Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Marillion
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2016
Duration: 68:03
Rating: 4.5/5
English prog rock champions Marillion have made their eighteenth studio album with »Fuck Everyone and Run (FEAR)«, and after a long while it’s a concept record again, one with quite a few things in common with their earlier concept masterpiece »Brave« (1994), above all the many jabs at society. Marillion have always had a socially critical streak running through their songs, but on »Fuck Everyone and Run (FEAR)« the lashing out at the unjust ‘brave new world’ that dominates the entire album has jumped to a whole new level. Steve ‘Mr. H’ Hogarth, commenting on the rather unusual album title for Marillion, said it wasn’t picked out of anger or to shock, as most people might assume, but is the central message of the lyrics to the song »The New Kings«, which reflects sadness and resignation over where England is currently headed, and with it most of the rest of the world. There’s plenty of fury here too, aimed at the key role of the USA in the modern spread of neoliberal chaos, wars, and the ever worsening social, ecological, moral, and spiritual decay of human society.
Marillion have never voiced this much rage at the current social climate as they do in the lyrics of »Fuck Everyone and Run (FEAR)«, and that’s exactly as it should be, because things are getting more and more unbearable, and the fear of the approaching storm, which might bring positive change or the total destruction of a sick humanity, keeps growing. Back on »Brave« Marillion were already firing every cannon they had at an increasingly individualistic, materialistic, and dehumanized society. This time they really don’t hold back with the broadsides against oligarchy, plutocracy, yuppies, and extremists of all stripes who live off human fear. The saddest part of it all is that in the twenty-two years since »Brave« came out, nothing has changed for the better, and if anything things have gotten even worse.
The album is split into three huge suites and three shorter, equally interconnected pieces, which more than successfully tie the concept into a thoroughly convincing whole, with a complex sonic character and gut-punching messages. Only a handful of modern prog rock bands can boast lyrics this good. The suites »El Dorado«, »The Leavers«, and »The New Kings« are divided into multiple sections and rank among the longest pieces in their colorful career, although the longest Marillion epic is still »Grendel« from the early Fish era. Like most albums from the Hogarth years, it takes at least a few spins before the deep social messages and complex sonic details and arrangements ‘settle’ in your ears and start to form a thrilling experience. On a casual listen it seems like a distinctly meditative album, with a lot of room given especially to keyboardist Mark Kelly, while guitar maestro Steve Rothery doesn’t hold back on his trademark melancholic solos either, but that’s not the whole story, since »FEAR« often ‘erupts’ in bursts of anger. The atmosphere of most pieces is melancholic and dark, with the occasional bright shade.
»FEAR« opens with the highly ambitious and complex suite »El Dorado«, split into five sections, while the lyrics warn about the xenophobia and hatred that modern refugees from Africa and the Middle East mostly face as they flee war zones and socially unstable regions for the so-called ‘promised lands’ of the EU. Instead of asking itself about the real causes of these people’s plight (among other things Europe’s blind support for American ‘crusader’ wars in the Middle East, closely tied to the oil and arms lobbies), European society would rather follow, naively and in a panic, corrupt politicians who skillfully stoke and spread a general fear of terrorism. All the while they keep deftly steering the public’s attention away from plenty of homegrown problems, like the worst social inequality in history, and at the same time they encourage the rise of fascism across the old continent, which is slowly taking power in more and more European countries.
That’s what »El Dorado« is about, and its message is quite reminiscent of the equally socially critical masterpiece »Gaza« from the previous album. After the acoustic-leaning opening section, »Long-Shadowed Sun«, comes the transition into »The Gold«, where calm and angry moments trade off nicely. The core of the suite is the section »Living in FEAR«, where Marillion slowly and rather unexpectedly build a melodic chorus and offer a broader take on the fear that’s becoming ever more entrenched in modern human society. The dramatic ambience reaches its climax with a tasteful guitar solo, while Hogarth’s chorus is laced in all the right places with backing vocal harmonies, which, as usual, come mainly from bassist Pete Trewavas, with the occasional help from Rothery, Kelly, and drummer Ian Mosley.
The five-section suite »The Leavers« is the most extensive and, musically, the most ambitious piece on the album, where Marillion wow us with rich harmonies, unexpected tempo shifts, and an outstanding vocal performance from Mr. H. For a change, his lyrics here aren’t socially critical, but are about the band itself, that is Marillion, and their touring around the world, a theme they’ve already tackled on earlier albums, for example in the song »Montreal«. The atmosphere is a bit brighter this time, while Rothery weaves melancholic guitar passages in his own refined way and Kelly lays down wonderfully dynamic keyboard textures, which come into their own in the middle of the longer instrumental sections. The vocal harmonies flowing over the melancholic guitar passages in the closing part make for a phenomenal, almost epic atmosphere.
The deeply melancholic »White Paper« is the second of two pieces on »FEAR« without a political message. This time it’s a cynical look at ‘true’ love in the modern corporate world and the ever faster dying of that ideal amid rampant digitalization, as relationships become distinctly superficial and artificial. Kelly once again plays around with some clever sonic textures, while Hogarth shines yet again with an incredibly heartfelt vocal performance.
The third suite on the album, the dystopia-spiced »The New Kings«, split into four sections, goes hard at the plutocracy and oligarchy of the modern (let’s hope final) stage of neoliberal capitalism, where two worlds exist: one for the rich and privileged, who own 99% of the world’s wealth, and another for everyone who obediently serves them and is ready to swallow all their ‘crap’, along with all the lies they spread through their media, thereby keeping the existing social order alive.
The orchestrally backed intro ties together H’s dramatic vocal performance, which kicks into ‘higher gear’, and subtle guitar passages that chill the blood in your veins. There are quite a few ambient moments like this on this wonderful suite, with plenty of ‘food for thought’ in the lyrics. One of the ambient climaxes is definitely the section »Russia’s Locked Doors« with its ethereal vocal harmonies, where the lyrics point out how the modern plutocracy, led by the USA, stages a new cold war whenever it brings them some political and economic benefit. Even though Marillion say in the lyrics that these social parasites are simply ‘too big to fail’, hope still dies last. At the end comes the most dramatic section on the whole album, titled »Why Is Nothing Ever True?« The composition »Tomorrow’s New Country«, less than two minutes long and sitting right at the end of the album, was originally meant to be the closing section of the suite »The Leavers«, but because of its bright, ambient nature they decided to move it to the last spot, so that the concept, after the thoroughly dark and dystopian »The New Kings«, still ends on a positive note, as a ray of hope shines into the gloom of present-day conditions and bleak visions of the future.
The dystopian nature of »Fuck Everyone and Run (FEAR)« leaves a deep impression from the very first spins of the new Marillion album, but it only truly takes hold once you give it the time for deeper listening, just as we’ve come to expect from ‘Britain’s best-kept musical secret’ for years now. With »FEAR« Marillion have made an album that stands shoulder to shoulder with its outstanding predecessor »Sounds That Can’t Be Made« (2012), which was certainly no easy feat, since that masterpiece was one of the best albums of their career. At the same time, »FEAR«, already one of the top contenders for the best prog rock album of 2016, is also one of their most demanding listens, especially for those who don’t dig into lyrics or don’t have the patience for longer, meditative, and at the same time complex ambient sections. Very few rock bands today, especially ones with such an established name, dare to attack modern society as openly and as intelligently as the quintet from Aylesbury does. Social criticism is something that has always been part of Marillion’s DNA and still links them with neo-prog peers like Arena, IQ, Pallas, Pendragon, and Twelfth Night, although musically they haven’t had much in common with those bands for a long time now.
Lineup
Steve Hogarth – vocals, keyboards
Steve Rothery – guitar, backing vocals
Pete Trewavas – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals
Mark Kelly – keyboards, backing vocals
Ian Mosley – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production
Marillion and Mike Hunter
Track list
1. El Dorado (I) Long-Shadowed Sun
2. El Dorado (II) The Gold
3. El Dorado (III) Demolished Lives
4. El Dorado (IV) F E A R
5. El Dorado (V) The Grandchildren of Apes
6. Living in F E A R
7. The Leavers (I) Wake Up In Music
8. The Leavers (II) The Remainers
9. The Leavers (III) Vapour Trails in the Sky
10. The Leavers (IV) The Jumble of Days
11. The Leavers (V) One Tonight
12. White Paper
13. The New Kings (I) F*** Everyone and Run
14. The New Kings (II) Russia’s Locked Doors
15. The New Kings (III) A Scary Sky
16. The New Kings (IV) Why is Nothing Ever True?
17. The Leavers (VI) Tomorrow’s New Country
