ROOFTOP

B U C K E T H E A D PIKE 230 - ROOFTOP 11th album by BUCKETHEAD in 2016 (released March 15) Clocks in at 29:52 ALL instrumental EVERYTHING performed for you by Buck-buck-buck-buckethead

Two PIKES released on this day with the first being ROOFTOP. This is another alternative jam instrumental album that has two near fifteen minutes tracks that clock in near the half hour mark.

"Hexagon" (15:07) begins with a hefty semi-fast distorted guitar riff that quickly becomes repetitive. It seems to be BH up to his same old tricks. One of those long meandering choppy, riffy grooves punctuated only by the occasional upper register lick and some sizzling solos. The bass and drums pretty much stay the same with some slight changing it up and a few little breaks. The solos are pretty cool as always but five minutes in it's sounding like one of those many unnecessary albums. Eleven minutes the riff sounds like a broken record with 4/4 timing becoming hypnotic with guitar solos overlaying it. Yep, this one is cliche and boring. Next

"Rooftop" (14:45) starts a little more interesting with some echoey semi-grungified guitar. They quickly become a guitar solo over a clean well lit bass line. The guitars revert to the echoey riff. This is already more interesting. The time signatures make it feel like a ghoul creeping along a hallway in the middle of the night. The tempo is mid-range however BH still manages to throw in some wickedly fast and bluesy solos. The drums are a little nonchalant as they simply keep the beat. The strongest aspect is the cool echoey guitar tone that is the backbone of the entire track. There are escapades into different riffs. Some march along like ants, some creep like caterpillars, some are just freaky like a fire dancer but mostly this track maintains a deliberately held back and subdued feel. Nice guitar fills. Nice creepy arpeggios. Nice variation. The ending picks up speed and has a nice energetic ending. This one is pretty good and keeps my interest.

Hate track one. Like track two but it does go on too long and isn't so original that i'm blown away. Another ok PIKE overall and there are some interesting moments primarily on the title track. 2.5 stars rounded down