INTRODUCTION
 

Hello everyone,

It's that time again! And hasn’t it come round quickly?! (er.. well no we guess not).

Nonetheless, it’s time for our now infamous NEW ALBUM PRE ORDER campaign!

We have a title and we have a track-listing but we're not quite ready to share those with you yet – the album cover is being developed and when we start the build-up proper then we’ll be sharing all this information with you. In the meantime, we need to get the pre-order up and running. Once again, anyone preordering the Deluxe or Ultimate Editions of the album within two months from launch will be thanked, by name, IN THE BOOKLET. Hoorah!!

We are hopeful that the album and artwork will be finished by October and sent off to manufacture. HOWEVER, the album will NOT be released until early next year (date TBC) as manufacturing "lead times” (a long queue caused by current worldwide cardboard and plastic shortages and a scarcity of manufacturing plants) will delay the release. The pre-order will run until we have to start manufacture but we will give you notice of that date when we have it.

We are planning to play one or possibly two new tracks on our ‘Light At The End of The Tunnel Tour' of the UK (not the album name!) in November. Tickets are still available to buy.

CLICK HERE FOR TOUR DATES

We know that these shows are going to be amazing events. We have all waited so long.

We are creating exclusive Special Editions of Album 20 which are available to PRE-ORDER directly from us through marillion.com

They can all be viewed here.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

The pre-order is being run in conjunction with Ear Music and Townsend Records.

There is hopefully something for everyone in all different price-ranges, shapes and sizes.

If you have any QUESTIONS, please, join the discussions on the Marillion Facebook page for Album 20 (which we constantly monitor) if you have any outstanding queries.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE FACEBOOK PAGE

We're very excited about this album - it's taken us some years to ensure it's something special and we think it is. We hope over the next few weeks and months to thank you for your loyalty - we will try and keep you in the loop regularly with updates; both by email and at our dedicated You Tube channel.

It’s on its way...

h, Ian, Mark, Pete, Steve

 
LATEST NEWS - UPDATED 22nd SEPTEMBER 2021
 
22nd SEPTEMBER 2021 - AN HOUR BEFORE IT'S DARK SONG TITLES

Hello cats and dogs,

This is a quick reminder that if you would like your name to appear in our “Thanks” list in the "An Hour Before It's Dark” album package, you have until September 30th to pre-order, beyond which it won’t appear. Get your skates on! We hope to then be able to collate all the thousands of names and send them off to the designer ready for insertion into the artwork. The actual pre-order itself has a few more weeks left and we will give you notice when we are going to close it. We are so grateful to each and every one of you for your faith and continued support.

The recording process is now complete and Michael Hunter will commence mixing any day now. As a collection of songs it’s sounding very strong. All five of us are well-excited at what we’ve created and Lucy reckons “it beats FEAR”. Praise indeed. We don't have a 100% confirmed running order yet but we are happy to let you know the song titles which are:

1. Be Hard On Yourself
2. Murder Machines
3. Reprogram the Gene
4. The Crow and the Nightingale
5. Sierra Leone
6. Care

We will be playing 'Be Hard On Yourself' on the UK Tour and will be sending everyone who has pre-ordered the album an MP3 of the song before the tour starts.

Despite the album being finished in October, it's impossible to release this year so we’re looking at early 2022. We wish we could release the album sooner but, owing to a worldwide shortage of cardboard and a scarcity of vinyl manufacturing facilities, the manufacture of physical records is currently taking many months! All artists are facing the same reality. We'll be as quick as we can.

It will be worth the wait...

h, Ian, Mark, Pete and Steve

 
20th SEPTEMBER 2021 - AN HOUR BEFORE IT'S DARK UPDATE

Hello everyone,

"An Hour Before it’s Dark"

It would seem that much of the foreboding in our last album FEAR turned out to be well-founded...

For this one I set out to avoid writing about the pandemic at all costs because I thought every other artist would be. When push came to shove though, it was impossible not to reference it. It has become part of life so there’s no ignoring it creatively just as there’s no ignoring it, period.

However, the pandemic isn’t our biggest problem, the mass extinction and the climate-gone-mad is where we really need to blow our economies - personal and national.

We’re going to have to save the earth whether we’re hippies or billionaires. That’s got to be our number 1 priority.

We’re gonna have to be hard on ourselves. It was this thought that shaped the overall lyrical arc of this album. Despite the bleak concept, musically it’s rich and perhaps our most upbeat work for many years.

(There is also a love song to Leonard Cohen and a song about a big diamond).

h

 
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - UPDATED 28th SEPTEMBER 2021
 
 
ORDERING ISSUES
 
WHEN I TRY TO ORDER I GET AN ERROR MESSAGE - "Townsend Music doesn't ship to this location. Please use a different address"
 

If you are having this problem then please make sure you are registered on the shop site using the below link and have logged in via the account link at the top of the shop page or click here

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU CANNOT LOG IN TO THE PRE-ORDER SITE USING YOUR RACKET / MARILLION.COM PASSWORD OR ID.

You should then be able to place an order. If this is not the case then please contact our partners Townsend Customer Support via email - customerservice@tmstor.es

 
HOW CAN I UPDATE MY ORDER?
 

Please contact our partners Townsend Customer Support via email - customerservice@tmstor.es

 
I HAVEN'T RECEIVED AN ORDER CONFIRMATION EMAIL?
 

Please check your email spam folders etc and if you have still not received a confirmation then please contact our partners Townsend Customer Support via email - customerservice@tmstor.es

 
I AM PRE-ORDERING FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION, WHY IS VAT INCLUDED / NOT INCLUDED IN MY ORDER TOTAL?
 

As per July 1st there are new regulations for goods being sent to the European Union (EU) from non-EU countries. Any order under 150 euros (before VAT) will be charged VAT at checkout and will not be subject to customs fees, handling charges etc on arrival. Any order over 150 euros (before VAT) will NOT be charged VAT at checkout and customers will be responsible for any additional fees on receipt.

PLEASE NOTE THIS ONLY APPLIES TO ORDERS FROM EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES.

 
WHEN WILL MY ORDER SHIP?
 

We expect the album to be released on March 4, 2022.

 
FORMATS
 
WILL MY PRE-ORDER INCLUDE A DOWNLOAD / DOWNLOAD CODE FOR THE ALBUM?
 

We are pleased to announce that we will be sending everyone who pre-orders the album an mp3 of "Be Hard On Yourself" before the start of the UK tour.

All pre-orders for a physical version of the album (Ultimate Box, Deluxe CD, Standard CD, Blu-Ray or Cassette will also receive a link to download the album on the day of release. The format of this download is to be confirmed but we expect it to be available as an mp3, WAV (Standard Resolution) or FLAC (Standard Resolution) file.

 
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE DVD & BLU-RAY / ULTIMATE EDITION BLU-RAY?
 

The Deluxe DVD will contain a 48khz 16 bit WAV stereo mix, DTS 754 surround mix and video content including (but not limited to) a documentary on the making of the album and a performance of Murder Machines from Real World Studios.

The Standalone Blu-Ray will contain a 96khz 24 bit WAV Hi-Res stereo mix, DTS Master Audio surround mix and HD video content including (but not limited to) a documentary on the making of the album and a performance of Murder Machines from Real World Studios.

The Ultimate Box Blu-ray will contain a 96khz 24 bit WAV Hi-Res stereo mix, DTS Master Audio surround mix of the album and HD video content including (but not limited to) a documentary on the making of the album and a performance of Murder Machines from Real World Studios. Also contains exclusive video content not available in the Deluxe DVD or standalone Blu-ray.

 
WHAT FORMAT WILL THE AUDIO ON THE DVD / BLU-RAY BE?
 

DVD audio will be 48khz 16 bit WAV for the stereo mix and DTS 754 for the 5.1 mix.

Bluray audio will be 96khz 24 bit WAV for the stereo mix and DTS Master Audio for the 5.1 mix.

 
WHAT FORMAT WILL THE AUDIO ON THE DOWNLOADS BE?
 

The Download version of the album will be available in mp3, WAV (Standard Resolution) and FLAC (Standard Resolution).

 
WHY IS THE DELUXE EDITION NOT A CD / BLU-RAY?
 

We are unable to produce both options and bearing in mind that everyone with a Blu-ray player can watch a DVD we have decided to go with this option and also produce a seperate stand alone Blu-Ray. The standalone Blu-Ray is available as a discounted bundle with other items.

 
WHY COULDN'T I HAVE MY NAME IN THE STANDARD CD / VINYL / CASSETTE / DOWNLOAD EDITIONS?
 

Due to format sizing restrictions, and as per previous campaigns, we were only able to offer the "name in the booklet" option with the Deluxe CD or Ultimate Edition of the album.

 
ALBUM TITLE COMPETITION
 

The album title competition has now closed and the winner has been notified.

Thanks to everyone who took part.