Marillion - Fugazi

Marillion didn't take long to produce a follow-up to their first album "Script for a Jester's Tear". The result is a much more sinister and creepy work. With his verbal-diarrhoea lyrics and theatrical vocal mannerisms, Fish coats this album with a shower of bile and venom. Their music is also more colourful than last time, breaking free of their Genesis-based origins with many more individual touches. Although distinctly early 80's, Mark Kelly's keyboard work is particularly varied here, as are Steve Rothery's crisply smooth guitar solos.

New drummer Ian Mosley also makes a mark, starting the album off strongly with the powerful tribal introduction to the military "Assassing". After a brief, slightly daft single "Punch and Judy", we have the plodding but occasionally attractive ballad "Jigsaw". The exotic "Emerald Lies" shows off their new musical confidence, breathlessly changing between lots of moods in a short time. It reaches the height of creepiness on "She Chameleon", thick with unsubtle imagery of sexual predation. "Incubus" sees Fish combining the theme of sexual voyeurism with his fascination with theatre and acting, followed by an anthemic, obscurely political finale.

Probably too mannered and hammy for most people's taste, but "Fugazi" showed a talented band growing in confidence.

April 27, 2004

7 out of 10

previous | next