The early 2000s were a time of change and self-discovery for Marillion. Following the success of their early crowdfunding experiment on 2001’s Anoraknophobia, they returned to the studio to create Marbles, the ambitious 2004 follow-up that would land them back in the UK Top 10. Marking the record’s 20th anniversary in 2024, Marillion told Prog about their feelings on singer Steve Hogarth’s lyrics of the era – and H himself explained how difficult it was to do what he felt he should be doing for the band.
Marillion’s Marbles not only changed the way the band did business, but there’s an argument to be made that sonically, it was part of the musical arc from 1995’s Afraid Of Sunlight all the way to Sounds That Can’t Be Made (2012), FEAR (2016) and An Hour Before It’s Dark (2022).
