Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet on Limited Edition 180g Import Vinyl

Includes the Nil Recurring Mini Album featuring a guest appearance by Robert Fripp 

On Fear of a Blank Planet veteran progressive-rock act Porcupine Tree takes up the task of exploring the alienating force of the media and its impact on our youth and ourselves. Fear's titular cut features lyrics rife with allusions to the confusing, isolating effects of TV, the X-Box, drugged out consumer escapades, and the ennui that arrives with prescription and self-prescribed numbness. "My Ashes" advances the themes of isolation, as a young person becomes increasingly estranged from himself; "Anesthetize" aptly captures dull apathy with accuracy and knowing but perhaps delves to deep into the dark depths and, instead of alleviating pain and pressure, deepens it via a track that fails to offer much emotional or mental counterpoint. The tune does feature an exceptionally lyrical guitar solo from Rush's Alex Lifeson and proves that if anyone can write a sprawling, throbbing epic it's most likely Porcupine Tree.

Elsewhere, such as on the beautifully crafted "Sentimental" and "Way Out of Here," Steven Wilson and Co. land squarely between the epic grandeur of peak-era Pink Floyd and the psychically distant cool of Radiohead, a feat that doesn't as much demonstrate how well PT echoes those bands as it shows us how expansive the English quartet's music and emotional vocabulary is. Fear of a Blank Planet is a strong and intelligent album, and for a generation that's grown numb from three-minute ditties about life at the end of the country club cul-de-sac that embrace rather than rage against the dying of the light, it may serve as a wake up call and provide hope for a brighter and more color-infused tomorrow.

Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet Track Listing

LP One:
1. Fear of a Blank Planet 
2. My Ashes 
3. Cheating the Polygraph
4. Anesthetize  

LP Two:
1. Sentimental 
2. Way Out Of Here 
3. Sleep Together
4. Nil Recurring
5. Normal
6. What Happens Now