Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize - live (Tilburg, Netherlands) Full Song ORIGINAL VIDEO: • Porcupine Tree - Anest... Patreon: www.patreon.com/criticalreactions Twitter: critreactions
I just like the attitude of prog, doesn't need an obvious hook at the start, doesn't need to rush, doesn't need to appeal to everyone, not radio friendly, full of surprises, full of ideas.
@@maninthecrowd5076 The only problem with math rock is that it's REALLY not accessible to the casual listener. It's more niche than prog, since it's really only for those that are willing to analyze music in a much more specific manner. I think of it as the following: Prog is for the intellectual, Math Rock/Metal is for the schizophrenic/autistic. :)
Mate 100%, his feels are so clean, but he also adds so much of his own flair to them. Search out his clinic on 'the sound of muzak' the geezer is without doubt probably the most interesting drummer alive today man!
This drummer, Gavin Harrison, is in my opinion without a doubt the best drummer I have ever heard. He absolutely incredible everywhere he plays, and this performance is my favourite from him. Glad you heard this!
Totally agree, Gavin is right up there with Portnoy. Anyway, have you checked out The Pineapple Thief w/ Gavin on drums? Your Wilderness and Dissolution is his writings. The song White Mist off of Dissolution is all about his drums, phenomenal.
Buck Futtler oh i know minneman, he’s great but I just think Gavin has such a musicality and groove along with the technique that is completely unrivalled. This purely my opinion though, and minneman is an absolute beast as well
@@assaultk47 I actually prefer the studio version of this song. I feel like they play well but it's not like anesthetize where they literally play flawlessly
Here is how I boil this song down: Phase 1 - Builds context on why he/she need pills Phase 2 - Pill's effect at its peak Phase 3 - Effect wears off, slammed back to reality from which the person is running from. BTW i agree that you cant do justice on one listen but you nailed this! Loved this reaction!
CodexRat it’s actually the opposite. Steven’s struggle with mental health and having to take psych meds for bi-polar disorder. Part 1 is how the meds dull you, hold back emotion, progress, movement... Part 2 meds wear off, creative, expressive, emotive,crescendo building to explosion of mania... Hard stop...An intervention to quell the self destructive nature of bipolar mania... back on meds, back to the thing that dulls you, but allows you to function in society... is,the price too high ? ....Anesthetize
Steven Wilson is a modern day genius.....if you want to find good music , follow anything associated with him...Opeth , Blackfield , Riverside/Mariusz Duda , Anathema, Meshuggah , No Man...... Gavin Harrison, the drummer, is one of today's greatest drummers. Played as part of King Crimson after this, and is now a permanent member of The Pineapple Theif. Another excellent band similar to Porcupine Tree m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-385vQDpCcnw.html 🎥 The Pineapple Thief "In Exile" Live - RU-vid
Anything Steve Wilson touches is amazing, plain and simple. Couldn't agree more with everything you've said here. And Gavin never stops blowing my mind at all
I first found Wilson/PT through Opeth, and then discovered his remasters of classic prog/pop. I pretty much owe my discovery of XTC (now a top 10 band for me) to him.
I'm so glad you chose the live version. IMO, it's the best version of this track. They have a particular energy live that really adds to the experience.
Porcupine Tree started off as esentially a one-man Psychedelic Rock project with a tremendous emphasis on electronics. Ever since it has become a band but every record has a unique sound. Although most fans like Porcupine Tree for their progressive rock albums, truth is they've done a lot of diffrent things.
Thank you for a really intelligent reaction and review. Probably like many people who are familiar with Steven Wilson’s work, particularly Anesthetize, I love to see how others react when they discover him. He is undoubtedly a prodigious talent who would have received far wider acclaim a few decades ago and all of his projects are worth listening to. I think the building and layering style is Wilson’s forte and many of his best pieces (IMO) from Porcupine Tree and his later solo work use this approach although being a great composer he does create simpler pieces which just rely on a great hook and atmosphere. Even Less and Perfect Life are two examples. Perfect Life made me nostalgic for my life as a teenage girl and I’m a guy! There are a number of recurring themes in Wilson’s work such as ideas of loss or regret, alienation and isolation which are served so well by intelligent music and lyrics. This is the first of your videos I’ve seen but I enjoyed your appreciation and comment so much that I have subscribed to hear what you have to say about other music. The term Prog itself is poorly defined or at least disputed but for me it signifies a combination of imaginative composition and high quality musicianship which is anathema to the majority of many more popular forms. I’ve seen a few recommendations in the comments for other related or similar bands but mine would be for a different part of the modern Prog spectrum. It’s a piece called London Plane by Big Big Train who might be classified as ‘Folk-Prog’ or ‘Prog-Folk’, I’m not sure. For me it exemplifies brilliant composition and atmosphere together with first rate musicianship. I hope you can take a few minutes to give it a listen. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AYW-fjUuSAc.html&start_radio=1
This is one of my favourite songs of all time. I can go back to it whenever I want and never get bored. For me that's kind of the ultimate proof of quality ;-) Love how you were discussing the meta-level of the song. Nicely done!
Yes, they're music is progressive and very different with different variations. They have tried everything from ambient to metal. React more from Porcupine Tree
This is without a doubt one of the best prog-rock songs EVER. Anesthetize is pronounced "Uh-Ness-Tih-Tize", here in California. May be pronounced differently in other states. Also, Porcupine tree are outright masters of tasteful prog rock.
As a drummer myself, Gavin Harrison is one of the best around these days , his feel is incredible, as is his musicality....probably why Robert Fripp chose him to play in the new King Crimson lineup
I would recommend the steven wilsons solo project (he is the singer), namely the live version of luminol. It is very proggy and has some of the greatest musicians on it, minnemann on drms and govan on gtr
My reaction(s) the first time I heard this track: this drummer is crazy good ohmygod. In double digits. I still have several drumgasms every time I listen to it again.
@@grunions9648 'Lingus' is definitely the standout track. I also really like 'Shofukan'. The keyboard part phrased in 5 across the 4/4 groove at the end is amazing
If you’re going to do more Porcupine Tree, here are some less popular but nevertheless interesting choices: Cheating The Polygraph What Happens Now? Sleep Of No Dreaming Way Out Of Here (if you want to go that deep) All of these have high-quality live versions floating around RU-vid.
Finding your channel via The Mars Volta, after hearing 3 of your (very fair and nuanced) takes on them, I thought - I bet he'd like Porcupine Tree! They have much of what you like of TMV without most of the things you dislike. They are both in my top 5, so I am glad you have heard both and I can get both takes now. If you have the chance, more PT would be quite the treat! I assume you know about their newest album out this year? Herd Culling and Chimera's Wreck are both good appetizers off that album.
I would say Porcupine Tree their songs 'What happens now?' (Slow start, complex tail), 'Cheating the polygraph' (very complex) and 'Russia on Ice' (very slow and atmospheric)
Porcupine tree is one of the few SUPERGROUPS whose playlists can never be justified with any humane reaction. Music that transcends high and beyond... Thanks for the video...
As someone who's not a fan of the soft stagnant build up I feel like this song just did it better than pneuma or Riversides song. Each individual segment was more interesting and there was some actual payoff and tonal shift rather than staying "oppressive". There's just more pulling me along here. However, it really could just be acclimation. I mean i really had a negative response to pneuma this time and I know at one time tool was really awesome for me so maybe I just need to get back into this type of music. That being said this is like one segment of prog. A lot more dynamic music leading off the more yes/rush school of prog ending up with guys like dream theatre and even plini would be considered prog.
I've always had that problem with Tool. Their slow songs are almost meditative. The point is that they _don't_ go anywhere. I think of it like a sonata-form composition in a classical context. You need some sort of development, not just three movements of coda.
@@rmr5044 Their climax is usually more "what we were doing but more intense/louder/more complex," rather than a climax like this song, where it resolves into something different. Tool resolves tension in a very "rock" way. That's not bad. I enjoy it. But it's different than the way more inventive bands resolve tension, in a more jazz-oriented way, where the musical structure sometimes changes drastically as the resolution.
Ah my favorite Porcupine Tree song! You hit the nail on its head, what sets apart this song is how they ferment a dark emotion over a chill groove. It’s so uncanny. I think Leprous too utilized something similar in their recent album. And yes also the payoff is totally worth the buildup, totally kick ass. Every section on this song is brilliant. So emotional. Just perfect. And that last section gosh, the vocals and the ghost notes by Gavin. This song is just a Prog masterpiece in how it is constructed and conveyed. Do check out Steven Wilson’s Ancestral, Don’t Hate Me or Sleep Together.
Would love to hear tou react to Cradle of Filth- Tearing the veil from grace. Symphonic, brutal and the singer has one of the most unique and recognisable voice in all of music.
You're not the first to think that I was talking about Opeth but I actually know very little about Opeth. It was actually Anathema that the chorus reminded me of.
I was thinking maybe Anathema or Katatonia, but I couldn't think of which album might match the description he gave. Then I read your comment, and thought "Oh, yeah, that fits!"
I think he should hear the Home Invasion version. The solo is still great even tho it's not Guthrie, and Craig does really well on the drums. Also the dynamics of the song live are so good.
The drummer, Gavin Harrison, is one of the best ghost note players in the world. You aren't wrong about what you saw. I've never seen Gavin play anything (even the most simple beat) without tasteful ghost notes. Maybe watch this version: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6suv3mraIhw.html
Late to the party here... But to your question, "do they go outside their wheelhouse here?" - it's the premier reason why I enjoy Porcupine Tree, and by extension, Steven Wilson's (lead singer/songwriter of PT) music. They're/he's all over the map... Very experimental in their collective endeavors. I see many good suggestions here in the comments. I'd agree that Arriving Somewhere But Not Here is especially infatuating from a prog perspective. Ah, so many to choose from. Though shot out of a cannon... For something a bit different & older from PT, perhaps give Even Less a shot...even further back, Colourflow in Mind. Newer? Home Invasion/Regret #9 from Steven Wilson. Great channel, subscribed!
Porcupine Tree is such a deep well of great music. If I had to recommend just one track though, I'd go with the live performance of Hatesong from their Arriving Somewhere tour.
One of the best live performances that I've ever seen... If you like the live music, please check Alter Bridge - Words Darker Than Their Wings, live at Royal Albert Hall... Greetings from Chile!
Your analysis fits the message of the song perfectly. Steven Wilson is a genius with creating feelings. He's known for melancholy, but he you will find he can't be pigeonholed.
Steven Wilson is a genius! In truth, each member of the band is a genius and a master of their instruments. It’s typical of Porcupine Tree to break their longer pieces into several distinct parts, going from chilled to heavy rock for example. I like the way you said that they seemed to be holding back and I was sitting here thinking “you got it, just hold on, they’re about to take the handbrake off.” These reaction videos of yours are far and away my favourite of this kinda thing. So far I’ve only watched the videos of you reacting to songs I know already but I’m looking forward to seeing the ones I don’t know yet. Cheers!
You know what, im thinking The Ocean-Devonian Nascent They are my fav band, dope concept albums, this is from last one and they are in the studio right now.
It's pronounced (uh-nes-thi-tahyz) for Anesthetize. I have the live DVD that this performance comes off of and it is brilliant. Loads of good stuff on there. Speaking of good stuff...Steven Wilson is a criminally under-known and appreciated artist who has made a ton of good music. More Porcupine Tree is recommended as is his solo work under his name.
@Critical Reactions You should react to this Melodeath band I love called Whispered. I’d recommend the song Hold The Sword. Thanks for the great videos!
Thank you, love it! Neurosis - The Doorway or Through Silver In Blood. Isis - Dulcinea or Garden of Light. Oranssi Pazuzu - Uusi teknokratia. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - The Companions, Helpless Corpses Enactment, Angle of Repose, or Babydoctor.
@@paravarium slow violence is an amazing song, is more immediate, but I think that in complex The Tempest is a better song, it's my opinion, my tastes. The Tempest is epic, those riffs, that refrain, I love it.
@@ekos144 idk man, the timing used in Slow Violence is very technical itself but in a different way. Very unique groove.. either way all the songs are so good, definitely a positive that it's really hard to decide what the very best first impression is, because honestly a lot of reactions are missing their mark and the bands don't get justice.
@@paravarium that's the point, I'm not talking about timing, or how much the song is technical, it's more about emotions, melodies, it's in the way the I feel the music. In any case, I agree, it's hard to choose which is better, amazing songs really.
Maybe the band you are thinking of is Katatonia? If not you should check them out. Both doom and prog elements. Great breakdown of this song. You should check out some Steven Wilson solo stuff aswell.
I think LONG prog tends to have these kinds of extended build-ups. It's something of a genre tradition going back to Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis. There's plenty of prog that hits fast and hard too. A good example would be The Sea Within's An Eye for An Eye for an Eye. It hits right out out of the gate and doesn't let up, but it's only ~7 minutes.
I'd like to request Neal Morse - Alive Again (2015). But do the studio version as there's unfortunately not a good copy of it live. There's one which is ripped from DVD but it skips back a couple of minutes in the middle. There probably wont be many others requesting this one but I dare people that reads this to take a listen!
No. 32 Greatest Prog Songs of all Time on Loudersound.com. Apart from the No. 31 song, 'The Whirlwind' by Transatlantic, it's the highest placed most recent prog song in the list.
First time on this channel its interesting to hear your thoughts i think you should check out anubis gates a dream within a dream its really interesting how they make their ideas more cohesive with their changes and henrik sings his ass off
I think I know the album you were talking about, it’s actually an opeth album, called My Arms Your Hearse. At least I’m almost certain that you meant MAYH, considering that is the exact concept of that album, and it could be called Doom metal, I guess, and the lead singer of that band and this band are good friends and frequently contribute to each other’s music, so I’m almost certain that’s what you meant lol
It was actually something off of Anathema's "A Fine Day To Exit" album. It's been a long time since I've heard the album but that's definitely the vibe I got in that section. I've only heard one Opeth song and that was whatever I reacted to previously so while there might be some similarities there I wouldn't know about them.
@@CriticalReactions Its funny as the lead singer / composer of this track has produced Anathema in the past and also did a gig as their sound engineer on their last tour in the UK.
Also, when you seemed jarred about the “abrupt stop” in the middle of a song that goes into the final section and how the song changes so drastically between parts is a really common thing in Progressive Rock. It’s basically taking the classical music concept of using “Movements” or “Suites”... many songs that are 20 - 30 min + use this writing method. This song is specifically divided into 3 distinct “Movements” , and with many many prog songs that do this, they are even have their own names... for this song (the whole song being “Anesthetize”) the movements are called I.Anesthetize, II. The Pills I’m Taking, and III. Surfer... many long prog songs do this like I said, and Porcupine Tree’s follow up album and final album, “The Incident” is actually meant to be taken as one 55 minute song, for the listeners convenience on the actual CD version of the song, it IS split up into 10 separate tracks (here’s a link to the wiki for the album so you can see how it is actually split up into tracks, but considered one song and how it’ll be written on a track listing on the physical CD or LP: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incident_(album) )but it is actually one 55 minute song (the first disc is, that is... it is actually a double disc album, the first disc being “The Incident”, the 55 min song I just explained, and the second disc being 4 “extra” songs that make up a runtime of 20 min... Notice that he COULD have fit it all one one CD (the total runtime of a full CD being 78 min, both disc on this album adding up to 75 min, but they were split into 2 discs to emphasize that “The Incident” be listened to as one continuous piece, and so the listener doesn’t confuse that those extra 4 tracks from the second disc as part of “The Incident” itself...) also, they play the whole “The Incident” song all the way through live as one song... and like in Anesthetize, some tracks transition into each other and some abruptly stop. This whole method of writing and dividing long songs into sections, or suites, I think, was first done and made popular by the OG progressive rock band, King Crimson, and also use VERY heavily by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Yes. But tons of prog bands have written songs like this.
A couple of examples: The Mars Volta - Cassandra Gemini (another example of where it’s one 32:32 min song split into separate smaller tracks for the convenience of the listener. King Crimson - The Devil’s Triangle King Crimson - Lizard Yes - Starship Trooper Yes - Close To The Edge Yes - And You And I Yes - The Gates of Delerium Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus Emerson Lake & Palmer - Pictures at an Exhibition (their rendition of the classical Russian Romantic piece by Modest Mussorgsky Rush - 2112 Rush - Cygnus X-1 Rush - La Villa Strangiato Dream Theater - Trial of Tears Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt.2 Dream Theater - The Glass Prison Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick Jethro Tull - A Passion Play I could go on and go on, but these are some great, classic examples of what I was talking about above.
That's not the proper name for it but it's what I learned it as when I was younger and it stuck with me. It's when you have a a 4 chord progression where the second and fourth are the same and the shape goes up, up, down, down. It creates a triangle shape or, more specifically, the caret symbol.
still really hoping you'll find time to react to The Quantum Hack Code by Amogh Symphony I know I'm just one person recommending a whole album but I guarantee you'll find plenty to talk about
Altough i do understand your type of music i would fail to myself if i didn't motivate you towards something else. It's really a different perspective but i would enjoy ear your perspective towards Fleshgod Apocalypse. The song in question is Epilogue and that should pretty much give you a notion of what they are. Keep in mind the lyrics are adapted to the song itself. People usually go for an early version of them but this song is medium and have the current formation of what it should be. I'll try to see from Porcupine tree what pops up in the meanwhile. Really good review btw.
Porcupine Tree definitely have explored other styles. I'd even say they're one of the most versatile bands of the last ~30 years. They started out as a Floyd-esque psychedelic band. Their middle period mixed in pop and alternative rock/metal, and then their later albums (which this is from) tended to be a kind of mix of the earlier extended/psychedelic style with the alternative rock/metal/pop sound. Probably much of that evolution owes to Steven Wilson becoming friends with Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth. They heavily influenced each others' music. If you want a full sample of their range, I'd recommend Piano Lessons, Blackest Eyes, and Lazarus. All of these songs sound remarkably different (and they're all pretty short). Wilson's solo work is excellent too. I especially like The Raven That Refused to Sing. For their earlier psychedelic period, Sky Moves Sideways is good, but it's also very long and is very reminiscent of Pink Floyd.
@@austin5732 That's your opinion. Personally, I like both about equally, but PT has had probably 1/10 of the influence/impact that PF has had on music and culture, if we're looking for some kind of objective basis for comparison.
Tool brought me here. My second vid of watching your reactions. I like your insight into song composition but I think you really need to be watching and listening to the lyrics too. Especially with Tool. For Tool, the song composition is based around the lyrics. In fact, it's actually the other way around. The band compose the song and then the singer adds the lyrics based on how the song was written. So the lyrics are a main factor if that makes sense. The singer is the son of a school teacher so he is quite smart about how he introduces themes with different sections. He also does it in a way that leaves it open to your own interpretation, which makes it meaningful to you based on your own experiences. Quite well done. Basically you will understand the song composition a lot more once you understand the lyrical themes.
You need to check out “Rivers of Nihil’s” song “The Subtle Change Including the Forest of Transition and Dissatisfaction Dance.” It is an epic that might surprise you.
For different kinds of prog with PT you need to go back to the earlier days and explore songs like "Tinto Brass" or "Burning Sky", which have a strong psych element as compared to the metal sound in their later music. Or dive into the more ambient side of things with "Moonloop" or "The Sky Moves Sideways".
In the context of buildup/payoff, I think 'ELDER - Weißensee' is a good fit. It's a long instrumental track. My top song of 2019. I'd recommend it if you're interested in more of this type of music.
Yes, prog rock songs are more likely to start out slow, and then build up to something more dramatic. I wouldn't say they *all* do, but they're more likely to than songs from other genres. The keyboardist is Richard Barbieri, who was also in the group "Japan", which was a fairly notable band in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Porcupine Tree started out as something of a joke-band by Steven Wilson (and initially was only Steven), but started to gain traction in the mid-1990's. Even though Steven brought on other people to make it a real band, he continued to do the majority of the writing. They did one more album after the album that this song is from, and then Steven decided to go completely solo and do about 110% of the work. This is really three separate songs which were pushed together as a single song on the album. You can tell because only the middle song has the chorus of "Only MTV, cod philosophy". IMO they had a string of pretty impressive albums in the late 1990's and early 2000's. I'd suggest listening to "In Absentia" and "Deadwing" for some other really great songs.
Porcupine Tree had a whole career of trying new directions with every two or three albums. Their first few albums were pretty spacey or psychedelic. Then they had a few which had a lot in common with Pink Floyd. Then they went in a somewhat different, more "pop"-y direction (well, "pop"-y for them!) with "Stupid Dream". And then they went in a much harder direction with "In Absentia". At the time Steven said something about wanting to combine what they had been doing with something more like Iron Maiden. To put it another way, every few albums they'd release something which would piss off about 25% of their fan base, but would also bring in a lot of new fans. And most of the pissed-off fans would eventually be won over. If you want more variation, then add "The Sky Moves Sideways" (which is pink-floyd-ish) and "Stupid Dream" to my earlier recommendations.
