Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Wait enough time for something to return and there is a chance that it could prove to be a disappointment. The strength of the eagerly awaited is only underpinned by the result matching the expectancy, and at times the result can feel undervalued, under performed, and perhaps even limp, as the wrestle between anticipation and actuality becomes blurred and distorted in the eyes and soul of the one who killed time in the presence of the shadow of projected results.

Although they never truly departed the Progressive scene, the fact that Porcupine Tree have not come together for a decade to record does not mean that the expectancy in this case has been wasted, indeed for Steve Wilson, Richard Barbieri, and Gavin Harrison, the long desired new album, Closure/Continuation is a reminder of the terrific dynamic that can forth when your heart has been longing for a piece of art to come hammering at your door.

The title is apt, the sense of a chapter closing for the group, but also one of new beginnings, like Marillion in recent years where the soundscapes have taken the experience down a more subtle but stimulating and thought provoking road, so to do Porcupine Tree seek to change, alter the perspective and outlook, but all the while placing trust on what was the reason the ethic of the band, in all guises, that caught the imagination of the public and the fan alike.

Closure/Continuation might not hit the extreme high that came with 2007’s Fear Of A Blank Planet, but then it is arguably not trying to emulate or indeed copy that particular fierceness or exposed feeling that was evident at the time, instead this is a new creativity, the shouldering perhaps of vital beginnings, and all the time underpinning the drama that Steve Wilson has shouldered across his own time remastering other progressive giants and the radical nature that the three have espoused since they came together.

Across tracks such as Rat’s Return, Herd Culling, Walk The Plank, and the finale of Chimera’s Wreck, Steve Wilson, Richard Barbieri, and Gavin Harrison bring closure to one respect of their time, whilst kicking down the door of the next within the same deft movement; like watching a master of Karate turn and twist and take down the unprepared army, so to do Porcupine Tree invoke a feeling of warranted suspense and defining action as Closure/Continuation plays out.

An album that insists on being given respect, and one that is earned with huge appeal and gravitas from the listener; Porcupine Tree never went away, they just bided their time to get the kick just right. Ian D. Hall