KING CRIMSON — The Power To Believe (review)

KING CRIMSON — The Power To Believe album cover Album · 2003 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
Latest Crimson album (so far), and a much more accessible (less brutal) one than 00's ConstruKction, Power To Believe is what I would call a positive (or at least hopeful) album. Unfortunately for me (and probably not just me) the line-up remained the same, even after five years between the two albums. Like Thrakk, it came preceded by a lighter work-in-progress with the Level Five maxi-EP (Vroom in Thrakk's case), which had given us some foretaste of things to come, so unlike ConstruKction, TPTB was no deception. Coming with the now-usual paintings gracing the KC Collector's Club and DGM releases, which are normally unrelated to the album's and track's content, showing a strong constrast between the album's positive feel. Some have compared the four small title tracks to Poseidon's three Peace theme, and they might have a point, although this is about as far the Poseidon comparison would go. Right after the aCapella version comes the monster Level Five, taking us back Red, but a real new melody is Eyes Wide Open (one of the album's highlight) that Crimson had us not used to anymore. Elektrik and Facts Of Life are a bit of a return to the 80's Levin-era, but I find it more organic.. less 80's-ish. The second instalment of the title track is probably my fave of the four, the instrumental version with some rare Wam percussion instrument. The slowly crescendoing Dangerous Curve is one of those sonic novelties that are likely to shock some long-standing Crimson fan, but it is one of Metselotto's better performances on this album. In some ways, the middle and closing section remind me of the start of Genesis' Watcher Of The Skies.

Outside the almost-violent Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With, a weird yelling track where Belew obviously dares his strangest vocals, most of this album had glided fairly smoothly, and it's not the last two parts of the title track that will change the positive feel this album gives me, the third being another instrumental beauty, while Coda is a return to the a capella version opening the album accompanied with some aerial and ambient synths layers.

Although it would've been very difficult for Crimson to do a worse album than the previous TCOL (and even then it's far from catastrophic), TPTB is a healthy return to a more progressive (in the sense of going forward) music. Uuuuhh!!!..... Robert? If you want to do more of this type... please feel free
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