THE CONSTRUKCTION OF LIGHT

This is widely considered King Crimson's "worst" album. However, anyone who doesn't understand this album doesn't understand what King Crimson has always been about. They've never stayed in the same place for very long, and they're known for radically changing musical directions. They're never going back to doing Symphonic Prog, so there is no reason to compare that era of KC to this one. If anything, this music has more in common with RIO/Avant-Prog acts such as Mr. Bungle (with the heaviness of Mike Patton's other projects Faith No More and Fantomas).

ProzaKc Blues opens the album with some very bizarre vocals, disjointed rythms, and distorted blues riffs. Right away you can tell this isn't the same Crimson that released In The Court 30 years ago. Belew does his best Tom Waits impression using some sort of voice distorter. Lyrically, this is probably Belew at his best, returning to his more abstract sarcastic style that could found in Discipline.

The opener is probably the most straightforward song on the album, what follows is a series of mostly instrumental improvisations. The musicianship is excellent. Mastello and Gunn, who until now were in the shadow of Bruford and Levin, finally get a chance to show off their abilties. While they may not share the legendary status of their predecesors, they are worthy replacements.

FraKctured and LTIA Part IV are far from "rehashes" of previous songs. The only thing they really have in common with Fracture and LTIA are the titles and a few familiar riffs. Everything else about these songs is completely changed, distorted, and disoriented. Crimson takes the basic structures of these classic KC songs and makes them into something completely new and unrecognizable.

In previous albums, Fripp took more of a supporting role, holding everything together with a few riffs while the other members went wild. On this album, Fripp finally gets a chance to show off his true skills, performing some of his best and most original solos.

This may be King Crimson's most challenging album, but it is far from their worst. Anyone who truly appreciates Fripp and the band should at least give this album a chance.