Released: June 24, 2022
Personnel:
- Steven Wilson: Guitar, bass, vocals, piano
- Gavin Harrison: drums
- Richard Barbieri: keyboards, synths
Tracklist:
- Harridan
- Of the New Day
- Rats Return
- Dignity
- Herd Culling
- Walk the Plank
- Chimera’s Wreck
Bonus Tracks:
- Population Three
- Never Have
- Love in the Past Tense
It is fair to say that, amongst a certain fan base, the most highly anticipated album of 2022 has been the new one from a newly resurrected Porcupine Tree. It is a slightly revised PT, however: for … reasons (given in various interviews from both sides if you are interested), Colin Edwin is not part of this version of the band, so Steven Wilson takes care of the bass playing. In recent interviews Wilson has also insisted that he never explicitly claimed that PT had ceased operations, and while this may be technically true, he spent a lot of the intervening years avoiding and redirecting questions about the band’s potential future, so the claim comes across as somewhat disingenuous, at best.
At any rate, huge excitement, hopeful caution, and downright cynicism accompanied the announcement of a new Porcupine Tree album and tour. Still, whatever one’s opinion about the reasons for the reunion, one thing was true — the singles that were released in the months preceding the album were not disappointing.
