Porcupine Tree: Steven Wilson (guitar); Richard Barbieri (keyboards); Colin Edwin (bass guitar); Gavin Harrison (drums).
Additional personnel: Alex Lifeson (guitar); Robert Fripp (sound effects); John Wesley (background vocals).
On FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET, Porcupine Tree follows up its well-received DEADWING album with another highly ambitious outing. Fronted by vocalist/guitarist Steven Wilson (No-Man), and featuring keyboardist Richard Barbieri (formerly of the pioneering New Wave act Japan), the London-based art-rock ensemble continues its simultaneously heavier and more sophisticated direction, as embodied by the atmospheric and melodic "Way Out of Here," which veers into some crushingly weighty passages. Though clearly influenced by Roger Waters's Pink Floyd material, Wilson's distinctive and dynamic approach, which can be alternately understated and nearly operatic, carries FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET along its own path, making it one of the premiere prog-metal releases of 2007. minimize