BRAVE

So many people has said that this is just "another looong album". i differ. Actually i think this is one of the most impresive and beautiful records of all prog music. Every time i hear it is a journey; so... lets ride!. From the oppening cut, BRIDGE, MARILLION is facing a very serious matturity, a complex mix of sounds evoking the city, mostly a river, followed by the answer to that sounds and moment, the first impression of "what's happening?" with LIVING WITH THE BIG LIE. After that the record shows a little more complex ambients, and more important, a full palette of textures leding you to a "unreal" silence. The "happy" moment comes with HARD AS LOVE, a very terrible description of events that ends with HOLLOW MAN, and PAPER LIES. Actually the greatest moment is filled with ALONE AGAIN IN THE LAP OF LUXURY, but the key moment relies in THE GREAT ESCAPE. If you are fan enough or at least interested enough in this record, you'll find out that MADE AGIN, the last song, is a sort of redemption song for the record, giving hope to the desperate beacuse the "real" finale is in the bonus record with THE GEAT ESCAPE (SPIRAL REMAKE), that shows the unhappy ending with a lot of sad textures and the sound of water. Well, if you don't hear the record (actually in any case) you won't be able to feel the real thing, is obviuos, sometimes this kind of music is somehow strange and "pop" if you like to label it, but is pure fine expression of music. A must have.