SEASONS END

There are many of us music reviewers who can't stand it when a band betrays their classic sound or when a major player in a band leaves, and then there are those of us who will accept the change if it's necessary. In this instance, it was the departure of England's most obvious Peter Gabriel wannabe, Fish. With the new AOR-oriented vocals of Steve Hogarth in play, it was time for Marillion to try something new. And is this a good thing? Well, for most neo- prog fans, Marillion is practically the go-to band for the rawest quality and for an introduction. But I treat all genres equally. I have favorites, but I never judge them unfairly towards other genres. And in this case, all Marillion is to me is a very catchy pop group that kept rewriting the same damn pop songs every album during the whole Fish era.

Seasons End might take slack for the chance in sound, but after four albums of the exact same thing which drew me away from neo-prog in the first place (after 12 years I haven't even gotten to 30 neo albums yet), I welcome it with arms more open than the range. Right from the glorious intro, The King of Sunset Town, I was taken in by the more progressive instrumental behavior and its raw beauty. Throughout the whole eight minutes, I was thinking to myself, "It's about time Marillion started acting like a prog band." This proves that Fish's whole vision for the band was, "What would Genesis sound like today is Gabriel didn't leave?" But of course, there's some room for hard- hitting AOR with songs like The Uninvited Guest and Holloway Girl. This gives us a stronger taste of what we had before, the poppier melodies but with a stylistic choice of bands such as Magnum. And as a man who believes On a Storyteller's Night almost rivals the Boston debut, I am not complaining about this. The album will also take time to soak in its atmospheres with the beautiful but potentially overlong titular track. And I even get a little jazziness in Berlin, and jazziness is something neo-prog needs. Do the smooth jazz aspects right, and it's perfect for the subgenre.

This is the Marillion album I wanted: a multi-faceted one. With a more serious and less obvious style, Marillion have finally distanced themselves from the Genesis sound and took some time to expand. I suppose the legal issues that caused Fish's departure were just what the band needed to finally expand their horizons. Seasons End is the more intriguing album of the classic era, and it gives me hope for the albums after this one, even going as far as to potentially ignore the negative reviews.

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