LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC

Wow, this album is hard to get into. If you have listened to In the Wake of Poseidon or In the Court of the Crimson King and want more, don't buy this. If you want to hear some extraordanary, different and demanding music, then buy this. It's not at all the Crimson we have heards before. The similarity is that the music stills walk from mellow to chaotic all time, and now it's not only change between the tracks, it also does several times in the same track. The music feels more minimalistic than before, but at the same time more intense, and there are some almost metal-sounding parts. It is constantly moving, and you never know whats coming up. Not as much mellotron as before, but more electric guitarr, strange percussion and violin.

Larks Tonques in Aspic Part I starts out with a ambient feeling of some experimental noodling. Nothing wrong with that, it makes you on your guard and really fits before whats coming up. The tepo rises a fearful violin warns you, and the track explodes into a majestetic guitar-riff! This is followed by some experimental virtouso guitar and percussion, that adds a very chaotic mood in the song. Then things calm down into a very mellow and slow part, with just some percussion and violin noodling. Finally, the haunting viollin part from the beginning appears again, this time developing into a bass-explosion, and the track is over. A little bit too long mellow parts, but thats a minor problem. 8/10

Book Of Saturday is the only really non-experimental song here. It's a short, mellow song with lyrics, and a nice song after the extreme titel track. 8/10

Exiles is similar to Book of Saturday, but with more instrumentals and lenght in the track. It is very good, but the strange pats with cat-sounds should have been removed or at least shortened. 7/10

Easy Money is another song which begins rather mellow. It features some nice percussion, guitar, bass, mellotron, catchy lyrics and violin, and really explodes to end. Althrough a little bit too long, maybe? A minor problem as before. 9/10

The talking drum is a long build up, named after the drum that appears in the beginning. The song increases strange all the time, with more instrumentals added and also a higher volume. Sadly the drum is so weak, it just dissapears in all instrumentals after a while. 8/10

Larks Tonques in Aspic, part II. One of the hardest and most effectful songs by King Crimson in this era. It has an angry, struggling, but at the same time very purposeful mood. The song is hard and extreme throughout, but like the previous track the power and anger just increases all the time. A lot of guitar and bass, and very disturbing violin parts. The instrumental explotion in the end will make the whole room vibrating. 10/10

This is such a hard work to rate, when it is so demanding of the listener. The hard part is that the album either is veery calm, or veery chaotic and angry. Buy it if you are a patient person, completely open for something new. Even so the album maybe will sound awful at first, but listen to is some more, I promise that it grows on you.