LEVEL FIVE

This live release from the tour King Crimson undertook with Tool - now available a bit more widely thanks to being republished on the Heaven & Earth boxed set - finds the band both salvaging material from the Construction of Light album (the original studio version of which even Robert Fripp has expressed dissatisfaction with) and giving audiences a taste of what would later come on The Power To Believe.

It also happens to delve into some of Crimson's darkest, heaviest material yet, with an oppressive atmosphere more powerful than anything since, perhaps, the absolute darkest moments of the mid-1970s lineup. Perhaps the influence of Tool is to blame; either way, it feels like Crimson here finally break their way into the alt-prog-metal seam they'd glancingly dabbled in on THRAK and had bounced off on The Construction of Light.