[3.5/5] Porcupine Tree's latest earnestly pursues the Holy Grail of so many prog-rockers: To create a modern-day Dark Side Of The Moon, an album about the isolation of everyday living that is nevertheless best enjoyed alone, through headphones. It's a tribute to singer Steven Wilson's ambition that the Pink Floyd comparison is at least worth kicking around. These six songs offer moments as heavy as P-Tree have ever been, but are wistfully, sprawlingly melodic as well-sometimes in the same tune, as in the case of the 17-minute centerpiece "Anesthetize." Rush's Alex Lifeson and King Crimson's Robert Fripp add guitar texture to the disc's already monumental sweep, and if Wilson's vision of today's kids as overmedicated, overstimulated robots seems like a blatant appeal to the over-30 crowd, it's still worth setting the Xbox aside to listen. (ATLANTIC) Dan LeRoy
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