LIGHTBOARD

B U C K E T H E A D PIKE 232 - LIGHTBOARD 13th album by BUCKETHEAD in 2016 (the first of two PIKEs released March 27) Clocks in at 29:41 ALL instrumental EVERYTHING performed for you by Buck-buck-buck-buckethead This one has three tracks with the title track consuming 2/3 of the album

Title Track is a whopping 19:21 in length and begins with a highly distorted guitar riff and then quickly turns into a guitar solo and then turns back into the guitar riff and adds some echo and well, continues this way for a while. The riffs are extra grungy and the solos are extra fierce. Nice guitar effects. Not sure if i've heard such slides like the ones delivered here. There are some new timbres on board here but basically the song structure is very much the same old alternative metal shebang with the same kinds of developments, however the riffs are a little catchier than usual. Love it when the everything drops out and only a drum beat remains with some kind of synthesized guitar scratching frenzy occurs. You probably could have guessed. This one starts out ok and then needlessly goes on and on way too long as it simply repasts the basic riff over and over and alternates with some solos which are very well performed as usual but the song is pretty boring overall. Geez i'm glad this finally ended

'Tales' (5:50) starts out with a funky fuzzed out guitar riff with drums and bass. It then alternates with short solos. Well until one of the solos becomes long but it still alternates back to a different more metal sounding riff. The bass has a nice groovy beat and has a nice thing going on with the drums. This one is actually pretty good. A slight syncopation between instruments is subtle but effective. The guitars change things up with different sound effects and the solos are fiery. Bring back da funky guitar. No bring back da solo. This one was pleasant and the proper length for this kind of track. GET THE HINT, BH?

'Deep Within The Sea' (4:40) is a more energized metal rocker with odd timed aggressive riffs that change it up. The most progressive metal sounding track on the album. Their are added sound effects and some Eddie Van Halen type riffing as well. Nice solos. It all changes up rather quickly. The tempo changes as well. It goes from fast and slows down and then changes timbres and sound effects, then a solo. You get the picture. This one is quite unpredictable and the best track on the album. The Van Halen riffs are strong as they reappear but there are many strong unorthodox types of riffs as well. I actually love this one a lot. My favorite track of the PIKEs so far this year.

Track one is a snoozer but track two is good and the third is excellent. Ten minutes good. Twenty minutes bad. Hmmm. 2.5 stars rounded down