BUCKETHEAD — Pike 271 - The Squaring Of The Circle (review)

BUCKETHEAD — Pike 271 - The Squaring Of The Circle album cover

Album · 2017 · Alternative Metal

3.5/5 · 2017-08-25
siLLy puPPy

BUCKETHEAD (as Bucketheadland) / Pike 271 - The Squaring Of The Circle / 28th release of 2017 / All instrumental / Contains 6 tracks / Clocks in at 29 minutes 27 seconds / everything played by Buck-buck-buckethead 3: >

“The Squaring of the Circle” (7:29) begins with clean echoey guitar and then quickly bursts into distorted guitar with bass and a lazy subordinate drumbeat. Hmmmm…. i think i’ve heard this before like a million times by now. This is basically one of those by-the-numbers generic BH tracks that repeats a few chords over and over. Adds a bluesy solo that crescendoes and alternates a few slow echoey parts. Been here. Done this. Yawn

“Osirion" (4:31) ups the tempo a bit with heavier riffs but offers a more off-kilter approach. The riffs are slightly weirdly timed with a jazzy drum beat to back them up. The bass is subordinate this time. A much more interesting track even though the tones and timbres are identical to the first track thus displaying a perfect example of it works / it don’t work that BH can often delight / frustrate within the span of a single track’s difference. It really boils down to the melodic construct as the chords aren’t quite as repetitive and this one offers a few more elements to amuse the alert

“Scalp Assail” (6:14) with an amusing title like this one would expect something a bit bizarre. Well………………………………………………………………………………………………it is a bit. Not OMG weird but the track is a bit schizofrenetic and meanders all over the place like a rollercoaster in BUCKETHEADLAND. Despite the twists and turns it’s not one of those bizarre detachments from all musical history rather it’s a ride through alternative metal riffage, progressive metal adventurism and slower parts that use that echo guitar sequence. This is a very cool track that employs all the metal mojo BH is known for with the ability to layer different time sigs in a polyphonic orchestral way despite being limited to guitar, bass and drums

“Fork” (3:03) almost sounds like an AC/DC anthem at first with power chords providing the melody but…………………………………………………………..it forkin’ turns into a forkin’ BH type riff and then forkin’ add some weird forkin’ elements such as forkin’ for fork’s sake. Rather tame by BH standards but yet has a nice forkin’ charm that captivates me. I forkin’ like it ! ¡ !

“Mosaic Silk” (4:10) is a rather mundane distorted hard rocker that has a generic riff, some chord changes and not much else. This is another one that is not very exciting and seems to have been simplified for those who don’t have a large musical vocabulary. OK but not unyawnable

“Decake" (4:00) is different as it sounds like a mystery theme. It has a bouncy theme show type riff that once joined by the metal riffs has a bizarre echoey persona. While the track structure is fairly simple it more than makes up for it with a heavy distorted palette of guitar effects. Many trademark BH riffs are here as well as effects but the overall impressive is a dark and murky mix of heavy alternative mud that exists in an alternative metal universe. Pretty cool

This one has interesting tracks except the first one. I’m constantly amazed at the chicken lover’s ridiculously large palette of musical ideas however something undetectable keeps this from being considered OMG excellent in my book. The cool elements aren’t enough to make this a great PIKE. Oh well, there’s enough here to selective check out though :o