AFRAID OF SUNLIGHT

The second masterpiece in a row for Hogarth-era Marillion finds the band musing on the subject of fame and its corrosive effects on the psyche, as well as continuing their indulgence of a wide range of musical spheres. Having dabbled in incorporating New Age and psychedelic ideas in to their music on Brave, the band were emboldened to create pieces such as the sinister party anthem Cannibal Surf Babe or the tranquil Out of This World, a calming and soothing meditation on death in the pursuit of greatness.

On top of this, from the celebrity gossip samples at the start of Gazpacho to the shotgun blast of a crescendo at the end of King, the band manage to take a devastatingly critical look at celebrity culture of the mid-1990s (which hasn't really changed that much up to today - only the faces are different), challenging any listeners who might crave for fame themselves to consider what happens to those who are unable to handle its consequences. Right now I'd say it's a shade less interesting than Brave, but ask me again next week and I might have a different answer - the two pieces both have such interesting and divergent strengths that to pick one out would be impossible.