BUCKETHEAD — Pike 314 - Rooster Coaster (review)

BUCKETHEAD — Pike 314 - Rooster Coaster album cover

Album · 2022 · Avant-garde Metal

4/5 · 2022-06-04
siLLy puPPy

PIKE 314 - ROOSTER COASTER 12th installment of 2022 Everything played by BUCKETHEAD Total playing time 27 minutes and 22 seconds All instrumental as always!

Another PIKE rolls out of the assembly line at BUCKETHEADLAND This one features six tracks and this one is intense! BH as we all know is one of the virtuoso monstrosities out there However he rarely lets loose these days Well here on ROOSTER COASTER he is ready to prove he hasn’t lost his chops

“Molten Mercury Anchor Bolts” starts out as an arpeggiated clean guitar intro with echo effects but then all hell breaks loose. Great distortion and then guitar eruptions!!!

“See Through Iron Columns” delivers some extreme guitar shredding with hammer on tapping, whizzing up and down the scale at light speed and genre skipping with moments of industrial metal, thrash metal, neoclassical shredding and just weird avant-alternative metal. This is truly one of the best tracks i’ve heard from the chicken lover in a long ass time! Only the first track and i’m ready to give this 4 stars. Can he sustain this intensity over the entire PIKE? Let’s see…

“Disembodied Viewing Platform” is a cool name for a track. I wonder if some goregrind band has already thought of it? This one pretty much connects with the previous track on offers more virtuoso frenzies with more experimental touches. BH is going for the gusto with this one. High octane guitar shredding mixed with unusually experimental avant-weirdo techniques! OMG i’m in puppy heaven! Lots of different breaks on this one. Weird synth freakery with accompanying guitar antics. “Normal” metal alternates with progressive electronic and well basically anything goes. Yay!

“Decaying Ferris Wheel” also continues the theme of tracks just running into each other. This one has some more “normal” heavy metal riffing before breaking into strange electronica then a sizzling guitar solo which goes somewhere unexpected! This one is a bit less frenetic as far as stylistic shifts but maybe i’m used to it by now. It’s following the same pattern as the previous two tracks. Some serious guitar playing on this. Geez, Bucky!

“Powered Cable Ray” likewise continues where the previous left off with some power chords and some frenetic guitar solos, electronic interludes, more guitar, electronic, guitar etc. Chord progressions change. Well, it’s pretty much the same style as everything before however the guitar stomps add some new elements and processed vocals ( i presume ) sound cool. Also some nice dungeon guitar with clean tones finds its way into the mix. Nice!

The title track seamlessly connects but features a slow nonchalant guitar chord riff but then changes quickly keeping in theme with this PIKE. This one is a bit more subdued in how it transitions its thematic approach and offers a touch of class to an otherwise unhinged freneticism. Wow. I can’t believe this. I actually like every track on this PIKE!!!! This definitely has some voice box guitar stuff. Just when you think this one is mellow the guitar soloing erupts into a frenzy! But wait then it has a moment of lysergic psychedelia and then there’s more! METAL!!!!! BTW BH has upped his drumming skills big time! (unless there’s a secret session musician).

Bitchin cool! This is my favorite kind of PIKE. All over the friggin place unapologetically meandering aimlessly but yet maintaining a unified feel. A few years ago i would’ve given this 5 stars but BH has done many of these types of PIKEs over the years however this one does have a distinct personality that none have before. This is one of those PIKEs that i get most excited about. Energetic, unpredictable and ruthlessly and brutally experimental. This is metal, hard rock, electronic, bluesy, avant-prog and even moments of psychedelia. Some seem to prefer those mellow PIKEs that are calm and pacifying. These PIKEs were made for us freaks who can’t sit still for a second. Ha. Just when i’m ready to write BH off he wows me with this kind of freak show. |m|