BUCKETHEAD — 5-13 10-31 (review)

Album · 2018 · Avant-garde Metal

4/5 · 2018-11-01
siLLy puPPy

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Only three years ago in 2015, BUCKETHEAD released a whopping 118 albums that year with another 60 coming out the year before but beginning in 2016, the chicken lover slowed way down having only released a mere 24 and 30 in 2017. The year 2018 has been the other extreme as BH spent most of the year touring and released only 2 albums as of September.

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However, if there’s one thing that can coax the eccentric one out of the coop, then that would be Halloween. While no countdown to Halloween has occurred since 2015, the holiday seems to be the season for the reason to do that BUCKETHEAD thang and lo and behold on Halloween 2018, BH released his third album of the year titled 5-13 10-31.

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What also caught me completely off guard is that this album does not have a Pike tag on it which i assume signifies that it is the first BUCKETHEAD album NOT released as part of the Pike series since 2012’s “Electric Sea.” Oh, that darn BUCKETHEAD is always throwing a monkey wrench into the dens of the database keepers!

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TRACK 1 (14:32) is best experienced as the first official video in a long time as the music fits perfectly with the visuals. The video was created, animated and edited by Byan Theiss at Frankenseuss Laboratories with live action footage from tours and includes paintings from BUCKETHEAD incorporated into the journey. This track was produced by Don Monti and Albert and pretty much seems like a separate entity from Track 2 despite musical similarities. The music starts off a bit funky as three trick-or-treaters accidentally end up falling down a well into the underworld of BUCKETHEADLAND. The video and musical journey coincide in amusement park fashion with hairpin turns that hop, skip and jump all over the damn place. Musically BUCKETHEAD juggles his entire career on this one as it includes everything from funk, alternative metal riffing, virtuosic solos, dark ambient, avant-garde metal weirdness as well as other experimental elements that have dotted the massive canon of this freak of nature. The video is absolutely brilliant and one of the best music videos i’ve seen in a long time. The music is perfectly paced to run the gauntlet of BUCKETHEAD-isms and eke out all the proper mood setting responses. The visuals through BUCKETHEADLAND convey the surreal fantastical world in dreamscape weirdness as if taking a cue from Roger Rabbit with animation and live footage coinciding side by side. While pulling out all the tricks and trinkets from the past, BH still manages to find new creepy and surreal ways to play his guitar as more familiar passages pause for a freakfest moment. I love this track! 5 stars. BUCKETHEAD at his absolute best!

(Go to BUCKETLAND to watch the video!)

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Track 2 (14:33) begins with a little funk, followed by some industrial grind and then back to funk and then a little metal guitar. Yep, it’s another shapeshifter as every few measures the mood, tones, timbres and tempos change it up as funk, metal, rock and the avant-garde dance together like ghouls in a graveyard. Add to that the same kind of dark ambient interludes with creepy church organ and freaky shred wankery and this is another guaranteed wild ride in BUCKETHEADLAND. This one pretty much copies the template of “Track 1” with all the bells and whistles displaying BH’s career in summary as he juxtaposes dark ambient creepiness next to sizzling hot face melting guitar solos. I guess i prefer the first track better since it has a video accompaniment that works oh so well in conjunct, however this experimental freakfest is my absolute favorite style of BUCKETHEAD madness, so it totally works for me! Yeah! It was worth the wait but this one is a winner. The video is the best Halloween present of all!!!