BRAVE

I've listened to many dark, depressing cds from genres of rock 'til metal, but Marillion's "Brave" remains one of the most. If you feel depressed, this cd makes you feel even more. Not for the faint of heart, this tour de force of post Fish-era Marillion forces a very intense and deep listen from the listener. The story of a schizophrenic, disillusioned girl, who commits suicide in jumping off a bridge may be frightening in first place, but allways brings on some uplifting moments in such songs like "Hard As Love" and "Paper Lies", which are the only misplaced ones on this album though, they sound too radio-compatible for my taste. That mustn't mean that it's bad in general, but somehow fits not to the main mood of the record, which is all about lost hope and sadness. The strongest pieces are the accesible "Living With The Big Lie", "Runaway" and the wonderful "Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury", the complex, at the same time very atmospheric epic "Goodbye To All That", the challenging title piece or the superb highlight "The Great Escape", which sets up the crown and makes "Brave" in truth kind to a small masterpiece.

At the beginning I was a bit confused about the (for Marillion standards) unusual dark complexity of the whole record, but after some spins it showed off it's strong deepness, which is also the reason for disappointing less sold copys of the record and EMI forced the band to produce the more lightful, accesible follow-up "Afraid Of Sunlight".

The fact, that the record is more for a small group of listeners, makes it so interestening. Steve Hogarth shows here, that he is a excellent singer and really was the right follow-up to Fish, who pulled down the songwriting skills of the group with his alcohol/drug-concept "Clutching At Straws". Steve Rothery brings also on some of his best guitar work that he made for Marillion and is able to show all of his talents on "Brave". The album has grown on me like a little tree and makes me to recommend it to all, who enjoy modern progressive rock. For those, "Brave" will probably grow to a masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 points = 92 % on MPV scale = 5/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music