Modern prog rock/metal legend Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Opeth) is currently doing press for his recently released eight studio LP, The Overview, and in a recent chat with online music magazine/YouTube channel Innerviews, he explained what he sees as the “only thing” progressive rock artists have in common.
What Wilson Said
During the interview (posted to YouTube on March 1), host Anil Prasad asked Wilson about his decision to go back to progressive rock with The Overview (after venturing into art rock and electronica on its immediate predecessors). Included in that return is the fact that The Overview consists of just two roughly 20-minute tracks (“Objects Outlive Us” and “The Overview”).
“I think the return to progressive rock is in the idea of the long form,” Wilson began, adding:
To me, it all comes back to that anyway. What is “progressive rock”? To me, the only thing all of it really has it common – and I’m talking about the whole spectrum . . . from Pink Floyd to Frank Zappa, to Rush, to Mogwai, to Radiohead – the only thing it has it common, really, is it’s a will to move away from the standard pop form. It’s kind of a – this idea that you can take the listener on a journey and you can surprise them, and very often, that involves doing something over a longer period of time.
Not always, but a lot of bands obviously veer towards 10, 15, 20-minute-long pieces, and that is obviously what this record is. And that, I think, is one of the hallmarks – if not the preeminent hallmark – of what I think of as “progressive rock.”
Wilson also confirmed Prasad’s earlier comment regarding other genres that The Overview incorporates: “But, beyond that, as you kind of hinted at, all of my usual things are going on here.”
He continued:
There’s a piece of electronic music on the record [and] there’s a piece of pure ambient music that finishes the record [“Permanence”]. There are metal riffs [and] there moments with strong pop sensibilities. There are moments of jazz. But, I think the overall structure and the overall sense of journey is probably something people would associate with the tradition of progressive rock.
READ MORE: The Best Non-‘Epic’ Song by 11 Big Prog Metal Bands
To his point, Wilson has already crafted some of the best “epic” pieces in modern progressive rock, such as Porcupine Tree’s “Anesthetize” (from 2007’s Fear of a Blank Planet) and “Raider II” from his second solo LP, 2011’s Grace for Drowning). Plus, and as Loudwire has previously discussed regarding both prog rock and prog metal, major genre artists such has Genesis, Jethro Tull, Symphony X, Haken, Devin Townsend and Yes have also crafted similarly lengthy and elaborate pieces.
Do you agree with Wilson’s assessment of prog rock’s most universal component, though? Let us know!
Also, you can watch the entire interview below.
More About The Overview
The follow-up to 2023’s The Harmony Codex, The Overview released on March 14, 2025 and includes contributions from frequent Wilson collaborators such as guitarist/vocalist Randy McStine, flutist/saxophonist Theo Travis and keyboardist Adam Holzman. According to Wilson, its concept finds him “tak[ing] the listener on a Kubrickian journey into the darkness of outer space, seeing humanity for what it really is – tiny, insignificant, dwarfed by cosmic distances involving billions of years.”
So far, it’s received extremely positive reviews from significant outlets such as MOJO magazine, Classic Rock magazine and The Prog Report. You can purchase it here.
Steven Wilson Discusses The Overview + Prog Rock As A Whole (March 1, 2025)
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