Friday, September 23, 2016

Marillion released FEAR

F.E.A.R. (Fuck Everyone and Run)

Marillion

Released: September 9, 2016

Peak: -- US, 4 UK, -- CN, -- AU

Sales (in millions): --

Genre: neo-progressive rock

Tracks:

Song Title [time] (date of single release)

El Dorado [16:46]
I. Long-Shadows Sun [1:26]
II. The Gold [6:13]
III. Demolished Lives [2:24]
IV. F E A R [4:08]
V. The Grandchildren of Apes [2:35]
Living in F E A R [6:25] (9/21/17, --)
The Leavers [19:08]
I. Wake Up in Music [4:27]
II. The Remainers [1:35]
III. Vapour Trails in the Sky [4:49]
IV. The Jumble of Days [4:20]
V. One Tonight [3:56]
White Paper [7:19]
The New Kings [16:45] (7/7/17, --)
I. Fuck Everyone and Run [4:22]
II. Russia’s Locked Doors [6:25]
III. A Scary Sky [2:34]
IV. Why Is Nothing Ever True? [3:24]
Tomorrow’s New Country [1:47]

All tracks written by Marillion.

Total Running Time: 68:10

The Players:

Steve Hogarth (vocals, percussion)
Steve Rothery (guitar)
Pete Trewavas (bass)
Mark Kelly (keyboards)
Ian Mosley (drums)

Rating:

2.958 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings)

About the Album:

For their 18th studio album, the band felt “they may well have produced their best ever work.” ^AZ The songs do “bear the hallmark of true quality” ^AZ and “Marillion has certainly not mellowed with age.” ^AZ “With FEAR Marillion show that they are as vital and potent as ever. Peerless and, yes, fearless.” ^AZ

“FEAR sees the band taking on the big themes but they do not see it as their place to preach to people.” ^AZ “The job is simple,” says Steve Hogarth. “We use the amazing privilege of having both a platform and an audience to encourage people to look in the mirror and ask themselves the big questions by doing just that ourselves.” ^AZ

The title, while “certainly provocative,” ^AZ is not meant “in anger or with any intention to shock,” says Hogarth. ^WK It is taken from a line in the song New Kings. Hogarth said, “We’ve used FEAR as a title with some relish, but only as it shows that we haven’t shied away, but it’s said with sadness.” ^AZ He said, “I have a feeling that we’re approaching some kind of…irreversible political, financial, humanitarian and environmental storm. I hope that I’m wrong. I hope that my FEAR of what ‘seems’ to be approaching is just that, and not FEAR of what ‘is’ actually about to happen.” ^WK There are two basic impulses behind human behaviour: Love and Fear, and all the good stuff comes from love.” ^AZ

“New Kings” “looks at the ravening beast that modern capitalism seems to have evolved into.” ^AZ An edit of the song was released prior to the album. “El Dorado examines the notions of political entitlement and the modern challenges for the UK.” ^AZ “The Leavers examines the impact of a transient life on the road for those constantly waving goodbye.” ^AZ

Marillion “are widely considered crowdfunding pioneers” ^WK because of their habit of appealing to fans to finance the making of their albums by pre-ordering them before the albums have even been made. For FEAR, the band joined the online direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic. They launched the campaign on September 1, 2015, and in a month had pledges from fans in 67 countries to buy the album. This allowed the band to tour South America and North America in 2016.