April 3, 1995 - Thrak

Two weeks after my last release and a very long 11 years since their last album "Three Of A Perfect Pair", King Crimson is back for their third(!) stint with the release of "Thrak" on April 3, 1995. After another long hiatus following their three 80s albums, King Crimson is back with some new music and they bring back all four members from the 80s era, along with two new members to form a six-piece line-up known as the Double Trio line-up. With the addition of Trey Gunn (Chapman Stick, Warr guitar) and Pat Mastelotto (drums, percussion) King Crimson now has two bassists and two drummers, along with the two guitarists to complete this Double Trio line-up. They still play the same prog-y, weird style of rock they did in the 80s, so let's check out the return of the great King Crimson!

The album begins with the instrumental "VROOOM" and Robert Fripp plays some old time-y Mellotron to start before the band comes in with a solid rhythm section (I never really know whether it's Gunn or Tony Levin, or if it's Mastelotto or Bill Bruford on this album) and Adrian Belew plays some epic lead guitar. Fripp switches to guitar and we have our first instance (of many) of the Double Trio line-up in full force: one guitarist, bassist and drummer play one riff in the left ear, while the other guitarist, bassist and drummer play their own riff in the right ear! You'd think two different full riffs played simultaneously would be noisy and chaotic, but King Crimson do a great job if making things blend together and I think things sound pretty cool! After a bit of Double Trio, half the band drops out while the remaining half plays a cool new light riff. Then everyone comes jamming back in and they alternate between 3 and 6 jammers a couple times to sum up this very interesting first track. It leads right into the next one, "Coda: Marine 475" and the double trio remains in full effect as we hear a lighter, slightly trippy mix of riffs. Both Fripp and Belew are playing some cool trippy guitar and we hear some talking that sounds like radio chatter while the trippy music ominously marches on until it finally comes to an epic conclusion. This song was a little trippy, but not a whole lot going on. Track 3 was the big hit single and it's called "Dinosaur". Fripp plays some more epic Mellotron to start things off before the drums nicely segue us into the main riff. It's a distorted and solid main riff with lots of cool drums and percussion in the background by Bruford and Mastelotto. Belew sings his first verse of the album and he still sounds like his weird self as he leads a solid verse. The first chorus is sung a little weird but after another verse the next chorus is much better as Belew belts out "iiiiiiiii'm a dinosaur". They play another solid verse and chorus before the mood shifts and Fripp takes us away with some dreamy and epic Mellotron that sounds pretty cool. This part seems to reach a conclusion, and after a couple seconds of nothing they snap back in nicely and we hear a trippy guitar solo that sounds pretty cool. The solo nicely leads into the chorus and then Fripp closes out the song by himself with some final epic Mellotron. The next track is "Walking On Air" and it's a quiet and slow song that reminds me of very early King Crimson with some cool quiet bass, some cool soft guitar and Belew nicely singing softly along. They never really stray from this easy breezy riff, but things sound pretty chill and there's lots of cool guitar bits here and there. Track 5 is "B'Boom" and it and the next song are both instrumental. This one is slow and psychedelic with some weird noises being made on keyboards on guitar. Bruford and Mastelotto both start up different drum beats and this adds a cool and interesting dynamic to the psychedelic atmosphere. The weird noises do eventually stop and things turn into a full fledged drum solo! We hear a pretty cool and decently long drum solo that takes us right to the end of this track that ended very nicely! The title track "Thrak" is next and they kick right into an industrial-sounding main riff with Fripp and Belew both playing offbeat guitars and they play off of each other nicely to make things sound like harmonized chaos. The double trio is once again in full effect as we hear some cool sounding Chapman Stick and Warr guitar from Levin and Gunn and Bruford and Mastelotto play off each other just like the guitarists and it all makes for a pretty cool riff. They slow things down briefly in the middle before returning to the industrial main riff and they quiet down again to finish off this cool song. Track 7 is a shorter one called "Inner Garden I" and it's led by a slow guitar riff with some quiet but epic backing. Belew eventually comes in and sings a quiet but solid verse and he sounds pretty good leading this short song that leads right into "People". The double trio is in full force from the get-go and it's difficult to describe in words how well these six guys play together; few bands would be able to play two entirely different riffs simultaneously and have them not clash one bit, but go together amazingly to form one crazy riff. There's so much going on, and it all sounds pretty cool and Belew starts to sing overtop to add another dimension. The chorus is a little lighter but still pretty solid and then it's back to the cool crazy main riff. After another verse and chorus there's a little instrumental break but it's not that different than the main riff and then they play another chorus. Finally the mood shifts to a new riff that sets the stage for a trippy and cool guitar solo and they jam out this new riff for several minutes all the way to the end of the song and there's lots of cool stuff in there. Track 9 is the shortest on the album at just 44 seconds and it's called "Radio I". It's a very trippy 44 seconds that is reminiscent of their older stuff and it sounds pretty cool. Track 10 is "One Time" and it's a slow and fairly soft song. Belew sounds like his usual unique self leading the way on vocals. The guitar and bass are solid but the whole five-plus minutes is pretty quiet. Up next are a couple of short sequels, starting with "Radio II", which is just a minute long instrumental song similar to "Radio I", but not quite as trippy. After that is "Inner Garden II", another short song with a quiet lead guitar riff and Belew singing a couple soft but epic verses. Track 13 is the other single off this album and it's called "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream". It has an offbeat and pretty cool main riff that is both funky and slightly trippy. The next song is the penultimate one and it's double the fun of the first song on the album, it's "VROOOM VROOOM"! It's instrumental and also just under six minutes and it features some pretty cool guitars from both Belew and Fripp. Not sure which one, but one of the drummers is doing a pretty good job as well (I'm gonna guess Bruford). The album then finishes off with "VROOOM VROOOM: Coda", another instrumental track and this one is another trippy one. It has a droning and heavy backing riff and lots of cool and crazy guitar and Frippertronics overtop for a classic King Crimson way to end an album.

That is the end of "Thrak" and I thought it was a decent return for these legendary prog rockers, but it's more alike to their 80s style than their 70s styles, which isn't my favourite. I'm still very happy to see King Crimson return in the 90s and I do like the originality of the double trio line-up, which they use to great effect on several of the album's songs. However, this more industrial style is still nowhere near their prime stuff. I think it's easily better than my least favourite King Crimson album "Islands" and I'd say it's better than their worst 80s album "Beat" as well. I'll even give it a slight edge over "Three Of A Perfect Pair", but I don't think it's better than their best 80s album "Discipline". 8th place will have to do for this line-up, but I'm glad that Robert Fripp and King Crimson aren't done making music just yet!