SNOW SLUG

BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 70 - SNOW SLUG 29th album out of 60 in 2014 and 100th overall All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental This one has 7 tracks that clock in at 29:36 All tracks spell out the title with random numbers attached

"S 17" (2:45) starts out slow with a guitar, bass and drums. It builds up the tempo but has somewhat proggy time sigs. The guitar is in the hard rock range, the bass is somewhat funky and the drums have more of a role than usual for these types of tracks. This one is slightly off but quite accessible

"N 6" (7:32) is a complete contrast as it begins with arpeggiated clean guitar chords before adding bass, drums and a mysterious ambience. It then picks up steam and heads more into alternative rock territory. The tempo remains rather unhurried but the drums find themselves doing some quick rolls from time to time. It also ventures into prog rock territory with odd time sig chops that quirkily jerk the listener around all over the place. I guess this is what a SLUG sounds like wriggling about in the SNOW!

"O 28" (5:05) is another heavily progressive rockin' track with odd time sigs stealing the show. It is fairly oblique in its melodic development with the guitar, bass and drums all doing their own thing but do find it in themselves to play together intermittently. This one has lots of changing parts but all connect in a strange way. Not bad

"W 1" (5:12) starts out slow with a bass line and cymbal action but quickly adds heavily distorted guitar power chords and then suddenly turns into funky rock. It alternates between hard rock and funk rock with progressive time sigs intermittently added for flavor

"SL 52" (2:47) begins heavier with a guitar riff, bass and drums and then turns into a progressive staccato stomp. Nice rocker

"U 12" (2:17) starts out with a mysterious bass and guitar riff which is echoey but turns into a heavy rocker. Short but sweet

"G 81" (3:58) is a nice slow, groovy number with a heavy bass and accompanying drums and a bluesy clean guitar that picks up in a bit. This one is much like the others on this album. Doesn't really deviate much. Soft, heavy, soft, heavy etc

This one is on the harder rock side without ever turning up to get into full-fledged metal territory. The trouble with this one is that some of the tracks seem to be too similar. I like the overall feel but it seems to sag at the end as some of the tracks feel like leftover filler, however i really like the formula on display on the earlier tracks. This is one of the most progressive rock feelin' PIKEs of the lot and i like it a lot but unfortunately there is too much mediocrity to make this an overall solid release

3.5 rounded down