Customer Reviews

This Strange Engine

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an album that never seems to get rated very highly by Marillion fans, but it is one of my personal favorites from the band. To me it is a great mix of the more pop / commercial oriented side of the band with their progressive rock roots. The album features a significant amount of more acoustic oriented tracks with the lone rocker being "An Accidental Man" and the closing section to the title track. A lot of Marillion fans don't seem to like this one due to 6 songs that lean more on the pop side than the progressive rock side. But, I think these are all great well written songs with "Man Of A Thousand Faces", and "80 Days" especially standing out. The two proggier pieces are both winners too. "Estonia" is a haunting brooding track that was inspired by a car ferry sinking that occurred off the coast of Estonia and killed hundreds of people. The song is both tragic and inspirational at the same time. The title track "This Strange Engine" is a 15 minute epic that ranks right up there with Marillion's best. Steve Hogarth's vocals are incredible as he screams the finale. Steve Rothery throws in lots of soulful guitar and Mark Kelley's keyboards anchor the piece. It is really one of my all time favorite Marillion tracks. Opinions seem to vary greatly on this album, but I think it is a great release.

just an excellent album. It does have some songs driven by the acoustic guitar but that's a good thing in this case because it works so well with the songs. It also has the best marillion song as far as I'm concerned,"this strange engine", an epic 10+ minute track that has every element that makes marillion music so special. Pick this one up, you won't regret it.

This album is a little more mellow than other marillion albums, and the acoustic guitar is more abundment. The songs Man Of a Thousand Faces, Eighty Days, Estonia, Memories of water, definitely have acoustic guitars as a main instrument of choice here. The song One Fne Day is a bluesy song and An Accidental Man is the sole rocker onthe album. The album moves nicely. Good songs throughout but if you are going to buy your first Marillion album, get Marbles or Afraid of Sunlight.