NAUTICAL NIGHTMARES

PIKE 142 - NAUTICAL NIGHTMARES is the 41st album released by BUCKETHEAD in 2015. This is yet another all instrumental album exclusively performed by BUCKETHEAD and clocks in near the half hour mark at 28:38. Like the last album "Pike 141 - Last Call For The E.P. Ripley" this one has a string of tracks that all have the same title, in this case "Shell" which runs from 1-9.

Also like the last release this one has all the tracks seamlessly run together like a DJ is mixing up a house quake. In fact while the last one focused on funk, this one sounds more like a house trance album where the drums are electronic and there are lots of highly processed guitar or synthesized noises that provide the so-called melody. The bass is is consistently beefy and the drums are steady but for the most part the guitars are all over the place at times quite heavy in the metal realm but most of the time in the world of the avant-garde. Solos do pop up now and again.

While it seems like one continuous track from "Shell 1-3" where it drags on too long, on "Shell 4" we get a slow down and totally new bass line with alternating electronic effects sputtering around like a package of fireworks that got dropped into a fire pit. The timing ratchets up and down weird time sigs. There is some kind of metal guitar that has a role from time to time.

This one has some promising moments but the monotone drum samples and the overuse of the same flittering electronic effects make this one drag on way too long. Although this sounds like it's geared to appeal to the house and electronica crowds, i'm quite familiar with house, psytrance, trip hop and all those genres and this one just doesn't cut the mustard. This would have the ravers and club boppers jumping this ship before it hits the next port. Too bad because there is some potential on this one. 2.5 rounded down