The Depths · All albums

In Absentia

Porcupine Tree · 2002

• Scores: Noise 3, Unease 3, Complexity 3 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Rock, Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal
• Mood: dark, brooding, tense
• Sound: metal-tinged riffs, long songs, layered vocals, quiet-loud dynamics, atmospheric passages

Porcupine Tree recorded this in spring 2002 at Avatar Studios in New York, produced by Steven Wilson and mixed by Tim Palmer. It was the first album with drummer Gavin Harrison, replacing Chris Maitland, and the band's first move towards progressive metal. Wilson's renewed interest in heavy metal led him to Swedish extreme metal, and he called Meshuggah and Opeth the holy grail of that scene. Producing Opeth's Blackwater Park inspired him to push the band in a heavier direction. The title is Latin for in absence.

Track list

1. Blackest Eyes (4:23)
2. Trains (5:56)
3. Lips of Ashes (4:39)
4. The Sound of Muzak (4:59)
5. Gravity Eyelids (7:56)
6. Wedding Nails (6:33)
7. Prodigal (5:32)
8. .3 (5:25)
9. The Creator Has a Mastertape (5:21)
10. Heartattack in a Layby (4:15)
11. Strip the Soul (7:21)
12. Collapse the Light Into Earth (5:54)