PIKE 260 - FERRY TO THE ISLAND OF LOST MINDS

BUCKETHEAD (as Bucketheadland) / Pike 260 - Ferry To The Island Of Lost Minds / 17th release of 2017 / All instrumental / Contains 8 tracks all titled 'Lost Minds' / Clocks in at 27minutes 59seconds / everything played by Buck-buck-buckethead

'Lost Minds Part 1' (3:32) starts things off with a very mysterious tinkling of keyboards but then breaks into heavy frenzied metal riffs that have jittery time signature freak outs before alternating with short little solos. Quite progressive shredding going on in a thrashy metal attack that alternates with alternative metal slowdowns and stylistic riffs. Definitely sounds like someone has lost their mind with this one

'Lost Minds Part 2' (3:15) picks up carrying on the ambience ending of 'Part 1' but then drops in a different series of thrashy alternative metal riffs that alternate between bass notes and higher register strings. Tempos speed up and slow down and the chops are still in jittery progressive time sig territory making it a little unpredictable. Gets frenetic and slows down with cleaner guitars but for the most part is a heavily distorted romp through a monstrous metal kingdom

'Lost Minds Part 3' (3:07) after a very brief pause picks up the brutal riffs and erratic time sigs. This one also abruptly ends metal in the middle and has a contemplative clean guitar strum away in a slowed down dissonance that plays for a while before the technical metal workouts resume

'Lost Minds Part 4' (4:30) after a slow down on the last track, this one picks up with more heavy distorted jagged riffs in full metal mode. It also alternates between the heavy frenetic riffing and the subdued clean guitar but also adds some nice sliding action in the middle. The tempos are all over the place really with speedups and slow downs occurring at any moment. The only thing that remains a constant is the jagged proggy time sigs sputtering about

'Lost Minds Part 5' (2:32) follows suit and as the previous track slows down this one picks up with more heavy riffing only this one is more mid tempo and less distorted but the time sigs are still quite complex. Pretty much follows the same formula of tempo and dynamic changes and slows down so the next track can begin a new heavy riff

'Lost Minds Part 6' (5:15) is like the previous in that it begins with a heavier riff but not as much so as in the beginning of the album. The riffs are getting slower and stranger in how they stretch out with weird time sig patterns that alternate and make the PIKE sound ever more alien as it continues. It basically follows the trend of heavier and softer passages alternating but it is more erratic than ever and any predictions of what will happen when is futile. Excellent guitar workouts as this one continues to ratchet up the technical wizardry

'Lost Minds Part 7' (2:21) picks up from the chaotic swirls and jumps into a more steady heavy riff that slowly changes into less structured guitar workouts but ultimately jumps back into more straight forward guitar riffs before heading back into strangeness

'Lost Minds Part 8' (3:27) picks up from 7 by adding a somewhat regular if not drawn out grungy alternative metal riff. This one spends a lot of time simply strutting around with a heavy riff but adds strange progressive fills that squeal and squeak out from the deep abyss. The album ends with clean guitar in dissonance and lonely isolation as it ushers out the bizarre parade of music that just played

This PIKE is hot! Everything sounds great. The guitar playing is BH at his absolute best. The compositions are quite exquisitely arranged and show his progressive metal workouts in full regalia. Even the drums which can really suck at times sound perfect as they are just as dynamic in their range of style as the guitar and bass. This is another one of my favorite PIKEs of the year delivering a tech metal approach that is comparable to all the progressive heavyweights. The kind of PIKE i patiently await

4.5 rounded down