RADIATION

This album starts like a nightmare. The opener is just a bunch of noise while "Under Son" offers an awful sound. Drumming is extremely weak and the solo guitar break sounds almost heavy metal. Only the chorus is bearable. The last one of this infernal trio is "The Answering Machine". Weird rhythmic guitar (noisy, exaggerately trash). Surprisingly enough, vocals are the most pleasant part of this song. While you know my extremely limited enthusiasm for Hogarth, it should give you an indication of how this album sounds so far.

The first good moment available is "Three Minute Boy". A strong rock song with loads of great guitar (finally). The accent so far is definitely on the rocking side. It breaks the dull mood that Marillion Mark II has shown since 1989 but this drastic change was rather unpredictable. The following song "Now She'll Never Know" is 100% in the style of their most boring numbers. The "palme d'or" of dullness and insipidity. Difficult to remain awake during these five minutes. Excessively useless as "These Chains". Another pure Marillion Mark II typical song : lifeless, flat, inconsistent. The melody of the chorus saves it a little bit. Rothery will perform a good (but too short) guitar solo. Did you say poor ?

The only difference with the next "Born to Run" is the bluesy mood. It is the first one of the genre for this band. It is extremely boring as well. Still, a very nice guitar break comes again to the rescue. Hogarth shows all the limitations of his vocal style (how can this guy be the Marillion II singer, will remain a mystery for ever). I hope I should have been born to run to do so while listening to this track.

"Cathedral Wall" is more interesting. A great intro, a strange mood with some powerful passages (almost grunge at times). It is the most complex of the album so far. Several theme changes (from slow and almost decadent to weird and strong). This song is difficult to approach but is my fave of the album so far. At times, this track reminds me of the band "Suicide" (late mid-seventies). Somewhat scary and disturbing.

The closing numner "A Few Words for the Dead" starts with a very Crimsonesque mood ("Islands") for about two minutes. This long song (over ten minutes) is rather experimental with almost no structure. Incoherent backing band, displaying here and there some "sounds". These ten minutes sound pretty long and the Oriental influence that can be heard at half time won't keep you interested, I'm afraid. The last section features a good melody and nice vocals, but to be honest it won't change my opinion about it : weak.

Rating of this "work" is pretty easy. Two average songs, some good but too short guitar breaks as well as two or three nice vocal passages : one little star for this little piece of music. Avoid it by all means.