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Rating: The year is 2003: music seems totally ruined, with Hip-Hop rhythms and "tunz-tunz-tunz." At this time, music is just a useless commercial tool, no longer a form of art. Only one band reflects this last idea: King Crimson, who release their latest work: "The Power To Believe," the Masterpiece of the 21st century.
The lineup consists of: the usual Fripp and Belew, plus Gunn and Mastellotto, who have replaced Levin and Bruford, obviously much more talented and charismatic. Until now, the group has faced great disappointment from fans with "Thrak" and "The Construktion of Light," but with "The Power to Believe," they've immediately bounced back.
Belew's vocals in "The Power to Believe I: A Cappella" introduce the most beautiful track on the album: "Level Five," a very powerful track, both in strength and impact, with Mastellotto giving his best; the piece starts with a violent start, then progresses to incredible evolutions. The waters calm with "Eyes Wide Open," a calm and peaceful piece, perfect as an imaginary single from King Crimson. It continues with "Elektrik," a track very similar to "Level Five," but more varied and elaborate, with a medieval-style start: in fact, Belew makes his guitar sound like winds. With "Facts Of Life," despite its calm intro, the initial atmosphere returns, very violent, with a metal-style interlude; well, this violence is strange, because the title means, more or less: "sexual life." But that's another story...
Then the second part of "The Power To Believe": an ambient track, with tribal and Arabic sounds. It is followed by another "atmospheric" piece: "Dangerous Curves," or "The Talking Drum" in a modern version; in fact, the track develops entirely with a continuous crescendo, almost to the rhythm of Disco Music, until the final explosion. It continues with "Happy with what you have to be happy with(!)," in my opinion the most aggressive and metal track on the album, another imaginary single from King Crimson. It ends with the last "The Power to Believe III & IV: Coda"; the first is almost violent, roughly echoing the sounds of "Level Five," while the second is a simple closure of Soundscapes, with Belew closing the album...
The album leaves a great satisfaction at the end of the listening. A true masterpiece... Because, besides being well-crafted, it perfectly ties together many genres, like Metal, ambient, and especially avant-garde.
But now I ask myself a question, which I beg you to answer: "Is this the classic swan song of King Crimson, or the continuation of a glorious career?"
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Other reviews
By 47
"A pleasant and almost never heavy work, the experimentation is almost never self-indulgent or so heavy as to undermine the musicality of the work."
"A beautiful album also because it is inscrutable to the modern music scene, which thrives on grandiose neglect of detail, which is instead the main strength of this latest effort by the greatest prog band of all time."
By March Horses
Robert Fripp and his genius remain dazzled by the heaviness of the distortions, the crazed synthesizers, the industrial-electronic instrumentation.
The King we always knew is missing, failing in both areas with this work, which ends up being manneristic, inconclusive, unfocused.
By JonnyORiley87
One of the best Rock albums of the early 2000s, also proving the famous saying 'old hen makes good broth' to be true!
The beautiful riff and sharp solo battle between Belew and Fripp, with no holds barred.
