ANORAKNOPHOBIA

You get the feeling that this is the album that MARILLION made to distance themselves from the prog genre. Incorporating Rap, electronics and Pop to make commercial sounding songs will tend to give that impression. Still out of the eight tracks I really like half of them.

"Between You And Me" is a good opening track that is fun, energetic and catchy. I like the line "Today ! I saw music in the sky". "Quartz" has some good bass driven verses that are almost funky. Spacey synths arrive 3 1/2 minutes in.The song gets heavier a minute later as Hogarth raps while Rothery plays a mournful melody. It turns mellow quickly before the heaviness returns. "Map Of The World" is a let down after two strong songs.This one is just too poppy.

"When I Meet God" I can take or leave. The organ 7 minutes in is a nice touch, but overall i'm not a fan of this tune. "The Fruit Of The Wild Rose" and "Seperated Out" both continue the disappointment for me. The latter song sounds like U2. The last two songs on the album along with the first two are really good though."This Is The 21st Century" is my favourite song on the record. It opens with Eastern sounds and I really like the spacey chorus. "If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Uphill" is a bombastic song with passionate vocals. Rothery and Hogarth really standout on this track. There is a spacey interlude after 5 minutes.

I was more impressed with "Marillion.Com" then I was with this one, and I would put this on a par with "This Strange Engine".