David Cross, violinist of King Crimson
4
By workshop
This CD is by virtuoso prog rock violinist David Cross, formerly a collaborator of Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford in the progressive rock group King Crimson... notably on Crimson's ground-breaking art-metal album Red, which still influences bands like Radiohead, Tool, System of a Down and others.
Another review helpfully mentions a group of English styles or bands. What's amusing about that is that Cross and King Crimson are their contemporaries, or were themselves the influence on those later groups.
On Closer Than Skin, Cross and his group take an era or style from the King Crimson book and go further with it. Fans of Tool and similar prog-metal will appreciate this; it's a must for Krimson fans who thought that the musical ideas on Red deserved another album. There's only one misfire on this disc; the last track Anybody. The other tracks are wild, powerful progressive rock, with Cross and his guitarist Paul Clark shredding and dueling with demonic glee.