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| Type | Album |
| Year | 1993 |
| Genre | Rock |
| Style | Psychdelic, Prog |
It is kinda surprising how much different of an experience is this record from it's predecessor. It noticeably more focused, more proggy and definitely less experimental. The ambient "interlude" tracks are in my opinion less abrasive too! And the chipmunk vocal effects are gone for good. It overall makes a much better listening experience...
The album opens with one of the best openers I've ever heard:
"What you are listening to are musicians performing psychedelic music under the influence of a mind-altering chemical called-"
And right after, "Synesthesia" (which itself is an awesome track) begins! It's so cute and creative to open an album this way.
My greatest issue with this record is the "riffyness" of it as a whole. The tracks are built on a foundation made out of very blocky and solidly structured guitar riffs. Although they all sound very Wilson-like, they are too rock-oriented and do not fit the psychdelic prog vibe of this album at all, and at times, the album seems to drag idefinetely because of this stylistic choice.
What I REALLY like tho, is the strong electronic, psychdelic trance influence of the title track. This marks the beginning of PT putting one trance-influenced track per record and never elaborating on that extremely interesting style any further. At the next album, we have "The Sky Moves Sideways", then there's "Idiot Prayer", and then they're stopped exploring this type of music for good, what I don't like at all! It's a shame, you know. It makes me wonder how would PT sound like in their later years if they went more into the dark, electronic, hypnotic beats instead of basically prog-metal... Anyway, the title track is the best song here. It goes so hard! The "key change" part, which kinda supstitutes the chorus, is a bit jarring, I don't think it fits the ominous hypnotic atmosphere of the rest of the song, but fair enough, the riff is fun to listen to and pretty headbangable so yeah, I can excuse that.
The rest of the songs are not that interesting tbh. "Always Never" is fine, I like how the main riff has this dissonant, jambled part that shows at the breakdown of the song (very Wilson-core stuff). I don't ever remember how do "Not Beautiful Anymore" and "Small Fish" sound like, they're just too forgettable. "Burning Sky" is a fun song too, it sound very King Crimson inspired! The main key changing main riff sounds like something off of 80s KC records (maybe "Sartori in Tangier"??). "Fadeaway" is really cool too, but I prefer a live version, with John Weasley on vocals. His heavenly voice suits this ethereal song amazingly.
To summarise: it's a fine record. Musically better than the previous one, but it still sounds plasticky and uneven, and the guitar parts are too riffy imo. But it's good! If you're into space rock, psychdelia or just like guitar-focused music, you may like it. AND DEFINETELY CHECK OUT THE TITLE TRACK, IT'S SO COOL!!