THRAK by King Crimson

This new lineup had already made itself heard with the trial EP VROOOM in 1994, before arriving at the album THRAK.  The aim was to combine rhythmic precision and energy with a powerful sound, close to ’90s hard rock and industrial metal.

The title “THRAK” and the idea behind the album reflect the intellectual, ironic and geometrically obsessive approach that has always characterized King Crimson, especially Robert Fripp.

“THRAK” is an onomatopoeia invented by Fripp, with no precise meaning but evoking a strong, physical impact sound. During the 1995 tour, the band offered various official and tongue-in-cheek definitions of the title. 

Fripp described it as “the sound of 117 guitars striking almost at the same moment the same chord”,  a brutal act of hitting the strings, like the noise of wood snapping or metal being crushed. 

The title fits the album’s aesthetic choice of using onomatopoeic titles to represent instrument sounds, like the engine roar of the guitars in “VROOOM” or the percussion blast in “B’Boom”. 

One of the official definitions said: “A sudden and precise impact that starts from intention, direction and commitment, to reach a goal”.

Unlike many classic progressive albums, “THRAK” is not a concept album but is instead based on the idea of the coexistence of opposites and on the Double Trio structure: the central concept is the sonic mirror created by the six musicians. 

The album is built to make two identical trios (guitar, bass and drums) clash or run in parallel, creating a sense of industrial alienation and at the same time of mathematical order.

Many of Adrian Belew’s lyrics speak about feeling like historic musicians immersed in the alienating modernity of the ’90s. Tracks like “Dinosaur” tackle, with bitter irony, the fear of being overtaken, while songs like “Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream” reduce human existence to a repetitive, industrial cycle.

In one of his famous provocative definitions, Fripp summed up the whole album as “56 minutes and 37 seconds of songs and music about love, death, redemption and grown men who get erections”.

 THRAK is an album that sits in the industrial progressive rock genre, blending prog-rock complexity with the sonic power of ’90s heavy metal and industrial rock.  

The album fuses the avant-garde with elements that recall grunge.  The heavy, industrial impact is clear in the use of distorted guitars, metallic sounds and aggressive electronic textures.  

Another key element is the Double Trio’s polyrhythm, with two drummers (Bruford and Mastelotto) and two bassists (Levin and Gunn) creating a dense, geometric rhythm section, full of mathematical interlocks and odd meters.  

The album also alternates more accessible, melodic songs sung by Adrian Belew with high-impact instrumental suites and avant-garde improvisations.  The use of instruments such as Fripp’s and Belew’s guitar synths, together with the percussive lines of the Stick and the Warr Guitar, replaces traditional keyboards, creating unique sonic weaves.

Three tracks stand out, in my view, among the others, each representing a different soul of the group. 

“Dinosaur”, with a powerful, almost metal guitar riff, paired with an ironic Adrian Belew lyric reflecting on being “dinosaurs” of rock in the ’90s.  A nickname I’ve often used describing myself.

“Walking on Air”, instead, is a romantic ballad that highlights the band’s more melodic and accessible side, thanks to Fripp’s Frippertronics and Tony Levin’s fretless bass.  

Beautiful is the instrumental pairing “B’Boom / THRAK”, which concentrates the record’s maximum energy. “B’Boom” is a polyrhythmic duel between Bruford’s and Mastelotto’s two drum kits, which turns into the industrial, cacophonous fury of “THRAK”.  

“One Time” is, however, in my opinion the album’s masterpiece.  A hypnotic piece that finds the perfect balance between technical avant-garde and melodic beauty, with a precise, minimal rhythmic lock over which Belew’s and Fripp’s guitars intertwine. Belew’s lyrics and vocal performance reach a rare kind of delicacy.

THRAK is King Crimson’s last great studio album and a benchmark in their discography.  The record has great balance and an incredible ability to innovate, bringing the band back to prominence in the ’90s without falling into nostalgia. 

The Double Trio formula, with two rhythm sections and two guitars, proves a winning choice, creating a massive, powerful sound rather than a chaotic one. King Crimson show they can integrate the sounds of the era, like industrial rock and grunge, without being passively influenced by them; instead, they left their mark on later bands such as Tool and Porcupine Tree.  

THRAK represents a perfect synthesis between Robert Fripp’s instrumental, avant-garde fury and Adrian Belew’s pop melody and dreamy ballads, one of the few times the band’s two souls blend so well.

The production, with its cold, metallic, cerebral sound due to the use of guitar-synth and Chapman Stick, may be tough for those who love classic ’70s prog rock.  Also, the tracklist, interrupted by short noisy and improvised interludes like the various VROOOM and THRAK, demands careful, demanding listening, breaking the melodic flow.

THRAK is, however, without doubt a fundamental album because it proved that progressive rock could have a bright future even at the end of the twentieth century. It wasn’t a simple comeback, but a real demonstration of modernity by a band with twenty-five years of career behind it. Essential!

My Version

Label: Panegyric – KCLPX13, Discipline Global Mobile – KCLPX13, Inner Knot – KCLPX13
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 200-gram
Country: UK, Europe & US
Released: 11 Oct 2019

Tracklist

A1        VROOOM    4:38
A2        Coda: Marine 475    2:42
A3        Dinosaur    6:37
A4        Walking On Air    4:38
B1        B'Boom    4:11
B2        THRAK    3:59
B3        Inner Garden I    1:47
B4        People    5:53
B5        Radio I    0:44
C1        One Time    5:21
C2        Radio II    1:03
C3        Inner Garden II    1:16
C4        Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream    4:50
C5        VROOOM VROOOM    5:50
C6        VROOOM VROOOM: Coda    3:01
D1        Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream    4:42
D2        Cage    1:36
D3        THRAK    7:19
D4        When I Say Stop, Continue    5:20
D5        Inner Garden (Complete)    2:43

Lineup

Chapman Stick [Stick], Backing vocals – Trey Gunn
Electric upright bass [Upright Bass], Electric bass, Backing vocals – Tony Levin
Guitar, Sounds [Soundscapes], Mellotron – Robert Fripp
Guitar, Vocals, Lyrics by – Adrian Belew
Percussion [Acoustic & electronic percussion] – Bill Bruford, Pat Mastelotto