SHADOWS BETWEEN THE SKY

The year 2010 was a pivotal one in the twenty year career of the bizarre entity known as BUCKETHEAD. As the naughts proceeded Mr. Chicken Lover began releasing more and more albums under his own moniker with four being released in 2009. The very next year he would through this prolificacy explode as he would he would not only release three albums but also release an innocent little untitled album that was also known as "Happy Holidays From Buckethead" around Christmas time as a limited edition but unknowingly would launch the entire Pike series to follow. SHADOWS BETWEEN THE SKY, his 27th album is the first of the year and after a couple of strange avant-garde xenochrony type releases, BH reverts back to the same style as "A Real Diamond In The Rough." Like most of the albums released in this period, BH is joined by Dan Monti on bass and drum programming with Monti and Albert handling the production duties.

This is another fairly mellow album that could be compared to the "Colma" album of 1998. It is primarily constructed with clean guitar riffs, bass and percussion. Unlike previous albums of its ilk, this one has traces of flamenco as heard on the title track and more energetic percussive outbursts as well giving it more vim and vigor than other examples of BH's mellow musical journeys. While there are some great dark tracks like the slowcore "City Of Woe" which almost sounds like a spaghetti western that has been thawing after a cryogenic deepfreeze, many tracks such as "Rim Of The World" and "Sea Wall" are pretty much the mellow BH by the numbers routine with somewhat nonchalant clean guitar melodies that sort of have a verse / chorus structure and offer really nothing new in the vast BH palette.

"Sled Ride" is pretty cool as it is more upbeat with echoey guitar riffs, a nice atmospheric haze softening it out with energetic drums that offer more than a lazy march to the melody type of scenario. "Scenario" is proof that a truck can be mellow and still interesting as it has variations in its development and has nice riffs, echo effects and overall production dynamics. It is neither showy nor energetic but has captured the spirit of what it's trying to accomplish. Overall SHADOWS BETWEEN THE SKY is a mixed bag for me. There are some decent tracks but there are just as many okay but not outstanding ones. It's not a bad album to throw on when you're in a mellower sort of mood and fans of BH's slower material will love this one a lot more than i do but i have to admit that for his mellower albums that this one is decent if not consistent.