KC revs up the motors with the rocking Vrooom, which leads to a Coda and descending musical figures that end in a bass rock blast.

Dinosaur quickly became one of my King Crimson favorites, pop in flavor but with a driving beat. Walking on Air is unabashedly gorgeous and atmospheric, a lovely ballad. B'Boom is essentially a drum solo, but very arresting and creative. Thrak is monster rock, rumbling and driven with some spaced out atmospherics.

Inner Garden is mysterious and menacing in tone, but lyrical and lilting. The pop-flavored People features great guitar and a driving beat. Radio I and II are short interludes of outer-space reverb and echo that frame One Time, yet another ballad that rivals Walking on Air for beauty and clarity. This set is brought to a close by a revisted Inner Garden.

We are treated to a third pop-flavored rocker, Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream. Two more versions of the hard-rock Vroom bring this great disc to a close.


Progress, yet again.   October 22, 1999
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

King Crimson works best if you listen to each new album without any expectations since no album sounds like any other. Change and experimentation have always been at the core of the group, and this CD is no different. Thrak is probably the most metal-sounding record they've done, even more than Red. "B'Boom" is like all the members of Stomp summed up by two drummers. "Dinosaur" is a song you could use to torture small children. "Walking on Air" is the spookiest slow song I've heard. "VROOOM" and "VROOOM VROOOM" (not to be confused) give us a loud shred-fest with all six members coming together and blending perfectly. It always amazes me. Long live the King.


Strangely Beatle-like tunes amid the ethereal metal   February 11, 2001
Gavin Wilson
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is one extraordinary record. Tracks like 'VROOOM' recall the 70s classic, RED. The gorgeous guitar solo on 'Walking on Air' is almost reminiscent of Hendrix, although rather more disciplined. And then we get the deliberately nostalgic chorus 'I'm a Dinosaur', recalling John Lennon's 'I am the Walrus'. 'Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream' is in the same vein.

Sometimes I feel Fripp gives his main songwriter too much freedom. In the 70s, it worked fine with John Wetton -- he came up with wonderful melodic tunes within the progressive genre and lyrics that kept away from the pretentious twaddle that Pete Sinfield wrote. But Adrian Belew dictates the whole direction of King Crimson, and for this album he'd either been over-indulging in 60s British pop or anticipating Oasis. But this is not to deny that Belew comes up with some fine tunes. (If left to their own devices, experience indicates that Fripp and Bruford are happiest bashing away at repetitive metal riffs as per the tracks 'VROOOM' and 'Red'.)

Fripp runs Crimson as a business now. His sleevenotes for 'The Night Watch' describe how aggrieved he was at the paltry salaries EG Management paid the band in the 60s and 70s. (It's possible that his wife Toyah Wilcox made more money in a couple of years out of a few singles and an album than he has out of a lifelong career in the business.) You just sense on this album that Fripp takes a managerial step back, lets Belew get on with it, and ensures that all the direct-mail and merchandising possibilities are taken care of.

This is not quite a career peak for Crimson. In my book you need to go back to LARK TONGUES and RED for that. But it's a highly welcome return to form.


Midlife Crisis?   April 20, 2008
Tom Chase (London)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The first thing I noticed about King Crimson's eleventh studio LP s is how surprisingly brutal, heavy and most of all inventive these rock granddads sound. It's astonishing to think how old these guys were when they came together for "Thrak"...you've got Robert Fripp - 49, Adrian Belew - 46, Tony Levin - 49, Trey Gunn - 35, Bill Bruford - 46 and Pat Mastelotto - 40. Supremely old in relation to the 90s rock scene - yet they sound more inspired, more fresh and inventive than 99% of the material being churned out at this time.

While "Thrak" is not considered a metal album, it is undoubtedly brutal and retains a "heavy" feel without ever cranking the guitar distortion. This is partly down to the "double trio" line-up consisting of two drummers (Bruford and Mastelotto), two bassists (Levin and Gunn) and two guitarists (Fripp and Belew). The resulting sound is immense. Just one listen to the bewildering "Vrooom" gives a sense of what "Thrak" is all about. Classic Fripp guitar melodies and riffs, complex, jazzy and intertwining drum patterns and thundering baselines. As I mentioned "Thrak" is not a metal album, but to me this sounds as (if not more) brooding, intense and relevant when compared to the majority of metal acts around today. Then there's "B'boom" and the title track, the former being a drummers heaven with a duet solo that builds to a bewildering, syncopated groove. This gives way to the scary onslaught of the title track - evolved around blasts of intense guitars and difficult rhythms, the song sounds more like modern metal gods Meshuggah than anything King Crimson has ever put out.

Amidst this mayhem, "Thrak" also showcases King Crimson at their classic rock best. "Dinosaur" sounds like 70s prog rock given a twisted revamp. The verse flows and eases, giving way to a booming chorus in which Belew croons "I'm a dinosaur, somebody's digging my bones". The song shows how KC fear being overtaken in the music world, and this would certainly explain the inventive and heavy sound elsewhere. "People" and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" are both funky rock numbers, fully equipped with off-beat grooves and catchy choruses. Both songs also continue a theme of social satire, of cynically stepping back and viewing the world, with "People" attacking our single-minded visions and lack of wider appreciation, and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" focusing on the mundane and pointless. "Walking on Air" and "One Time" showcase KC at their delicate best, two superb ballads that would fit right in with their classic 60s and 70s material.

"Thrak" sees a band of old-timers, of rock granddads, pushing their sound to incredible and unexpected new places. At times harsh and chaotic, sometimes downright heavy and brutal, "Thrak" is the band's most adventurous album. Of course, they always come back to their classic rock roots, and this really sets off "Thrak" as a wonderfully eclectic yet balanced album. Highly recommended.