RED

Oh yes, this is definitely a frightening album in King Crimson's grand scheme. Frightening not only for the mass discarding of lush classic prog, but for the wholehearted acceptance of this dreary and driving atonal bleakness that permeates each track. This is KC on anger and depression. The themes evoked are both scary and dark, as the tone goes with haunting prevalence.

We begin with the title track, a fiery and dissonant instrumental. The note progression is fantastic, and the band crafts a very violent and enthralling track. The guitars are dirty and aggressive, while the entire band wraps itself around one main theme and chokes it venomously. Fallen Angel is still melancholy and downtrodden, but in a much more build and release fashion. The beginning is almost calming and Wetton has a fitting voice to the music.

This song is special, though. I consider it the album's peak, for many reasons. It is one of the most diverse songs to be found herein, and it also has one of the most terrifying segments heard iin all music. The sheer horror and emotional jarring the dissonant solo evokes is staggering. It takes my breath away each tie I hear it, and Wetton is vocally drifting with haunting lines of "Fallen angel". King Crimson have easily surpassed most of their previous material with this single song.

One More Red Nightmare is the closest to a "standard" rock song. The catchy jazz trotting leads to quite the enjoyable experience, and the quality never sags. I must take care to make special mention of the rhythm section, here. It is unconventional and erratic, in the best way. Highly original and musically demanding.

It seems that each King Crimson album has included a controversial song on each of their most lauded albums. This one takes the form of Providence. I can see why some would find this song to be of lesser quality than the previous tracks, but really, it preserves the atmosphere, is highly adventurous, and doesn't really give me the feeling of weakness or shallow nature.

In closing, we are treated to another album masterpiece in Starless. It recalls themes from the previous album, slightly. But in general, it is a highly original and serenely dark affair. The winding epic goes through calm and anger, and winds along beautifully for the 12 minutes it occupies.

King Crimson release their arguable masterpiece in one of their most unstable band member moments. Truly a showing of grace under pressure, and we as listeners are graced with a blistering atmosphere that in the short duration, is diverse and violently brooding. A masterpiece.

Best Moment - Fallen Angel/Starless

Worst Moment - Providence, but I like it.

***** Crimson stars

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