AN HOUR BEFORE IT'S DARK

Kind of a dramatic description of Marillion's new album An Hour Before It's Dark, but this is dramatic stuff. But is it helpful? Well, we'll get to that. I want to split this review evenly between the album's music and the music's lyrics. First , the good and the bad. Musically, AHBID is very good, not great, but very good with some exceptional highpoints. The album's leadoff track "Be Hard On Yourself" doesn't do for me, I'm afraid, as it doesn't set up the album musically and grab you by the lapels, as the old saying goes. It's pleasant in it's undramatic workman-like 3 suite form. The song's anemic sound mix doesn't help, as Ian's drums are muffled and muddy and Pete's bass is almost invisible. But the album starts cooking musically with the second mini suite titled "Reprogram The Gene". The old Marillion magic is now present, with excellent playing and melodies, as well as a much better sound mix that brings the rhythm section back into the soundstage, where it remains for the duration of the album. "Murder Machines" is a catchy song with a great rhythm and it's no surprise that it was picked as an album single. But it's not until "The Crow And The Nightingale" that Marillion score the first of the album's homeruns. A moody and emotional piece with driving guitar and keyboard instrumental sections, as well as an honest to God choir adding more emotional queues, without sounding the least bit pretentious. Not an easy feat. "Sierra Leone" is a piano driven ballad that again morph's into emotional sounding musical passages, but is more of a palate cleanser for the album's magnificent closer titled "Care", which somehow takes all of the best attributes of the proceeding songs and ramps up the musicality ten fold. It features some of the best of Steve Rothery's guitar playing heard in many a moon, and is another quintessential and classic prog song by the group.

Now for the ugly. When Marillion's last studio album F.E.A.R was released in 2016, the world was in the grip of Trumpism, Brexit, the aftershocks of Occupy Wall Street and dozens of other social-political situations, which that album more or less addressed and the group's anger at these situations was welcomed by fans who felt the same. Anger loves company. With An Hour Before It's Dark, vocalist Steve Hogarth is singing about situations of the last few years, such as the Covid pandemic, nurses and first responders, and dare I say it, passing away, all in his own poetic multi meaning style. Unfortunately, misery doesn't really love company, despite the common misconception. Reminding people of what they lived through is no cure for a disease. To put it plainly, it's cathartic healing that the masses are craving at this point, not reminders of their plight. Hogarth had a great opportunity to infuse his fans with hope with this album's lyrics, the one thing that's so badly needed. Unfortunately, he failed and instead wrote a history of the times we know so well. And would rather forget. So, 3 stars for an album that I will seldom play again.

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