King Crimson – Power To Believe, The (Music CD)

King Crimson – Power To Believe, The (Music CD)
King Crimson guitarist/founder Robert Fripp’s famous quote that “King Crimson is a way of doing things” has seldom seemed truer than on THE POWER TO BELIEVE. The group’s second studio album as a quartet in the wake of old hands Tony Levin and Bill Bruford’s departure fits fully into the ever-shifting but consistently regenerative Crimson continuum. “Level Five” and the multi-part title track are pounding, counterpoint-filled tunes that hark back to Crimson’s oft-revisited touchstone “Larks Tongues in Aspic.”
Along the way, Fripp, Adrian Belew and company also manage to venture more fully than ever into the Balinese Gamelan sound they first began exploring on 1981’s DISCIPLINE, and drummer Pat Mastelloto throws in some electronic flavors that nod to drum-and-bass and garage beats. The dark, intense angularity that is a Crimson trademark is offset by a couple of ethereal, ambient electronic soundscapes, but there’s plenty of hard-prog thrashing for those who were turned on to the band by their tour with heavy rockers Tool. And naturally, there’s plenty of intricate musical invention for the longtime fans who expect nothing less.