Porcupine

Some older fans looked askance at Lightbulb Sun, feeling it was verging on overt commercialism (and admittedly, the near power ballad solo on "Where We Would Be" is a bit odd!). Then again, given Wilson's own explorations of avant-garde pop with No-Man, who's to say why a slightly more radio-friendly stance can't work? "Shesmovedon" may have been a single, but there's no question who wrote and performed it - the elegant cascade of backing vocals on the chorus shows that much. Certainly Wilson hasn't turned into Max Martin or anything - it's still very much Porcupine Tree, in its lyrical turns of phrase and general sense of exploration. One of the best tracks on the album is the brilliantly titled "Four Chords That Made a Million," a barbed cut on some unnamed "emperor in new clothes" beset by a "moron with a cheque book"…

Octane Twisted, the first album by Porcupine Tree in three years, is a double-live disc recorded at Chicago's Riviera in 2010 during The Incident tour. It also includes highlights from the band's concluding concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Recording a concept album is fraught with danger as well as possibility; a touring one is an exponentially greater challenge – especially when the studio recording is a chart success. The Incident went Top 30 in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Disc one features The Incident in its entirety. The studio album was presented as a seamless 55-minute suite. It gets tossed out the window almost immediately here. Opener "Occam's Razor" gives way to "The Blind House" easily enough, without interruption, but as the latter track concludes, Steven Wilson breaks the spell by greeting the crowd…

Porcupine Tree have always been pigeonholed with the modern prog movement, but the reality is that they're both a riff-addicted metal band and a troupe obsessed with rich harmonies and memorable refrains. Take the grinding guitar work of "Shallow" which dukes it out with frontman Steve Wilson's undeniably melodic chorus before easing into the delicate, beautifully crafted "Lazarus." Few bands exhibit this kind of depth, be it the dreamy, Pink Floyd-inspired hallucination "Halo" or the Queensrÿche echoes of "Open Car." If the 12-minute sonic meander known as "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here" is as head-trippy as rock music gets anymore, it is reassuring to know that this Tree is still growing. Ideal for headphones, Deadwing - despite its title - takes flight nonetheless.