Firing on all cylinders, Stick Men’s bruising prog-rock conjures an alternate universe where Robert Fripp isn’t allergic to the recording studio. At their worst, they remind you that Fripps aren’t a dime a dozen. The King Crimson reference is unavoidable: Chapman Stick master Tony Levin and drummer Pat Mastelotto are longtime members of the legendary prog act, and Touch guitar virtuoso Markus Reuter—a former Fripp student—favors the sort of weaving, dissonant melodies that his idol has flaunted since the ‘80s. On their fifth full-length, the trio refines its effortless, dynamic interplay on the largely instrumental second side: With their stuttering drum grooves, purring low-end and electronic noise explosions, face-melters like “Schattenhaft” and “Embracing the Sun” tap into the metallic eeriness of modern Crim LPs, like 2003’s The Power to Believe. But Stick Men can also surprise you—like on the ornate “Rose in the Sand/Requiem,” which evolves from a symphonic stick arrangement to post-rock atmospherics. They should lean harder on these core strengths. The handful of vocal tracks, like the droning “The Tempest,” lack the band’s trademark rhythmic and harmonic depth. “Connected now, joined at the hip,” Levin sings. When that description fits, Stick Men’s fire is inextinguishable.