Okay, there's no getting away from it. "Grendel" is Marillion's "Supper's ready". They must have known they were going to face comparisons to the Genesis epic when they wrote this. It's only slightly shorter (just over seventeen minutes compared to "Supper's ready"'s twenty-three), it deals with fantasy themes, it goes through time and signature changes over the length of its run, both songs start gently on acoustic guitar and end on a big triumphant instrumental. They were never going to escape the comparisons to what is considered one of Genesis' finest songs.
That much said, "Grendel" is also a much different animal to the Genesis song. Firstly, it doesn't deal with the esoteric themes that "Supper" does. This is a structured story, based around the ancient English poem "Beowulf", which for the first half of the song talks about the monster Grendel and the horror he wreaks on the countryside, with the second part being the situation as seen through the eyes of Grendel him or herself. Through Grendel's voice Fish rails against religion, human hubris, the destruction of natural resources, man's inhumanity to man, war and the fine line we tread between being human and being animal. He paints Grendel (in the monster's words) as a sympathetic creature, fighting back against what he sees as the injustices mankind have laid at his door.
The music is again mostly dominated by keyboards from Mark Kelly, with some fine guitar work from Steve Rothery, and of course Fish's voice holds court over everything, from his gentler descriptions of the fear of the people --- "They place their faith in oaken doors, cower in candlelight. Their panic seeps through bloodstained floors as Grendel stalks the night." --- to the vitriolic, passionate and vengeful rant of the monster --- "So you thought that you bolts and your locks would keep me out? You shoulda known better after all this time! You're gonna pay in blood for all your vicious slander!" As the song winds on Grendel accuses mankind of hypocrisy (surely not!) --- "When you kill your own you feel no shame; you lust for gold with your sharpened knives. When your hordes are gathered together and your enemies left to rot you pray with your bloodstained hands at the feet of your pagan gods, then you try to place the killer's blade in MY hands!"
Seventeen minutes may seem a lot, and it is, but the beauty of "Grendel" is that it never lags. It goes, as I say, through various changes, and is broken up --- again like "Supper's ready" --- into sections, each of which describe a part of the story. There are some great solos on it, and yes, there is flute, so again Marillion were sort of hoist on their own petard in this respect. Far from staying away from the Genesis model they embraced it, and kind of reaped the rewards of that. But whether you see it as a "Supper's ready" rip-off or not --- and after them there were plenty of bands in the prog scene who wrote twenty-minute or more sagas --- it's still a great song and terrific value for money if you bought the twelve-inch single. Also, "Grendel" was not included on any Marillion album until 1984, and then only live, so if you wanted the song it was imperative you bought the twelve-inch.
And if you were getting into Marillion and prog, you wanted this song!
Next, the debut album and a true album that changed my life.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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