is not without faults however, the transitions seems to be forced and abrupt, for example in the penultimate song Uferlos the break to acoustic guitars is a bit jarring. A lot of ideas are explored in this album and the band seems to do too much in too little a time. These are just nitpicks to what has been one of the best black metal albums released this year, the album sounds great with one of the best sounding drums I've heard on a metal album.
               
Language was never a deterrent for me especially in black metal, some of my favorites like Alcest, Shining, Taake and Moonsorrow sing in French, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish respectively. The music and its expression becomes more potent when it is done in the native tongue. Firtan draws its lyrics from the works of influential German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the American writer H. P. Lovecraft , even the word 'firtan' in Old High German means 'wicked' or 'godless', things cannot get more black metal than that.

I won't lie to you, if not for that wonderful cover artwork I would have never checked this one out. The artwork is as bizarre and enchanting as the music. Firtan through Okeanos delivered a black metal album that I always wanted, the one that meanders, the one that sails to blurred horizons but still finds a way back home.

Okeanos is available through Art of Propaganda Records          

LINKS FOR YOUR ENLIGHTMENT

Firtan   Bathory   Opeth   Decapitated   Emperor   Ne Obliviscaris   

Alcest   Shining   Taake   Moonsorrow

Okeanos on Bandcamp        

Hallatar – No Stars Upon The Bridge

"No one can fill this void I have found

for centuries it has walked with me"

Losing someone dear literally or figuratively is probably the most visceral fear out there. The nemesis comes uninvited and befalls on unforeseen times, a stark reality dawns upon and the faces we knew so well will remain only in our memories. What is then left for those cursed to live on without their loved ones ? Rekindle the flame, let the light shine a bit more, let the world know how much you miss them.

There are many a records that are dripping with melancholy and are drenched in desolation but in most cases the sadness is an artistic choice. The men behind Hallatar never had a choice, their sorrow is justified and their loss was and still is painful. Let me present to you the most emotionally heavy record that gazed my senses.

Hallatar is Aleah Starbridge and this record is about her life and her death through the eyes of her partner Juha Raivio of the band Swallow the Sun, he collected the writings, poems and the lyrics of Aleah and wrote the music in one week with the writing being as instinctive as possible reflecting his state following the death of his beloved wife. What we get is the one last tribute to Aleah, to keep her spirit immortal through this album. Tomi Joutsen of Amorphis and Gas Lipstick ex-HIM join him on vocals and drums respectively with additional vocal contributions by Heike Langhans of Draconian fame and Aleah herself.

Aleah Starbridge

Mirrors starts off with a huge Candlemass riff which gets later overlaid by a sorrowful guitar trill, Tomi shows up with the words "Breathing in all my fears..."  and he sounds much different than from what we hear from him in Amorphis. His vocals sound desperate, over the top and is more of a black metal croak like Mortuus of the band Marduk and the same vocals traverse from low growls to melodic singing in the same song. From the onset it's clear this record sounds huge, Tomi brings his absolute best and he sounds convincing in his impassioned delivery. The song fades into the first of the three spoken word interludes in this album, all of them features Aleah's poems recited by her and all of them except Pieces have a windy, seashore atmosphere to subtly engulf the voice.

The most beautiful embodiment of the album's scope is the song My Mistake. I use the word beautiful not to lighten the song, it's just that the song is simply beautiful, even strangely uplifting. Heike Langhans guests in the song and she knows a thing or two about sorrow as a member of the Swedish band Draconian. She lends her angelic airy voice only to be offset by Tomi's growls. The song almost comes to a stop in a tranquil moment, with the whisper

   "This fortress made of ice

will break some day

from the waters we'll rise again"

and it then goes to the heaviest and the most emotional part of the album, one of the greatest light to dark transitions in heavy metal.

"When day turned into night

I lost my way

all the signs we so bright that

I went blind to one detail"

Severed Eyes will sound right at home on the album Damnation by Opeth, it features Tomi's singing voice throughout and is accompanied only by acoustic guitars. The song sits almost like I Nattens Timma on Shining's sixth album Född förlorare, a late album breather which sounds a lot like a sad lullaby.

It must have been really hard for Juha Raivio to use his deceased wifes recordings for the song Dreams Burn Down, the song features a vocal duet between Tomi and Aleah Starbridge. Aleah's part was supposed to be a Trees of Eternity song, the couple's side project and Raivio is not sure about the lyrics, even the language used. The song and the album ends with the lyrics displayed at the start of this post.

This album was a blind purchase for me, I remember purchasing this on its release day, having only heard one song beforehand, I knew this album would resonate with me and it still remains as the most unfeigned work of music I've heard. Tribute albums like this have been done before, Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold and .5: The Gray Chapter by Slipknot comes to mind but none of them went to the extend of Juha Raivio. No Stars Upon The Bridge is work of a man's love for his deceased wife, his way of rekindling the flame, his way of telling the world how much he yearns for her.

LINKS FOR YOUR ENLIGHTMENT

Hallatar   Swallow the Sun   Amorphis   HIM   Draconian   Trees of Eternity

Candlemass   Opeth   Shining   

Avenged Sevenfold   Slipknot

Hallatar Interview