After a deceptively genteel a capella opening, the brutal Level Five, with the band’s patented bulldozer riffing at the forefront, hits the listener square between the ears as King Crimson’s 13th studio album gets underway.
Released in 2003, a tour-hardened Mastelotto, Gunn, Fripp and Belew produce a cohesive and epic-sounding album, a result of the audacious, fearless playing and the interlinking Power To Believe themes percolating throughout. Their control of dynamics and momentum on Dangerous Curves and the extraordinary airburst of revved-up fretboard mayhem Fripp serves up in Facts Of Life is a masterclass in tension and release. Adrian Belew’s thoughtful, Eyes Wide Open, shows Crimson’s tender side is not entirely lost beneath the metallic crunch and crush of some of the band’s heaviest-sounding work to date.
