PORCUPINE TREE

Non-Metal / Metal Related / Alternative Metal • United Kingdom
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Porcupine Tree is a progressive/aternative rock band formed in England.

Porcupine Tree began as a joke between Steven Wilson and Malcolm Stocks in 1987, the joke being Porcupine Tree being a long-forgotten 70's space rock band. This joke was shown on their debut 'On the Sunday of Life'. Soon, Steven Wilson had Porcupine Tree evolved from a joke to a heavy space rock band.

After four releases, Porcupine Tree took an alternative rock/progressive rock path with the releases 'Stupid Dream' and 'Lightbulb Sun'. These albums still contain metal influences and space-rock atmospheres, but are mostly based in prog/alt rock

In 2002, Porcupine Tree released their 'In Absentia' album. This album showed Porcupine Tree including even more metal elements. This in turn led to 2005's 'Deadwing', their heaviest album up until that point. The band continued with their metal style until they went on hiatus in 2010 after the release of 'The
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Thanks to The Angry Scotsman for the addition and Lynx33, Unitron, adg211288, Bosh66 for the updates

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PORCUPINE TREE Discography

PORCUPINE TREE albums / top albums

PORCUPINE TREE On The Sunday Of Life album cover 2.80 | 21 ratings
On The Sunday Of Life
Non-Metal 1992
PORCUPINE TREE Up The Downstair album cover 3.01 | 23 ratings
Up The Downstair
Non-Metal 1993
PORCUPINE TREE The Sky Moves Sideways album cover 3.75 | 27 ratings
The Sky Moves Sideways
Non-Metal 1995
PORCUPINE TREE Signify album cover 3.61 | 23 ratings
Signify
Non-Metal 1996
PORCUPINE TREE Stupid Dream album cover 4.13 | 29 ratings
Stupid Dream
Non-Metal 1999
PORCUPINE TREE Lightbulb Sun album cover 3.99 | 35 ratings
Lightbulb Sun
Non-Metal 2000
PORCUPINE TREE In Absentia album cover 4.34 | 91 ratings
In Absentia
Metal Related 2002
PORCUPINE TREE Deadwing album cover 4.35 | 76 ratings
Deadwing
Metal Related 2005
PORCUPINE TREE Fear Of A Blank Planet album cover 4.22 | 85 ratings
Fear Of A Blank Planet
Metal Related 2007
PORCUPINE TREE The Incident album cover 3.93 | 57 ratings
The Incident
Metal Related 2009
PORCUPINE TREE Closure/Continuation album cover 3.87 | 10 ratings
Closure/Continuation
Metal Related 2022

PORCUPINE TREE EPs & splits

PORCUPINE TREE Moonloop album cover 3.19 | 4 ratings
Moonloop
Non-Metal 1994
PORCUPINE TREE Staircase Infinities album cover 3.81 | 11 ratings
Staircase Infinities
Non-Metal 1994
PORCUPINE TREE Nil Recurring album cover 3.86 | 29 ratings
Nil Recurring
Metal Related 2007
PORCUPINE TREE IA / DW / XT album cover 4.00 | 1 ratings
IA / DW / XT
Metal Related 2023

PORCUPINE TREE live albums

PORCUPINE TREE Coma Divine: Recorded Live In Rome album cover 4.34 | 9 ratings
Coma Divine: Recorded Live In Rome
Non-Metal 1997
PORCUPINE TREE XM album cover 4.00 | 5 ratings
XM
Metal Related 2003
PORCUPINE TREE Warszawa album cover 4.17 | 9 ratings
Warszawa
Non-Metal 2004
PORCUPINE TREE XMII album cover 4.30 | 6 ratings
XMII
Non-Metal 2005
PORCUPINE TREE Rockpalast album cover 4.03 | 6 ratings
Rockpalast
Metal Related 2006
PORCUPINE TREE Atlanta album cover 4.14 | 7 ratings
Atlanta
Metal Related 2010
PORCUPINE TREE Octane Twisted album cover 3.90 | 5 ratings
Octane Twisted
Metal Related 2012

PORCUPINE TREE demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

PORCUPINE TREE Tarquin's Seaweed Farm album cover 2.71 | 3 ratings
Tarquin's Seaweed Farm
Non-Metal 1989
PORCUPINE TREE Love, Death & Mussolini album cover 3.00 | 3 ratings
Love, Death & Mussolini
Non-Metal 1990
PORCUPINE TREE The Nostalgia Factory album cover 3.07 | 3 ratings
The Nostalgia Factory
Non-Metal 1991
PORCUPINE TREE Radio Active album cover 3.36 | 3 ratings
Radio Active
Non-Metal 1992
PORCUPINE TREE Spiral Circus album cover 3.74 | 4 ratings
Spiral Circus
Non-Metal 1994
PORCUPINE TREE Insignificance album cover 4.16 | 6 ratings
Insignificance
Non-Metal 1997
PORCUPINE TREE Metanoia album cover 2.84 | 11 ratings
Metanoia
Non-Metal 1998
PORCUPINE TREE Coma Divine II album cover 3.81 | 4 ratings
Coma Divine II
Non-Metal 1999
PORCUPINE TREE Stars Die: Rare And Unreleased album cover 3.17 | 3 ratings
Stars Die: Rare And Unreleased
Non-Metal 1999
PORCUPINE TREE Transmission IV album cover 4.08 | 3 ratings
Transmission IV
Non-Metal 2001
PORCUPINE TREE Futile album cover 3.71 | 9 ratings
Futile
Metal Related 2003
PORCUPINE TREE Delerium EP album cover 3.12 | 4 ratings
Delerium EP
Non-Metal 2003
PORCUPINE TREE Porcupine Tree Sampler 2005 album cover 2.00 | 1 ratings
Porcupine Tree Sampler 2005
Non-Metal 2005
PORCUPINE TREE Porcupine Tree Sampler 2008 album cover 2.00 | 1 ratings
Porcupine Tree Sampler 2008
Non-Metal 2008
PORCUPINE TREE We Lost The Skyline album cover 3.00 | 4 ratings
We Lost The Skyline
Non-Metal 2008
PORCUPINE TREE Ilosaarirock album cover 3.88 | 4 ratings
Ilosaarirock
Metal Related 2009

PORCUPINE TREE re-issues & compilations

PORCUPINE TREE Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape album cover 3.96 | 3 ratings
Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape
Non-Metal 1994
PORCUPINE TREE Voyage 34: The Complete Trip album cover 3.65 | 10 ratings
Voyage 34: The Complete Trip
Non-Metal 2000
PORCUPINE TREE Recordings album cover 4.39 | 9 ratings
Recordings
Non-Metal 2001
PORCUPINE TREE Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991–1997 album cover 3.88 | 4 ratings
Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991–1997
Non-Metal 2002

PORCUPINE TREE singles (14)

.. Album Cover
3.75 | 2 ratings
Voyage 34
Non-Metal 1992
.. Album Cover
2.75 | 2 ratings
Voyage 34: Remixes
Non-Metal 1993
.. Album Cover
4.12 | 4 ratings
Waiting
Non-Metal 1996
.. Album Cover
3.83 | 3 ratings
Piano Lessons
Non-Metal 1999
.. Album Cover
3.83 | 3 ratings
Stranger By The Minute
Non-Metal 1999
.. Album Cover
3.12 | 4 ratings
Pure Narcotic
Non-Metal 1999
.. Album Cover
3.83 | 3 ratings
Four Chords That Made A Million
Non-Metal 2000
.. Album Cover
3.31 | 4 ratings
Shesmovedon
Non-Metal 2000
.. Album Cover
3.50 | 3 ratings
Lazarus
Metal Related 2005
.. Album Cover
3.67 | 3 ratings
Shallow
Alternative Metal 2005
.. Album Cover
3.00 | 2 ratings
Fear Of A Blank Planet
Alternative Metal 2007
.. Album Cover
3.00 | 2 ratings
Way Out Of Here
Metal Related 2007
.. Album Cover
3.00 | 2 ratings
Bonnie The Cat
Alternative Metal 2010
.. Album Cover
3.00 | 2 ratings
Time Flies
Non-Metal 2011

PORCUPINE TREE movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

.. Album Cover
4.40 | 12 ratings
Arriving Somewhere...
Metal Related 2006
.. Album Cover
4.75 | 10 ratings
Anesthetize
Metal Related 2010

PORCUPINE TREE Reviews

PORCUPINE TREE Ilosaarirock

Promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs) · 2009 · Metal Related
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Warthur
This is one of several live releases which capture Porcupine Tree performing in the wake of Fear of a Blank Planet, perhaps the height of their 2000s powers before 2009's The Incident split opinions and took a little of the shine off the band.

As the title implies, it's taken from their appearance the Isolaarirock Festival in Finland, and as is often the case with festival sets that makes it a somewhat different beast from live releases sourced from a concert where the act in question is headlining. The necessity to stick to a festival running time prompts Porcupine Tree to pick out a setlist tightly focused on more immediately gripping songs, and whilst it also limits the extent to which they can zoot off on flights of fancy, this nonetheless is a capably performed set performed for a clearly appreciative crowd.

Save for Lightbulb Sun, only songs from In Absentia, Deadwing, and Fear of a Blank Planet are included, and on the whole the setlist makes a good case for the band's 2000s-era output.

PORCUPINE TREE Nil Recurring

EP · 2007 · Metal Related
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Warthur
Nil Recurring is a fairly simple EP to review in some respects. Did you like Fear of a Blank Planet? Would you like more Porcupine Tree in that particular vein, consisting of a brace of songs (some devised in those sessions, some only coming together afterwards)? Does the idea of Robert Fripp paying a visit to lend his guitar and some blessing to a band as important to progressive rock in the 2000s as King Crimson was in their heyday appeal to you? Then you probably already have listened to Nil Recurring - but if you haven't, don't snooze on it, because whilst some secondary Porcupine Tree releases are a little ancillary (Metanoia, for instance, is an acquired taste), Nil Recurring is of much the same standard as the album that preceded it.

Or do you think Fear of a Blank Planet was rubbish? I don't agree with you... but Nil Recurring won't persuade you to like this phase of Porcupine Tree any more than you already do.

PORCUPINE TREE Rockpalast

Live album · 2006 · Metal Related
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Warthur
Hailing from a live performance originally broadcast on German television, this hails from the Deadwing tour, coming a month or so after the material captured on the Arriving Somewhere live release. For the most part the setlist concentrates on recent material from In Absentia and Deadwing (and non-album tracks from the same era), though The Start of Something Beautiful and Radioactive Toy pop up to offer something from Up the Downstair and On the Sunday of Life respectively. As one might expect from performances recorded professionally for TV, the sound quality is decent, and overall this is another fine live release, though if you are not a big Porcupine Tree you may find this is a little redundant next to Arriving Somewhere, which draws on a somewhat wider range of their back catalogue at that.

PORCUPINE TREE XMII

Live album · 2005 · Non-Metal
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Warthur
This is the followup to XM, and is another live-in-the-studio recording by Porcupine Tree for XM radio in Washington D.C., this time from 2003. The original XM leaned very strongly on material from In Absentia, recorded as it was early in the process of touring and promoting that album.

This album ends up being a somewhat more varied prospect, as well as a highly interesting one - because the first XM used so much In Absentia material, here they go lighter on it (though it's not absent - there's a nice version of Trains here) but fill out the setlist with tunes from a more diverse range of releases. These go as far back as Up the Downstair, but the band also lean heavily on Lightbulb Sun for these performances.

What really gets interesting is that the band are still very much in In Absentia mode when they are playing this material - adding an extra dose of edge and heaviness to the proceedings, with the result that you get a somewhat fresher take on familiar stuff here.

The end result is a rather unique setlist - certainly not something the band would have put together if they'd had a completely free hand in song choice, but because so much of their recent material had been already used on the first XM session and they wanted to avoid redundancy, we ended up with this intriguing, one-of-a-kind performance.

PORCUPINE TREE XM

Live album · 2003 · Metal Related
Cover art Buy this album from MMA partners
Warthur
As the title implies, Porcupine Tree's XM is a live-in-the-studio session for XM radio in Washington D.C. - as such, it doesn't have the ambience of a live album, but it does showcase the capacity of the band to pull off this material in person. As one might expect from a November 2002 session, material from In Absentia features heavily - in fact, six of the titles here come from it, with the remaining tracks all coming from Stupid Dream. We're quite far away here from Porcupine Tree's space rock roots, as a result, and more in the realm of the heavy prog music that they made the focus of their work for the 2000s, with touches of the indie rock-influenced prog of their late 1990s era adding an extra dose of variety here and there. It might not offer a whole lot that In Absentia and Stupid Dream didn't already offer, but when you are dealing with albums that are as good as those two, "more of the same" doesn't sound half bad.

PORCUPINE TREE Movies Reviews

PORCUPINE TREE Arriving Somewhere...

Movie · 2006 · Metal Related
Cover art Buy this album from MMA partners
Warthur
Focusing on the more metal-oriented material from Deadwing and In Absentia - though notably steering it back in a more rock-oriented direction in order to allow this material to sit a little more comfortably beside the "indie prog rock" stylings of Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun and Recordings (picks from all of which surface here). Fans of their earlier psychedelic and space rock styles might be disappointed that those aren't represented, but on the plus side there's a liberal sprinkling of rarities here such as the glorious Buying New Soul as well as Revenant, So-Called Friend and Mother and Child Divided, those three songs having only appeared on various special editions of Deadwing. Not the definitive Porcupine Tree live experience, but a pretty decent one nonetheless.

PORCUPINE TREE Shouts

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more than 2 years ago
Their heavy stuff is heavy enough for inclusion in the MMA. Note that the MMA is album-based, so, even though PT are not a metal band, they are included because of their metal-oriented albums. And I fully support their inclusion.
Metallica999 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Their later stuff is heavier, but they are not really a metal band. Definitely worth checking if you are a fan of prog music though.
m@x wrote:
more than 2 years ago
OK, which albums is more metal ?

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