SEASONS END

It was a gloomy outlook for Marillion after the difficult departure of singer and frontman Fish following the successful "Clutching at Straws", creating uncertainty about the band's continuity. But Steve Rothery and his bandmates shuffled their cards again, rearranged themselves and called in a little-known Steve Hogarth for the complicated task of replacing the Scottish giant. Predictably, the expectations and the spotlight were on the band's fifth album and first of its second life: "Seasons End", and above all on what the new singer could bring to the table. And Hogarth's landing was soft and comfortable, partly because the album's instrumentation bears similarities to the structures and musicality of previous works (after all, except for Fish, the musicians were still the same and their formula was already working), partly because many of the songs were developed previously, and partly because the new singer was just starting out and his influence at the time was minor.

The band would thus begin a new stage, respecting their recent past but determined to oxygenate it with new airs. Hence, the pieces show that fusion of recognisable notes in a more calm and suspenseful atmosphere, sprinkled with dramatic touches and nourished by a reflective theme on politics, the environment and human relations. That tessitura is present practically throughout the entire album: from the opening and soaring "The King of Sunset Town", the beautiful acoustic and arpeggiated beginnings of "Eastern" and "After Me", the forceful half-time of the intense "Seasons End", one of the jewels of the album along with the sordid "Berlin" and the suffocated saxophone of guest Phil Tood, to the martial "The Space". The band's tucking in of Hogarth's expansive vocal range and histrionics is remarkable, with Rothery flawlessly executing his clean, sustained guitar solos, accompanied by Mark Kelly's typically eighties synths to create a crystalline musical layer, both backed by Pete Trewavas' bass and Ian Mosley's consistent drumming.

The transitional "Seansons End", beyond the change of command that generated controversy among the band's followers (similar to what happened with Genesis and Peter Gabriel), is a good album and deserves to be evaluated considering the context in which it was conceived. From the next album onwards, Hogarth's preponderance would start to gain much more space in the decisions about the musical direction Marillion should follow.

3,5 stars