"Not so strange."
"Coming down" from Afraid of Sunlight, one of my favorite all-time albums, This Strange Engine is good, but leaves a bit to be desired. Songs are quieter, often less ambitious and diverse, and the album misses an element of cohesion found in Brave and Afraid of Sunlight. The epic title track is missing an integral musical theme to hold it together. This is no Afraid of Sunlight.
Given time, I realized that it didn't matter. There's some great work here, some of the band's best writing, I'd say. "Man of a Thousand Faces" is one of their best album openers ever, I think -- quite simply a GREAT song. Driven by acoustic guitar and piano flourishes, think "King of Sunset Town" with acoustic guitars and you're close. Actually, Rothery uses lots of acoustic on this album. "80 Days" and "Estonia" are wonderful songs both anchored in acoustic guitar melodies.
The title track in particular is totally beautiful. Quite simply, it is a progressive songwriting showcase of huge proportions, and certainly one of my favorites of theirs. Rothery's slow, sparkling guitar solo near the end is gorgeous, with sonic grandiosity and innovative arrangements building up to it. The song reads in at a little over 30 minutes, but in reality there is only about 16 minutes of music. This is followed by a long moment of silence before some piano chords chime in and there's some creepy laughter. Did they think it was funny tricking us like that? It was mean, very mean! That's the most progressive thing on the album, although "Estonia" is fairly reminiscent of the "classic" Marillion sound, as well.
I always find myself liking songs no one else enjoys. "Memory of Water" is a spooky, haunting arrangement where Hogarth's voice is the main instrument, supported by quiet synthed violin and what might be cello and some flute. There's also some, uh, provocative lyrics in the form of, "Your taste is blood and ecstasy | But I must drink you all alone." I have mixed feelings about some of the other work, though. "One Fine Day" has an overly pushy guitar riff for a song with those quiet vocal melodies and rosy lyrics. "The Accidental Man" is pretty good, but "Hope for the Future" is too unlike anything they've ever done for me to appreciate -- it just doesn't fit. The refrain "Carrying a message" is overused and overall the music sounds like it belongs on someone else's record.
So it's an album of peaks and valleys, but those peaks are certainly some of their best moments.
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