MARILLION On New FEAR Album – “This Is A Sort Of Protest Album… And That’s Never Terribly Palatable”; Video

earMUSIC release the brand new Marillion album, FEAR (Fuck Everyone And Run), today September 23rd. The band discuss the new album in this new video:

The album is available on SuperAudio-CD DigiPak (strictly limited to the first run), CD JewelCase, LP and Digital formats.

This, the band’s eighteenth studio album, features five brand new tracks and the feeling within the band themselves is that they may well have produced their best ever work. Marillion has certainly not mellowed with age; the album artwork shows the acronym FEAR embossed on a gold ingot, and the songs themselves bear the hallmark of true quality.

Whilst the album title itself is certainly provocative, it’s not meant to be offensive. The title itself features as a line in the track “New Kings” and is delivered as a plaintive falsetto. Steve 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. There are two basic impulses behind human behaviour: Love and Fear, and all the good stuff comes from love.”

Tracklisting:

“El Dorado (i) Long – Shadowed Sun”
“El Dorado (ii) The Gold”
“El Dorado (iii) Demolished Lives”
“El Dorado (iv) F E A R”
“El Dorado (v) The Grandchildren Of Apes”
“Living in F E A R”
“The Leavers (i) Wake Up In Music”
“The Leavers (ii) The Remainers”
“The Leavers (iii) Vapour Trails In The Sky”
“The Leavers (iv) The Jumble Of Days”
“The Leavers (v) One Tonight”
“White Paper”
“The New Kings (i) Fuck Everyone And Run”
“The New Kings (ii) Russia’s Locked Doors”
“The New Kings (iii) A Scary Sky”
“The New Kings (iv) Why Is Nothing Ever True?”
“The Leavers (vi) Tomorrow’s New Country”

Interview Series Parts 1 – 3:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

FEAR sees the band taking on the big themes but they do not see it as their place to preach to people. “New Kings” looks at the ravening beast that modern capitalism seems to have evolved into, “El Dorado” examines the notions of political entitlement and the modern challenges for the UK, “The Leavers” examines the impact of a transient life on the road for those constantly waving goodbye.

The job is simple, says 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.”

Buoyed by the feeling that on FEAR they have very much nailed both the music and the lyrics, Marillion are looking forward to touring the new material. The focus has been on bottling that lightning that typifies the creative process, staying away from the safety zone and getting it right.

As Hogarth says, “We don’t know how many more albums we’ll make, or how long we’ll live.  Everything has to be the best it can be.”

Tour dates:

October
21 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
22 – Beverly Hills, CA – Saban Theater
25 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
27 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
28 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
29 – Northfield, OH – Hard Rock Live
31 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall

November
1 – Montreal, QC – Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre
2 – Québec City, QC – L’Impérial Bell
4 – Boston, MA – Royale Boston
5 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
6 – Philadelphia, PA – Keswick Theatre
8 – New York, NY – PlayStation Theater
27 – Aylesbury, UK – Friars Waterside
28 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy
30 – Glasgow, UK – O2 ABC Glasgow

December
1 – Leeds, UK – Becket Student Union Leeds
3 – Cardiff, UK – The Tramshead
4 – London, UK – O2 Forum
6 – Utrecht, Netherlands – MusicCentrum
7 – Utrecht, Netherlands – MusicCentrum
9 – Lille, France – L’Aeronef
10 – Paris, France – Elysee Montmartre
11 – Lyon, France – Radiant-Bellevue