THE THIRD STAR

The second solo album from King Crimson bassist/guitarist mixes classic Crimson/ProjeKcts type of music with oriental influences. The result is more technical, guitar oriented and less jazz/rock.

"Dziban" opens the album with an instrumental dedicated to the Warr guitar - long technical solos in this ProjeKct-like song. "Symbiotic" is the rocker of the album - vocalist Toyah (Robert Fripp's wife?) adds power to the heavy melody resembling sometimes King Crimson, sometimes White Zombie. In "Arrakis", Trey Gunn shows the full power of his guitar - only one instrument to emulate all guitars and bass (great percussion on this track too). "Sirrah" is the first instrumental on the album with oriental influences - here Trey Gunn uses the Chapman stick in addition to the Warr guitar to give some volume to the melody. And now the gem of the album... the quiet "The Third Star" - beautiful melody, gorgeous italian voice. "Acquiring Canopus" and "Kaffaljidhma" are two technical tracks cowritten by King Crimson drummer Pat Mastellotto - again two ProjeKct-like instrumentals. "Yad Al-Gawza" is the soundscape of the album - very dark with minimal instrumentation. "Kuma" is another technical track, very similar to the other technical tracks on this album. The only real weak track is probably the last one "Indiera" - those distorted vocals are horrible and the song is long and repetitive.

Rating: 80/100 (very good)