RADIATION

After the excellent and different "This Strange Engine", Marillion made another different album, a step further in the rupture of Marillion with its past. Almost anything of the Fish's era is here... "Radiation" is just a rock album, maybe alternative rock album, with some prog elements. The evidence of Radiohead is pretty evident here, but of course, we have to admit that Marillion itself influenced the brit pop and rock with "Brave" and "Afraid of Sunlight"...

But the experiment failed in my opinion... Really, songs like Under the Sun and The Answering Machine is not the thing I hope from a band like Marillion. Rough production and Hogarth's singing, a steril attempt to achieve a more agressive sound... In my opinion, the pure rock tracks by Marillion are not very good, so this album fails in so many moments in my opinion... And the blues experiment of Born to Run is another strange track that doesn't fit with the Marillion's career, and obviously this was not the way to follow... Now she'll never know is beautiful, but a little boring, although Hogarth sings with a lot of passion here.

Best songs: Three Minute Boy (good verses, and great breaking and guitar solo at the end...), These Chains (maybe the best song of the album, with another good guitar solo, but not a classic, of course...), Cathedral Wall (weird track with good keyboard work, with some feeling of desperation, a good one...) and A Few Words for the Dead (not great, but the oriental feeling of the song is pretty original for Marillion, and the final verses are pretty nice too... Maybe not a memorable suite, but a good ending).

Conclusion: a very irregular album, only indicated for fans of the Marillion's Hogarth era... Nevertheless, if you like the alternative rock in the way of Radiohead, maybe you will enjoy this album too.

My rating: **1/2

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