MARBLES

Here's a great album. If you want to get into Hogarth era, this is where to start. I am reviewing the two disc, but I would recommend either version. Hogarth shines as a lyricist on tracks like Neverland and the Invisible Man. The concepts to the album are very broad, dealing with being trapped, escaping, death, love, emotion, and on and on.

Pros: the best thing here is Hogarths vocal performance and lyrics. In Marillion, I think that the voice has always been the most important thing and that is why the the style changed so drastically when Fish left and Hogarth took over. Here, I'm glad to have Hogarth work with the Marillion band. The album is backed by brilliant soundscapes by Mark Kelly, great leads by Rothery, and a solid rhythm section from mosley and Trewavas. The music is rich and melodic, and always holds your attention.

Cons: with music like this, if you take away the keyboard, sometimes there's not much else going on. so my biggest complaint is Rothery really only shining during the leads, his prescence is there, but not like it was in the past. There's also a small amount of filler imo. But it doesn't bring the album down much.

So in my opinion this is very essential as it's the best album by Marillion with Hogarth, and this era of Marillion is something everyone should give a listen.