I must admit it. When Fish left Marillion, I no longer followed this band, although several attempts were made, but I found the sound of the band stood of fell with Fish, despite the fact that the band more or less kept the same line-up, except for the drummer.
Having heard that this new album, their seventeenth already- nobody seems to have taken any notice, but this band goes around for about 33 years already - seemed to be a very good one, I made one more attempt.
War my hopes fulfilled? Yes and no. I’m still having a hard time getting used to Steve Hogarth’s voice. Not that he’s a bad vocalist, but I very much loved Fish’es voice. Musically the band still deliver a top notch product; with some great keyboards by Mark Kelly and fantastic guitars by Steve Rothery.
Will this album change my opinion about Marillion? I sincerely doubt it. But I give them credits for staying in the business for so long, and despite the fact that they are no longer on a major label like EMI, continuing to produce and release their music in the way they like it.
With only eight songs, this album still clocks of at a respectable 75 minutes, but what would you expect when the opening song alone, ‘Gaza’ has a playing time of over 17 minutes, as a matter of fact the shortest track clocks of at almost six minutes.