CABS

PIKE 229 - CABS

10th album by BUCKETHEAD in 2016 (released February 28)

Clocks in at 29:13

ALL instrumental

EVERYTHING performed for you by Buck-buck-buck-buckethead

"Cabs" (4:14) is a melodic alternative metal rocker. It's nothing new and another example of BUCKETHEAD doing his jamming riffage alternating with licks and solos. Bass and drums follow suit. Lots of distortion and jangly types of chords. The tone is actually pretty cool as is the echo. Sometimes he does too much, sometimes not enough on this one it sounds great but the song structure is so familiar by now that i'm basically pretty unimpressed.

"Sludging Through The Slaughterhouse" (6:51) is a grungy metal rocker that has a quirky time signature to it. It really feels like a funky little jive walk through the Slaughterhouse! The distortion is muddy and groovy at the same time. The drums sound much different. Just a simple backing but sound real! Nice electronic embellishments. This is basically very bluesy and slightly funkified at the same time in a grungy distorted environment. It's only when the Hendrix inspired leads kick in that it's obvious that it's bluesy at all. I like this one actually.

"Styrofoam Cut-Ups"(1:52) has a nice boogie metal feel to it while keeping that alternative metal riff vs lick theme. Short and to the point. Another cool track. Two in a row? This is too much to handle.

"Underneath The Arctic" (16:16) is the longest track swallowing up more than half the album. It starts out with a synthesized sounding guitar lick that is subdued with a more prominent percussive drive. The tones are actually quite beautiful. Distortion and echoes are tweaked to sound fairly unique. Hmmm. I'm liking this one. The percussion is kind of a marching type like we're doing a little steady march across the icy plains of the northern Canadian islands or something. The atmosphere is slightly frosty and the mixing is really quite entrancing. Just when i'm so ready to give up on BUCKETHEAD he delivers something very memorable. This is melodic, atmospheric, strange but not too so with a slight exotic flair. The march never breaks past a mid tempo march but the flow is uncanny. The percussion has a kinda chicken cluck to it. Around the eight minute mark there are some strange yet cool electronic slide actions going on. OMG! Three tracks in a row that i'm diggin'! It's about friggin' time for some steppin' it up.

Overall i like this PIKE much more than any other released this year. There is actually some life-force lurking here and not just autopilot swill however this is still not the best of what BUCKETHEAD can conjure up in his chicken coop, just a welcome respite in his morass of mediocrity and for that i'm grateful but in the grand scheme of things this doesn't blow the roof off the house either. I like all but the first track but not his OMG best either.

3.5 rounded down