BUCKETHEAD — Bucketheadland 2 (review)

BUCKETHEAD — Bucketheadland 2 album cover

Album · 2003 · Alternative Metal

4/5 · 2017-04-01
siLLy puPPy

Loosely a concept album that tells the tale of BUCKETHEAD’s alternate universe with his very own “abusement” park where only grim tales of gore and woe lurk around every corner but of course they are offset by hyperactive metal outbursts and little acoustic ditties sung by a disgruntled former slaughterhouse employee (played by Albert) who laments the days when he didn’t cut the mustard in his macabre packing house career so he decides to turn away from killing cows and kill humans instead! While the original BUCKETHEADLAND album was an introduction to the alternative universe in which BUCKETHEAD provided the musical touches during the grand opening stages, BUCKETHEADLAND 2 is designed to take the listener on a tour of the park after it’s in full operation. While the listener must keep in mind this is all tongue-and-cheek experimental madness put to music, for the opened minded adventurous listener, this is indeed an exciting roller coaster ride through the fantastical world of some dude who loves chickens and wears a bucket on his head. Expect litanies of nonsense and you’ll love it! Back in these days, BH wasn’t a one man show. This album includes assistance from partners in crime Dan Monti, Brain, Dead as well as vocals heard by Bootsy Collins, Keystone Brewer, P-Sticks and Albert.

This album begins with my absolute favorite intro EVERRR! The recurring female character L’il Littles begins things with a little poem that goes like this : o

"Aboard an old pirate ship made of wet souls We plunder and pillage from north to south poles We only steal metal like guns, tanks, and toasters We melt them all down and we make roller coasters"

: P which is followed by an immediate outburst of filthy dirty metal guitars thrashing like there’s no tomorrow but the avant-garde tendencies come quickly displaying a theme that is prevalent throughout the entirety of the near hour length BUCKETHEADLAND 2 experience, that is different genres of guitar music such as funk, blues and folk guitar often accompanied by electronic effects of some sort playing away while the cast of characters recite some sort of mantra about BUCKETHEAD, BUCKETHEADLAND or something totally wacky and crazed (often involving corpses!). These musical skits are surrounded by some serious progressive thrash metal workouts that focus on blistering riffs, heavy distortion on full adrenaline mode with the chicken lover’s full arsenal of guitar techniques including unleashing the tuplet factory to the max. When the metal occurs it’s some of the heaviest of BH’s earlier days and the sizzling solos are off the chart in smokin’ scorchin’ magnitude.

This is indeed a very strange album that is unlike anything you’ve heard before even within the massive BUCKETHEAD discography as scorching metal sequences can change without notice to a folk guitar ditty from Albert where he does his best demented Arlo Guthrie obsessing over dead bodies, murders and other gruesome activities. While the heavier sections are well-grounded in melodic traditional meets alternative styles of thrash metal, the acoustic sections have a truly demented feel as the guitars are often out of tune and and supplemented with irregular, oft-kilter riffs that give a truly bizarre feel between the frenetic deliveries of the metal meets industrial aggressiveness. The result of these alternating sequences is that it’s impossible to become bored with any particular section since these short segments never last more than a minute. In fact only a very few tracks on the album extend past the two minute mark at all.

BUCKETHEADLAND 2 is such a strange album that i initially wrote it off as irritating. It does require some time invested into sorting it out into digestible packets before it eventually coalesces into some sort of “musical wholeness.” The lack of any particular continuity is the first roadblock for instant access as the music and skits stumble by like a schizophrenic wino meandering aimlessly down the sidewalk with seemingly little relating to anything else and to be fair, i’m not entire sure it all does! Nevertheless, after not listening to this one for a few years i was surprised how much more i liked it when i revisited it recently. Somehow this one had deposited its eggs in my brain and the maggots have recently hatched and reprogrammed my DNA to worship its existence! While this one will unlikely dethrone other chicken lover highlights in my musical world, i have come to the point where i recognize the genius that has been under appreciated in this one since i first heard it. Now that those eggs have hatched and led me to the promised coop, i am in sheer admiration of BUCKETHEADLAND 2 and can’t get enough of it as of late. However despite my new found adoration for this wacky Zappaesque musical fantasia, some of the skits and moments of weirdness surely could have been trimmed down a bit and more musical segments could have likewise been extended. Still though i’m finding much more to like about this one than i ever thought possible. Wow.