This band was formed by former King Crimson violinist David Cross, and Mr. Robert Fripp himself has spent some good words for his work in this project. This music is not as complex or sophisticated as Cross-Wetton-Bruford-Fripp era King Crimson's, but the overall sound is very good and powerful.
Music contained in this album has to be considered metal, considering the guitar and drum parts, and the choice of a slight overdriven electric violin sound by Cross. Some "crimsonian" stuff is present (listen to Tell Me Your Name), but, as i said before, this music punches with high-gain guitar and deep sounding drums.
To make a comparison with the work Cross made in KC, we can say that here we have a less sophisticated (and very less beautiful) Larks' Tongues In Aspic, with a more modern sound.
I was lucky to here this band live in Rome during the promotional tour of this album and I have to say that the whole band is composed by very talented musicians, their performance was almost perfect and their sound was really good. The best characteristic of Closer Than Skin is that this recording can give you a very realistic proof of the feelings I had while watching them live (i bought also their live CD Alive In The Underworld, but I think that Closer Than Skin is a better proof of their power).
To give a numerical mark to this work I say 6.5 out of 10, just because not all tracks are on the same level, but I assure that it is a very funny and pleasant experience to listen to this whole album. If you want to have an example of this music listen to Are We One?, which is, in my opinion, the best song in this album.
Don't expect a masterpiece, a classic progressive rock album or a classic metal album, this is something different and unique, and because of this I suggest that anyone who likes King Crimson listens at least one time to this recording by David Cross Band.
Bonus: lyrics by Richard Palmer-James, who wrote lyrics for the Cross-Wetton-Bruford-Fripp era King Crimson.
