BRAVE

'Brave' is one of the most potent, meticulous, and voluptuous albums by Marillion, and arguably of the entire decade of the 1990s, marking the arguable beginning of the band's most exciting and exploratory period, in the concrete search and realization of what they represent within the musical climate, and where they stand as a contemporary British rock band. Being a concept album, all the pieces on 'Brave' are thematically and sonically connected, and this connection above all runs through the creeping melancholy that punctuates the entire story so beautifully, enhanced by the claustrophobic and lush instrumentation. The music on here is a very balanced and nearly perfect symbiosis between the pop leanings displayed by the previous two albums and the progressive rock pedigree of the band members.

It is worth mentioning that 'Brave' took a lot of time to see the light of day, and as the story goes, the honing of the album's sound had been quite a laborious engagement, nevertheless resulting in one of the finest concept albums by a progressive band. From the marvelous and unnerving beginnings of 'Living with the Big Lie', 'Runaway', and 'Goodbye to All That', through the more uplifting and punchy middle section of the album, descending into the gloomy and cathartic title tracks, followed up with the fantastic 'The Great Escape' and 'Made Again', the album is packed with intense emotion and intelligent musical craft. Hogarth shines both as a lyricist and a singer all throughout, while the music that accompanies his story is beyond graceful. With a creative achievement like 'Brave', Marillion had presented a fantastic musical work that encapsulates everything they stand for. The album is ever so daring in its modern interpretation of what progressive rock can sound like, and had in many ways set an own standard for the band.

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