Originally released in 1997, This Strange Engine was a top 30 hit in the UK and reached #10 in the NL album charts. The album features the singles "Man Of A Thousand Faces" and "80 Days" and shows the band exploring a revitalized sound featuring more acoustic elements.
This Strange Engine is the first of three recordings that Marillion made on a contract with Castle between departing EMI in 1995 and eventually going independent in 2000. Widely regarded as one of the most well-produced Marillion albums, it finds the band in transition, ditching some of the lengthier compositions of previous albums in favor of a more succinct, commercial sound.
