Marillion – An Hour Before It’s Dark (Digipack CD & DVD)

An Hour Before It’s Dark isn’t a concept album but there’s darkness and a running theme of doom and gloom that unites it, some of it due to the lockdown world from which it emerged, in part due to the impending destruction of the planet. Everything is on an epic scale, starting with Be Hard On Yourself, a choral, near-orchestral intro leading into a seeming appeal for human restraint, right through to the finale, Care, the title track in all but name, a soothing 15-minute opus that likens the world to a patient in care, living from day to day “an hour before it’s dark”. In between we get Reprogram The Gene, a love song for our world, and the planet-stripping sorrow of Murder Machines, Hogarth’s bleak lyrics and angst-ridden vocals echoing the rest of the album, equally. Marillion have always gone their own way. This pre-apocalyptic affair sees them dealing with difficult times in their own curiously poetic fashion.

Digipack CD.

Track List