Porcupine Tree - Opeth...
Opeth - Porcupine Tree...
This is a kinda 2-for-1 deal as I see it. I discovered both bands around the same time, via the same initial source and there are some obvious connections between the bands beyond the purely musical. As such either band could occupy the number 5 slot. At the time of writing, I'd say Opeth just edge it for me...but there you go: that's the beauty of these lists!
Going back to 2005, many contributors to the Rush forum T-N-M-S.com had been championing PT as the true front runners in the Prog race for a couple of years. At that time, Rush had recently (Autumn 2004) made a long awaited and triumphant return to British shores with their R30 extravaganza. I was adamant that no band would be able to get anywhere near Canada's finest, but still I was curious. What was so good about this oddly named band that had Rush fans so fired up?
My first actual listening came late one Friday night in the rehearsal studios I frequented when I was part of the Dublin band, One More Outnumbered. Not unnaturally we would fraternise with the other bands that shared the space - trading beers and new music. Typically, the room next door was home to some very extreme metal: where the likes of Pantera and Machinehead were considered lightweight. Excellent bands...but lightweight! However on this particular night I heard an acoustic guitar riff (in 5/4) that made me want to sit up and listen more closely. Turns out this was a song called 'The Sound of Musak' by PT.
Now I knew what all the Rush fans were talking about with such heightened enthusiasm. This was definitely something I wanted to explore further. Thankfully, a very nice man called Dave Lack (fellow English Gent, Fellow Rush fan) offered to put together a CD sampler - these used to be called mixtapes, I think! - for my initiation. This was littered with PT standards such as 'Blackest Eyes', 'Trains', 'Russia on Ice', 'Lazarus' and 'Arriving Somewhere but not Here' and compounded my thoughts that this was a band to be reckoned with.
Right now, PT is on a break of indeterminate length (shame) but be assured I will be right there with them again when 'the time is now again'.
No comments:
Post a Comment