EMPTY SPACE

In the beginning of the BUCKETHEAD PIKEs, things were weird. Imagine that! PIKE 2 - EMPTY SPACE is a nascent glimpse into the early PIKE world and finds BUCKETHEAD still on full creativity mode before he was simply recycling his ideas and just coasting on auto pilot. In the beginning, PIKEs were longer than the later ones but always hovered around the half hour mark and EMPTY SPACE does just that at 31:56. Oh yeah, like all PIKEs, it's all instrumental. The tracks at this stage are clearly delineated from each other.

This is one of those albums where all the tracks run together in a seemingly cohesive whole as they slowly twist and turn into something else. There are ten tracks and the styles shift abruptly and suddenly on this one. PIKE 2 finds BUCKETHEAD at the top of his game. This album really brings out all the creative aspects and technical wankery into a fully formed fusionfest. I love it!

"Comb And Wattles" starts out with a strange slide guitar effect followed by a funky bass segment and then an echo guitar and then a majorly cool solo and then an echoey guitar riff and then back to a speed-of-light bass riff and then an alternative guitar riff. OK. Things change up often and it continues as such throughout the album while the melody provides the thread of continuity. Everything good about BUCKETHEAD is happening here in full regalia and this is only the first of ten tracks!

On track two "Wormers" we get an almost imperceptible transition from track one and a slightly new development making it almost feel like a progressive metal suite of some sort. Things change up after every few measures but keeps its prog metal feel going strong but this is no Dream Theater rip off, this is BUCKETHEAD all the way changing things up in a way that only makes sense at a place like BUCKETHEADLAND with addictive melodies, rip-roaring solos and alternative metal riffing. Don't forget the crazy time sig changes and love of echo effects.

The album continues with an intense blend of hard driving heavy metal, electronic embellishments and avant-garde accouterments. BUCKETHEAD seems totally in full passion mode and even the solos have a major spunky addictiveness to them that makes you realize this dude is totally into this on every level, which is something his newer PIKEs clearly lack. This is a very energetic album and will really only appeal to lovers of both progressive rock and extreme heavy metal of which i do both and find this more than EMPTY SPACE. It fills me like an endless supply of sake, wine and beer mixed together funneled into a love machine. Yeah, that good but unfortunately not his absolute best so 4.5 but rounded down