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So we head into the 90's with Crimson into the Double Trio lineup, and an all-star lineup to boot, with Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto doubling up with Tony Levin and Bill Bruford respectfully.

This begins the modern sound of Crimson that remains to this day.

Q magazine described this album as having "jazz-scented rock structures, characterised by noisy, angular, exquisite guitar interplay" and an "athletic, ever-inventive rhythm section, while being in tune with the sound of alternative rock of the mid-1990s", and that's fairly accurate. Right away with "VROOM", the jazz influences are prevalent, but the key word here is 'angular'. "VROOM" is basically a series of dueling guitars and basses that transition into the plodding monolithic and drudging "Coda Marine 475". There's no subtlety in the guitar tones. They're brash, annoying, in your face. Combine that with atonal and polyphonic playing and you got yourself, in short, a very unpleasant sound.

But while that is the thematic tangent for this era of Crimson, there are standouts. "Dinosaur" manages an interesting combination of post-prog tonality (say like 90's Spock's Beard or Flower Kings) with some trace elements of 80's new wave groups like Big Audio Dynamite or Lords of the New Church. It is interrupted by some moody strings and dark synths, almost a tad Krzysztof Pendereckian. Followed by "Walking on Air", a soft, airy ballad, not quite as dark as the rest of the album, but still a bit somber.

That, to me, is the biggest beef I have with this record. There are some quality tunes on this record, but the whole album seems just too dark and mechanical at times. "B'Boom" is basically just an atmospheric drum solo that takes too long to build into and the self-titled track gets stale after a minute. Sure, there's some interesting drum play here, but the bass work is too mechanical, too depressing. The "Inner Garden" tracks are ok, reminiscent of Buckethead's work on "Electric Tears" .

"People" has interesting funk-pop feel to it, in the usual depressing-mechanical kind of way, while "One Time" feels distinctly neo-prog in style, a la Porcupine Tree. Another keeper is "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream". This song also has a bit of life to it, a funky backbeat propelled with some sick bass lines by Levin and some crafty drumwork. The album ends with "VROOM VROOM" and its coda, which is basically just more improv style jams based off the opening track.

All in all, it's pretty predictable and fairly stale throughout. With the exception of, quite literally, the exceptions ("Dinosaur", "Walking On Air", "People" and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream"), the majority of the album is just too dark and mechanical, and after hearing one song, you've basically heard them all. All the "VROOM" songs are nigh indistinguishable from each other, leaving much to be desired. Crimson has always been a band you listened to for the jams and improvs, but on this record, they're less of jams and more structured and composed instrumentals. *snore* Keep the top four in the rotation and leave the rest.

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