9 DAYS TIL HALLOWEEN: EYE ON SPIRAL

PIKE 198 - 9 DAYS TIL HALLOWEEN: EYE ON SPIRAL is the 97th album released by BUCKETHEAD in 2015 and the 23rd installment in the countdown to HALLOWEEN. The amazing incessant creativity spree of the chicken lover continues with yet another dark ambient spooky soundtrack designed to scare the crap out of the listener. Once again all the sounds are brought to us exclusively by BUCKETHEAD and the album clocks in slightly below the half hour mark at 28:21. This one has 7 tracks all titled "Eye On Spiral" and like most of these, finds all the tracks blending together seamlessly as they are all so weird and formless that it is impossible to tell where the delineating line between them occurs.

These dark ambient albums when listened to chronologically all together is somewhat of a downer as they are all designed to be the ultimate universal bummer. This one is no exception. While it starts out with a more steady oscillating synth note with some percussive effects and then drops it all and changes to something else, one thing is clear: the methods for getting to the ultimate universal bummer response may vary but BUCKETHEAD is a master of conjuring these up rather effortlessly as evidenced by the incessant parade of this stuff. I don't think i can make it to actual HALLOWEEN album! I'll be petrified to get out of bed for fear of monsters surrounding my every move!

This one is less a random sound parade and more of a long drawn out downer of semi-melodic notes coalescing together to create a distortion of highly unnerving sound that seems like it would sounds more cheery if only it were sped up. The notes drag on but they often oscillating and are backed up by strange haunted shadows of sound that really would work well in a horror movie soundtrack where aliens are around every corner waiting so suck out all your grey matter with their hungry proboscis tongues. This is more weird stuff that only seems to get weirder as the the HALLOWEEN countdown sallies forth into the great unknown. Once again too outside of the listening experience to convey this to mere words. 3.5 rounded down