ELEVATOR

PIKE 118 - ELEVATOR is the 16th album by BUCKETHEAD in 2015. As with all the PIKES this one clocks in close to the half hour mark at 29:36 and features BUCKETHEAD performing all the instruments. After the bass and drum "Pike 117 - Vacuum," BUCKETHEAD is on full guitar duties once again with yet another instrumental album that features five tracks.

Track one "10th Floor" is a ferocious rocker with heavy metal riffing and guitar soloing galore. This is a fairly standard sound in the PIKES series and at 5:13 isn't necessarily too long, but it's just that i think we've heard this all before. Many times.

Track two "11th Floor" imperceptibly continues from track one simply by changing the riff up ever so slightly except now it's even more monotonous and uninteresting with a repetitive riff finally giving way to another riff which likewise goes on too long and eventually does something different but not for long. Meh.

Track three "12th Floor" likewise just exists by the previous track slightly changing it up but it's never really clear when this happens unless you're watching the clock tick. Basically same style, same tempo, same, same, same.

Track four "13th Floor" also blends into track three but this time we get some echoing effects to actually feel like we've entered a new track despite it passing the baton without missing a beat. Despite a few echo effects and slightly different riffing it sounds essentially the same as the rest as it marches on down mediocrity lane for a total time of 7:15.

Track five "Flower And Headcheese Festival" is a cute title i have to admit and at 9:51 the longest track on the album. There's actually a fading between tracks! AAAAND we get a totally different sounding track. This one is a heavy metal rocker that has a nice progressive riff going on with intricate time sigs for an opener but sounds like a nice traditional metal 80s style meets 90s alternative metal with a bit of grunge, a bit of funky metal and seems to be the saving grace for this album. There are some nice guitar solos, nice changes in melody. In other words, Mr BH got off his ass by the end of this and made some interesting music. Pretty much the only track on here that i like.