Schrignold The butterfly

Yeah, this album is not very good. This music pretty much just remains to be watered down prog rock, that offers little to no excitement. I struggle to really find much emotion in this album. It also feels as if they are just retracing their own steps, and just playing it safe on this one. I don't find real joy or experimentation here, and I don't really see this as being progressive at all. What happened to when prog bands tried to experiment with something new? What about the times when a lot of they joy of listening to a prog band came from the excitement of seeing what creativity they would conjure up next? Some of the lyrics on this album are also pretty pretentious and eye-rolling (see room 137, Paralyzed, etc). Another thing that annoys me are many of the guitar solo's. Like ffs there's literally some sort of soaring solo in just about every song. The solos feel like something that should come at the end of a big journey or something, and not in EVERY SINGLE SONG. It's pretty much just the equivalent of highlighting every word in a textbook, so that at the end of the day nothing stands out anymore and the highlights don't make a difference at all. There's literally one in the 4 minute song, Paralyzed. Like COME ON its not like we just finished running a marathon or something, why does this solo need to be here? It does not fit with the song and is just plain cringe. This is barely even a song compared to some of their previous works. Did they really not know what else to put in, so they just had to shoehorn in these pretentious solos that feel as if they are trying so desperately to add some emotional depth to the song? None of the solos have any real emotion anymore and every song is just so by the numbers. The only song that I actually somewhat like, is fall into the light, as it actually feels like something interesting is being said with the usage of the thrash influences that are on the song. It remains the only pretty unique song. Other than that the album just feels like complete soulless and watered down prog, where the only thing the band members seem to do is show off, which I find quite douchey. There is no real excitement or passion to be found, and all that's left is a basic, cringe-inducing album. I hope that the band will come up with something more interesting in the future. 3/10

My personal favorite porcupine tree album. The incredibly personal lyrics make for a visceral and emotional listen. Every song here seems to fit a certain, unique role, and each song feels as if it is integral to the album. The music itself also remains to be soulful progressive rock that manages to still be very creative in its experimentation and its overall presentation. All in all this album is a journey that takes you in some unexpected places, and it remains one of my personal favorites.