RADIATION

After the masterpiece Brave, the excellent Afraid of Sunlight, and the mixed bag This Strange Engine (but a hopeful return to their prog roots with the title track), Marillion continued to spiral down into mediocrity with their 1998 release called Radiation. On this album, Marillion took a more AOR/alternate rock approach and it shows, but not in a positive sense. Hogarth seems to strain his voice to fit this style of music and would have been better off using his wonderful approach used on Brave and other better albums. I can't blame a guy for experimenting with new styles, but when it comes off as a failure, why release it? I guess something has to pay for those recording studio bills and endless boxes of macaroni and cheese (yummm!).

The production on Radiation seems to have slipped a bit in quality compared to earlier albums and that may be due to time constraints the band had at the time. Lyrically, it's about on par with other average songs of the Hogarth era. The only song that stands out for me musically is Cathedral Wall. It has some nice keyboard lines and kind of hearkens back the the Afraid of Sunlight album. Overall, this was a disappointment for me. It's not bad, but it's miles away from the greatness of Brave and Afraid of Sunlight. If you're interested in the Hogarth era, start with those. This one is only for collectors and die-hard fans of the band. Two stars.