Essential Albums : The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories ...)

Artist/Band : Steven Wilson

Genre : Progressive Rock, Neo-Progressive Rock

Label : Kscope

Year : 2013

Let’s take a look at the prog darling Steven Wilson’s third solo album which probably is the best progressive rock album to come out in 2010s

About 

Steven Wilson is a workhorse and it sometimes feels he has single handedly managed to keep progressive rock alive. Hailing from London he is most well known for fronting the band Porcupine Tree, he also has side projects in bands such as No Man and Blackfield. Mr Wilson is multi-instrumentalist as well as a producer with experience of working with bands like Opeth and Anathema.

Embarking on solo career by releasing Insurgentes in 2008 and following up with Grace for Drowning in 2011, both albums which I thought were spectacularly average. Raven that refused to Sing was released in February 2013 and is partly produced by Alan Parsons (guy who engineered a little known album called Dark Side of The Moon). Raven Refused to Sing received huge critical acclaim and is very well known in progressive rock and metal fans. Even though this album featured on Billboard 200 I believe this album should be more recognized as the best progressive rock album to come out in 2010s.

Music

With a runtime of little less than an hour and 6 songs this is a concept album about the supernatural and each song representing a different ghost story. The musical influences of classic progressive acts like Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull are clearly present but the songs feel fresh and modern. The album opener Luminol is the longest track on the album running past 12 mins and starts with an aggressive bass riff and is juxtaposed with a mini flute solo and Steven’s voice comes soaring saying ‘’Here we all are born into a struggle, To come so far but end up returning to dust” which sets the tone for the album perfectly, the rest of instrumentation builds up to release into a mellow part where Wilson sings with some really well engineered background vocals. Second song “Drive Home” is by far my favorite song in any Steven Wilson album with it’s very emotional lyrics about losing a loved one and THE BEST DAMN guitar solo! The Holy Drinker opens with these haunting chords panning from right to left channels and slowly builds the aggression pairing perfectly with the previous song, it has a very distant sounding saxophone passages and you are not clear as to where it is coming from which adds to the haunting sound, finally going into the verse which is very pink floyd, the rest of the song plays out well. The Pin Drop is probably my least favorite track here, Steven’s voice does not sound good against this relatively minimalist sounding track. The Watchmaker is a beautiful song with again the depth being really well constructed in the production front, and even being a slow track the vocals feel like they are being sung to you in a closed room, next leg of the  song is played almost as a jam session, a very nice euphoric jam session then it stops and slowly builds up again to something dark and drony ending. Finally the closer and the title track, it is an amazing composition opening with somber piano and Steven’s voice is coming in with a nice touch of reverb, and as it builds up the vocal layering is just angelic and the drum fills are like cherry on top.

Final Thoughts 

Apart from obvious songwriting and instrumental diversity this album brings to the table, the execution of each note on this album is impeccable. I like this album more than most of Porcupine Tree’s catalog specifically because of the lyrics. Steven’s lyrics  can come off as cringe and occasionally preachy, definitely so in his Porcupine Tree output and his best songs are about relatable themes. Even with the underlying concepts of supernatural all the songs on this album lyrics deal with relatable themes. Secondly the production choices are standard for a progressive rock album for 2013 however, I think Alan Parson’s hand is really subtle in production and sets the atmosphere for the album, making it very organic.

I love this album, and I would recommend this for any fan of progressive rock or even casual rock fan, and I think outside of the album context songs like Drive Home and Raven That Refused to Sing are really well constructed.