Posthumous Silence, Sylvan’s new album, sounds like a mishmash of Porcupine Tree’s entire catalog: it mixes the psychedelic vortexes of Porcupine Tree’s early material, with the spacey, extended Pink Floyd modern adaptations of The Sky Moves Sideways, and pours them into more compactly structured songs that have the innocence and softness of Stupid Dream as well as the balls of In Absentia.

The above already indicates the targeted audience of this release, and although some would surely miss the more engaging songwriting of Steven Wilson, the amalgamation of the different Porcupine Tree eras might be perceived almost as being entirely fresh.

There are some more elements to be found on this conceptual release that tells the story of a father discovering his child’s diary: The accentuation on the harder tracks, in particular, is very American in its firm, direct impact, bringing to mind a crossover between neo-prog and alternative metal (such is the frustration that emerges from "The Last Embrace"); the symphonic elements are more evident than on any Porcupine Tree release, and they live side-by-side with the other aspects ("Questions" is a fine representative of that). The playing is extremely colorful and unsparing when it comes to using the right effect in order to produce the thoughtfully desired tone (German musicians were often acclaimed for doing so in the ‘70s).

Posthumous Silence is a moving album ("Message from the Past," with its touching cello and keyboard interplay is especially noteworthy for that), flowing naturally and dynamically throughout its 70 minutes. Highly recommended! (8.25/10)