One of the greatest things about King Crimson is their unique ability to change from lineup to lineup and from style to style but continue to create groundbreaking music. They had "In The Court" and the three albums to follow, they had the 'John Wetton' era in the early to mid 70's, they added Belew and Levin in the early 80's and then they had this group - the Double Trio.

Even with six musicians, each member plays a significant role. The Crims appear here with the 80's lineup of Robert Fripp (guitar), Adrian Belew (guitar), Tony Levin (chapman stick/bass), Bill Bruford (drums). They also add Trey Gunn (warr guitar) and Pat Mastelotto (drums). Fripp is his usual self, playing with fuzz tones and erotically wild guitar antics. Belew is just as experimental as usual, as he begins to really take advantage of the processors available at the time to make his guitars sound like everything from violins to keyboards. He even uses a power drill on the title track! Bruford and Mastelotto complement each other great - they both contribute seperate but equal roles while still sounding tight. If you're familiar with 80's Crimson, you are aware of the monster that is Tony Levin and with this lineup he expands his horizons, taking advatage of new techniques and new instruments, such as the electric upright bass. Trey Gunn's Warr Guitar is basically a type of touch guitar that delivers in frequencies similar to that of an electric bass. Put it all together, and you have one of the most ingenius ideas for a rock band.

My favorite parts of this album are the pop songs, though they can be catchy, are never dull. This includes the serenity of "Walking on Air" and "One Time" as well as the more upbeat "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" and "People." You have to love Belew's lyrics on "Dinosaur" - "...ignorance has always been something I excel in, followed by naivete and pride; doesn't take a scientist to see how any clever predator could have a piece of me."

Another favorite of mine is the title track. It reminds me of a heavy-metal/avant-garde approach to previous instrumentals such as "Larks Tongues in Aspic II". It is structured noise at its best...not too experimental in comparison to someone like John Zorn, but still pretty out there for its time. Another great instrumental is the driving heavy metal track, VROOOM. Fripp is out of control here - he makes this sound like the soundtrack to hell!

Overall, this is one of the greatest Crimson albums. It stands the test of time and can be easily listened to all the way through. There isn't much dullness. It has an overall dark mood, but not the kind to bring you down. If you enjoy this album, I would also check out a live video that's floating around of this lineup live in Japan in '95. They do almost everything off THRAK as well as a good chunk of their 80's material. Treat anything featuring the double trio in your collection as a treasure.

Prior to hearing Thrak, I wasn't too hot on this band. My only experience of them was the 'classic debut' In The Court Of The Crimson King, which aside from the first track I'm not much of a fan of. However, with them being one of the top progrssive rock bands, I decided to give them another chance and figured that seeing as they had released a wide variety of material, it would be worth checking out something from a different era. All I can say is that I'm very glad I did.

Thrak is a beast of an album. Two guitarists, two drummers, a bassist and a stick player (stickist?) are combined to create an ever complex yet highly listenable slab of truely progressive metal made by the originators of the genre 25 years prior to the release of this album (unless you count Pink Floyd as the first prog band, although King Crimson helped mould what the genre became as opposed to Floyds often simple, psychedelic approach). As others have said, Thrak is a rather oppressive album. It's not heavy in the typical, aesthetic sense, but it definately feels heavy, or at least nasty.

Half the album is instrumental. By instrumental, I don't mean jams. I mean complex, interweaving compositions. Belew and Fripp have rather different approaches to guitar and manage to compliment each other well, while Tony Levin is the groove master on bass. Trey Gunn then plays along with both of them on the stick or his custom Warr guitar (similar to the chapman stick, but it actually looks like a guitar and I'm guessing the tuning is more like a guitar than a stick). Pat Mastelotto and long time member Bill Bruford (originally of Yes) are a great percussion teamwork, especially on the highly atmospheric drum piece B'BOOM. Its incredible to think that six musicians of this skill could work so well together without overcrouding the song.

The vocal tracks contain even more subtle playing from the musicians as Belew flexes his vocal chords. Whether he's rocking out on the snarling heavy metal of Dinosaur, providing pop (!) sensibilities with People and Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream or showing his sensitive side on the ballads Walking On Air and One Time, his performances effortlessly match the music, be it heavy, ethereal or funky. The music behind it does the same thing with no overplaying or forced weirdness (nothing wrong with weirdness though).

For the younger rock fan looking to get into King Crimson, Thrak or the more recent Power To Believe would be great starting points, and anyone looking for some dark and experimental music is advised to check out this band. Also highly recommended is Red, perhaps the best album I've heard from the band to date.

Thrak , the result of very well planned experimentations at a number of levels, lirycally, musical , rithms, concepts (in visual and sound terms), two sets of every section , two drums/percussions, two guitars, two war basses and two sticks. this by now legendary six members formula released a fantastic thrylogy, being "Thrak" their most esential recording, pieces like "walking on air" and "dinosaur" (this second with a middle strings section part) are overwhelming , Mr Fripp always knows how to amaze audience both in studio and live performances and with the collaboration of Mr Belew, Mr Masteloto, Mr Gunn and Mr Levin (all musicians with a large resume of experience)the sound of King Crimson has been one of the most influential sounds in progressive rock.
HM

It's unheard of for a band that has been around for as long as Crimson has that their later releases are as good, if not better, than their early work. But Crimson pulls it off, and this album is one of, if not THE, best of their discography. While it is mainly instrumental, the vocal tracks are very brilliant. There is nothing out there like this, although I wish there were. The track Walking on Air is probably my favorite, for whatever reason. 10000000000/10

an excellent choice of a good chewy complex piece of music for the intellectually bored 'with the current music'

This cd is very complex, dense and full of suprizes. I feel it has everything for everyone.

Not recommended for those who like boy bands or plastic country music or pop music in general.

Good to give as a gift, intro someone into good music, give as a gift at xmas.