BUCKETHEAD — Pike 322 - Doctor Lorca's Work (review)

BUCKETHEAD — Pike 322 - Doctor Lorca's Work album cover

Album · 2022 · Progressive Metal

4.5/5 · 2022-08-20
siLLy puPPy

PIKE 322 - DOCTOR LORCA’S WORK 20th installment of 2022 Everything played by BUCKETHEAD Total playing time 26 minutes and 16 seconds All instrumental as always!

The only consistency in the world of BUCKETHEAD is that you will NEVER know what you will get with each and every subsequent release, which at this point are MANY! Dude has nearly 370 releases as a solo artist alone and if you count the multitude of collaborations the amount is staggering. A true workaholic but the problem with so much output is that it’s virtually impossible for a newbie to break into this alternate musical universe. One of the reasons i started writing reviews for EVERY BH release (what was i thinking? :D) is that i really wanted to find the cream of the crop (which there are many gems) even though that meant wading through seas of mediocrity (which there are more). Sort of sums up the modern world of music, doesn’t it?

Anybody who is familiar with my reviews will by now understand that i do not dig those lullaby PIKEs that showcase a few chords and go on like a music box from hell in perpetual yawniness. Yeah to each their own but i am thoroughly BORED by those uneventful musical invitations. On the contrary i want fast, aggressive and uncompromisingly avant-garde. Hey, i’d listen to death metal for aggression alone! Well BUCKETHEAD is doing good in 2022 with his latest PIKE universe installment PIKE 322 - DOCTOR LORCA’S WORK coming out as the 20th PIKE of the year! BH seems to have a rotisserie of elfin assembly lines like the Santa Claus of instrumental experimental rock / metal / folk / whatever however once in a while he throws in a real curve ball that actually warrants repeated listens and utmost respect.

PIKE 322 is thus far my favorite PIKE of the year. This is an instrumental journey rather than an instrumental random fashion show. Unlike the majority of PIKEs in recent years, this one is actually compositionally competent! BH loves to lull us into slumber, at least those of us who consume every possible release. We are beginning to think he’s ready for the nursing home and then suddenly a miracle happens! Yes, that means dude is still virile (hopefully without blue pills of course!)… Fortunately DOCTOR LORCA’S WORK comes off as a veritable modern classic work of instrumental progressive metal. While many of BH’s high energy metal deliveries of recent years are truly in the avant-camp, this one is a bit more structured and focused. Now i do love me some freakin’ awesome out there music but i also enjoy an overarching cohesiveness.

While many PIKEs are really a single track in structure but not so in listing, DOCTOR LORCA’S WORK simply presents itself as a sole listening experience. What you can expect on this sensational PIKE is a labyrinth of progressive metal run amok with one interesting and fascinating mix of guitar solo led metal morphing into something completely different but everything connects in a logical manner after all is said and done. This is prog metal that bands like Animals As Leaders only dream of. Yeah, this sounds like BUCKETHEAD in the instrumental wanking department but the compositional fortitude has taken a huge leap. Having said that it’s most likely that the next PIKE will be some limp dick lullaby album that’s been recycled 22 times in order to cash in. Ugh.

This album is exciting. It goes through many ch-ch-ch-ch-changes that add up to an exhilarating sum of the parts. Structurally it’s not unlike many other PIKEs as far as how they are presented but there is an effort to present the sums of the part in a more acceptable sum of the part scenario. BTW the title of DOCTOR LORCA refers to the Filipino horror film of 1969 (the year BH was hatched) which refers to a mad scientist named Dr. Lorca who created human / plant mutants with chlorophyll blood out of the local natives. The film was later syndicated to television as Tomb of the Living Dead. It was also briefly known in certain states as The Mad Doctor of Crimson Island. This would be a great soundtrack if it existed all the way back then.