Fripp’s decision to put King Crimson back together had been made in the second half of 1990 though, as he later noted, without a clear idea of what the band would look like at that point. Clarification came two years later during the period he was working with David Sylvian. “The picture of a Double Trio formation appeared in a flash while I was driving past our village church towards Salisbury one afternoon in the autumn of 1992. The double trio was not what I intended, expected, nor wanted but I trusted this point of seeing sufficiently to act upon it”. The sextet featured Fripp, Belew, Levin and Bruford from the previous incarnation, plus Gunn and Mastelotto, who had worked with Fripp and Sylvian.

The recording of VROOOM (May 1994) was set as a challenge, with the aim of pulling together six busy musicians to write and rehearse a new repertoire. The mini-album is the product of two weeks' ,rehearsals, three weeks' work overall and is, in effect, the recording of their first rehearsals together
Following an extensive run of live shows in Argentina, work on their full length album THRAK began in October 1994, at Peter Gabriel’s expansive Real World complex in Bath.  VROOOM, the title track and Dinosaur constituted a monstrous onslaught. Replete with a snarling metal-edge and an unforgiving relentlessness, THRAK was, and still sounds like a band taking a decisive leap forwards. An often Crim-sceptical press was generally approving of the album upon its release in April 1995, although the band’s favourite headline came from the LA Reader as the group toured North America: “Prog rock pond scum set to bum you out”. 

When asked to choose his favourites from the album, Adrian Belew cites THRAK and One Time, “because between the two they represent the crucial balance of extremes which is what made King Crimson unique.” Thinking about the pieces that for him represent the Double Trio achieving its potential, he opts for Sex Eat Sleep Drink Dream. “It is one of the best examples of the definition of our double trio, especially in the sections where our drummers are playing in different time signatures together; it sounds like two bands at once. With a killer bass line from Tony and blistering solos from Robert, it's quintessential Crimson”.

Mastelotto similarly cites Sex Eat Sleep Drink Dream as one of his favourites from the session. “It’s the first one that comes to mind. But I loved Dinosaur and Walking On Air. When I got married to Debra, we used that as our tune at the wedding. The song makes me cry, man.”

Having left the band in 1997, Bill Bruford nevertheless retains a deep affection for the period in general and THRAK in particular. “I do love the album. It just seems to have so much musical information on it in comparison to a standard rock record that you would think of today. It’s oozing hot spices and extra special gravy. A rich meal indeed”. 

From its conception in 1994 to its demise in 1997, the Double Trio played 149 gigs in 16 countries. Their initial performances in Argentina were released as the B’Boom official bootleg, followed by the live album “VROOOM VROOOM”, including performances from Mexico and New York. The album “THRaKaTTaK”, released in 1996, took the short live improvisations within the piece THRAK and sowed them together into an imagined hour of improvisation. The album reputedly became the favoured soundtrack for the animators of The Toy Story.

A second such hour of improvisations, ATTAKcATHRAK was included in the large THRAK boxed set released in 2015 which covers the entire work of the band.