Marillion - F.E.A.R (earMUSIC)
Marillion return in 2016 with F.E.A.R. (Fuck Everyone And Run), their new album that through a very introverted and pessimistic tone is frighteningly reflective of the the times we live in. Marillion have been on a streak of excellent albums (as can be witnessed by the previous excellent "Sounds that can't be made") and this album is another gem that despite it's pessimistic cynicism, delivers high quality progressive rock music and is truly what is called "Food for Thought". Five-part opener "El Dorado" is very slow to reveal itself
and initially comes across as disjointed fragments and only after hearing it multiple times does it start sounding cohesively as part of a whole. Lyrically the album recounts the plight of immigrants, and the roadblocks they face, with a very bitter and cynical edge to it.
`Living in Fear' is a more compact song, pondering about fear and how it creates barriers between people, dividing us. The lyrics are again very pessimistic with the highlight being "There's a price to pay, living in fear is so very dear". "The Leavers" is much more optimistic to its predecessors, packing a great real warmth. The band juxtaposes itself as 'leavers' versus the 'remainers', who lead a normal life, and cannot understand the way of life of the band until a moment, when in concerts, the band and its audience share their experiences and transcend their positions becoming a whole.
`White Paper' is an emotional ballad, with the band sounding personal and relating how personal relationships can be affected in the age of Fear. The album culminates with "The New Kings". This is a truly heavy and venomous piece with anger directed at the current status quo and how everything seems to be dictated by Big Money and concludes with the almost fatalistic ""Remember a time when you thought that you mattered/Believed in the school song, die for your country/A country that cared for you -- all in it together?/A national anthem you could sing without feeling used or ashamed./If it ever was more than a lie, or some naïve romantic notion/Well, it's all shattered now./Why is nothing ever true?.../On your knees, peasant. You're living for the New King."
The album concludes with "Tommorow's New Country", that tries to aleviate the blow from the new Kings and close the album on a more positive note than the bleakness promised in "The New Kings".
The album is very political and for this it may not appeal to some who want their music to be separate to their political views, but for everyone else that lives in the real world, F.E.A.R. is a thought-provoking piece of progressive rock music that will live on as a testament of the times will live in.
93/100
Below is the audio for "The New Kings" track.
`Living in Fear' is a more compact song, pondering about fear and how it creates barriers between people, dividing us. The lyrics are again very pessimistic with the highlight being "There's a price to pay, living in fear is so very dear". "The Leavers" is much more optimistic to its predecessors, packing a great real warmth. The band juxtaposes itself as 'leavers' versus the 'remainers', who lead a normal life, and cannot understand the way of life of the band until a moment, when in concerts, the band and its audience share their experiences and transcend their positions becoming a whole.
`White Paper' is an emotional ballad, with the band sounding personal and relating how personal relationships can be affected in the age of Fear. The album culminates with "The New Kings". This is a truly heavy and venomous piece with anger directed at the current status quo and how everything seems to be dictated by Big Money and concludes with the almost fatalistic ""Remember a time when you thought that you mattered/Believed in the school song, die for your country/A country that cared for you -- all in it together?/A national anthem you could sing without feeling used or ashamed./If it ever was more than a lie, or some naïve romantic notion/Well, it's all shattered now./Why is nothing ever true?.../On your knees, peasant. You're living for the New King."
The album concludes with "Tommorow's New Country", that tries to aleviate the blow from the new Kings and close the album on a more positive note than the bleakness promised in "The New Kings".
The album is very political and for this it may not appeal to some who want their music to be separate to their political views, but for everyone else that lives in the real world, F.E.A.R. is a thought-provoking piece of progressive rock music that will live on as a testament of the times will live in.
93/100
Below is the audio for "The New Kings" track.
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