Season's End Port Orchard WA

Season's End

Marillion

Sanctuary Records, 1989

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/07/2001

1989 marked a difficult year for the band Marillion. Well, maybedifficult isn't the correct word. After all, they had weathered thestorm of separating from their frontman/singer Fish... the questionwas, could the band survive without him? More importantly, wouldMarillion's fans accept the new singer, whoever the bandselected?

The selection of Steve Hogarth might have been a littlestartling to some people. Fish had been very theatric in his ownways; Hogarth seemed content to let the music speak for itself, andhe was just the mouthpiece for that music. Needless to say, thecombination of Hogarth with the remaining members of Marillion wasas natural as eggs with ham, and the fans welcomed Hogarth withopen arms.

Seasons End, the first outing with Hogarth as lead vocalist,showed that not only could Marillion survive without the specter ofFish, but they could also thrive. If anything, Hogarth's vocalstyle helped to draw people's attention to the music - and howbeautiful it had been all along. (This isn't meant as a slamagainst Fish; if you've read any of the previous reviews, you'llknow I liked his style of singing as well.)

The 1997 re-issue of this album, like all of Marillion'sreleases to that point, includes a bonus disc of material - whichwe'll get to soon enough. For now, let's focus on the album proper- and what an album it was! Radio might not have been looking atMarillion in terms of airplay anymore, but the band proved that noless than four of these tracks could easily have been the next"Kayleigh". Why Marillion never reached that level of fame withthis release, I don't know.