PIKE 310 - IN THE LABORATORY OF DOCTOR SEPTIMUS PRETORIUS

In the sea of PIKEs the general rule is about 95% mediocrity with the occasional curve ball thrown in for good measure. It's been a while since one of these odd ball crazy PIKEs has emerged but finally as the eighth release of 2022, BUCKETHEAD unleashes this monstrosity titled PIKE 310 - IN THE LABORATORY OF DOCTOR SEPTIMUS PRETORIUS. As the title suggests this is one of those mad scientist chimeric releases that allows various freeform ideas to bounce around.

This PIKE features one near 27-minute track that brings some serious metallic fury back to BUCKETHEADLAND. This is a an avant-garde roller coaster ride that takes the progressive metal time signature knottiness with BH's most metallic oriented past. Of course the musical procession features some genre skipping with funk, alt metal and other familiar sounds but PIKE 310 offers some serious guitar soloing as well which has been put on the shelf for quite some time. There does seem to be some bass here and there throughout though.

While one of the best PIKEs i've heard in a while since these wild rides are what get my juices flowing, i have to say that this one falls short in a few ways. It's already been pointed out that it mostly lacks any bass lines. This is basically an eruptive guitar performance accompanied by percussion. I'm not sure why BH likes these incomplete sounding albums. It just seems like a guitar and drum demo that is meant to be built upon but instead of anything materializing it just got released as is.

At this point even these weird PIKEs which i have enjoyed in the past seem inferior to the weird ones of previous years. Of course this is not a bad listen at all with stellar guitar performances that remind us why BH is considered one of the modern greats in the biz but it kinda pisses me off with the half-assed nature of many of the newer PIKEs. It's not like any of this hasn't been done before and better for that matter.

This is one of those difficult listening PIKEs and one that i find the most appealing. This is my kind of knotty angular mayhem set in the metallic form. What's not to like? This is a nice PIKE indeed with crazy shifts all over the place no doubt. I would rate this higher if it didn't feel incomplete. If this is the best the PIKEs have to offer then i can't say the future has much to offer but i keep listening in hopes for the next golden eggs being hatched!

3.5 rounded down