WELTSCHMERZ

Upon rating this a "4" I want to say that it is slightly less than a "4", just like Consequences is a bit more than a "4". Consequences, as a Fish album, finally contained material on a par with material found in the early Marillion albums for which he is so famous. Weltschmerz, in my mind, contains no such material. The signature songs - Grace of God, Remembrance, Rose, Little Man, and Waverley are all excellent songs, but close to 25 minutes of that material was already released on an EP in 2018, which is bound to disappoint anyone who already has the EP in possession. One commentator pointed out that this album isn't prog, but sort of a prog 2.0; rather one should ask if the shorter tracks are aimed at sort of a "pop 2.0" rather than prog at all. So, consider it a"4" because otherwise it is technically well executed and contains material that you must have if you are a fan of Fish and/or Marillion.