siLLy puPPy After the only album “Electric Sea” started out 2012 becoming the only album released outside of the PIKE series, BUCKETHEAD jumps right back into gear and releases PIKE 6 - BALLOON CEMENT on 12 April 2012, his second release of the year and 36th solo release overall. It’s back to the BUCKETHEAD show where he plays all instruments but at this stage he still utilizes the producing talents of Dan Monti and programming by Brewer who also contributes a little bass playing here and there. This PIKE has twelve tracks and clocks in at 30:05 which means most tracks are short. The tracks all run together and things change up a lot so it’s almost impossible to tell where one track ends and the next begins.

After the über-mellow “Electric Sea” it’s time to freekin’ rock and the title track starts things off in full heavy rock mode with a bluesy hard rock riff, lead guitar, bass and drums. For only a 3:06 timed track there are a lot of changes on this one. It morphs into an electronically processed weirdness and the rhythms and timings play around. It all seems kind of random like a strong wind that changes direction unexpectedly. The energy level is very high on this one and the frenetic solos are totally unhinged.

“Red Water Colors” (3:46) continues unperceptibly from track one and becomes into a Stevie Ray Vaughan type of blues rock piece for a while and then gets weird again with electronic drums keeping a beat with a lead guitar that sounds like it’s in its own caffeinated world. It all slows down and turns into an electronica sound storm and then back into a frenetic metal rocker with lead guitars that are weird and out of sync.

“Transport Void” (:45) is a short bluesy lead guitar number that smokes up a storm.

“Thistle Museum” (:45) is a short weird number with heavy and fast drumming with a slow note by note guitar run where the one note lasts several drum beats. It then turns into a slow guitar run with ambient background

“Alligator Eye Viewer (1:58) is very jazzy. It has a jazz styled drumming style and the guitar does this weird dance around the drum beat creating a very strange syncopation. It then turns into all kinds of weird stuff. A lot happens on this short little freak out

“Veil Of Tinfoil” (4:34) slows things down with Hendrix-esque sounding guitars doing un-Hendrix-esque things and then becomes a mid tempo drum beat followed by bluesy guitar. It actually stays in a bluesy guitar mode for most of the track although lots of variations within these parameters occur. It’s actually melodic though! Well, until it turns into complete dissonant noise for a little while and then reverts back to the melody and then back to chaos and then back to the melody. You get the picture.

“Chestplate” (1:18) is a heavy metal freak out. Pummeling drums, bass and guitars churning along at breakneck speed with little snippets of something totally weird just popping out of nowhere

“Vast Mound (2:06) continues the weirdness and amplifies it. This takes random guitar slides and adds a morose ambient background and then an electronic drum beat. The guitar slides are processed and sound like a can of radioactive worms writhing. It all calms down and simmers into something somewhat melodic but majorly weird. Military march drum beat joins in it all

“Replacement Nail” (4:11) continues the weirdness with random noises, random guitar solos, changing bass lines and electronically manipulated sound effects. The riffs change it up often and it’s almost impossible to grasp onto everything but basically chaotic sounding collages changes into melodic music which is allowed to play for a while and adds sounds around the bluesy melody which surprisingly remains

“Shatter Shell” (5:01) is a continuation melodically for a bit and then just goes nuts with lightning fast solos, heavy drumming and bass and guitar riffs. Probably the most metallic sound on the album. It’s pummeling, frenetic and fully caffeinated. It’s also weird. The rhythm and the strange melody are slightly off from each other which creates a strange tension. I love it! It then totally changes into a slow guitar lick and monstrous background noises. This continues as a keyboard melody sort of enters the scene. It’s very creepy

“Bridge To Borg” (:55) jumps into super heavy metal mode again and then quickly breaks down like a radioactive isotope carbon atom into weirdness and then picks up steam and then breaks down, then picks up etc

“Evaporate” (1:38) slows way down and is a clean guitar lick with echo effects. It is accompanied by a bass and drum and notes are allowed to sustain and then it just becomes ambient with monstrous noises and it all fades away

Wow. This is extreme free form rock if i’ve ever heard it. This is the stuff i love most by BUCKETHEAD. It is totally whacked out, bold and bizarre. It doesn’t have a flying frack to give and goes everywhere and anywhere and is utterly unpredictable. This is another one of those for only the most unapologetic adventurous music lovers who loves it when all musical rules get the middle finger and flung out the window after the window is shattered into a million tiny shards. Crazy and insane only begin to describe this stuff. Definitely a top ten insane asylum soundtrack here!