BUCKETHEAD — Pike 96 - Yarn (review)

Album · 2014 · Avant-garde Metal

4/5 · 2016-12-07
siLLy puPPy

BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 96 - Yarn 55th album out of 60 in 2014 and 125th overall All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental This one clocks in at 30:15 and has three tracks “H.V.” (6:29) immediately bursts into grungy heavy alternative style metal with down-tuned guitar and beefy bass with jittery drum patterns. An energetic guitar solo comes soon after and then it slows down a bit and subdues heaviness. The melody is often supplanted by a riff stomp effect that just keeps the beat and is often not even realized until the solos come in play. Solos are usually short and trebly guitar riffs also trade off with the bass side of the equation. The groove is a tad monotonous but hypnotizing and the treble aspects are what keep it from going on too long. Not bad. Nice rhythmic grooves with touches of melodic embellishments are key points. Well constructed and heavy as bleep with some electronica surprises towards the end along with some stellar guitar performances

“Spindle 1” (13:23) begins totally different with a synthesizer creeping in slowly and turning into ambient tones sustaining and then dropping out only to be replaced by a totally heavy metal guitar riff with some electronic effects and processed vocals screams or something. The rhythms are irregular and offer some proggy time sig gymnastics. When the metal totally drops out it exposes the weird ambient electronic atmosphere that exists in the background noise. The track basically contains dreamy types of ambience that become drowned out by intermittent metal outbursts that also include some hyperactive electronic contributions. Once again the guitar performances are top notch. This one also has periods of a bouncy monotonous grooving that last a short duration and then become replaced by the opening riff or some strange avant-garde guitar displays. This one is pretty cool as well. Lots of interesting twists and turns while maintaining accessible riffs and melodies. It doesn’t even outstay its welcome because it changes things up enough and has enough recurring elements to give it some sort of continuity at least for BUCKETHEAD. The guitar shredding towards the end is dizzying

“Spindle 2” (10:23) starts with jittery heavy guitar that dances around strangely and then breaks into an energetic solo. The bass is steady as are the drums but the guitar is just plain freaked out like a spooked horse galloping through a parking lot of hissing locusts. Not as melodic as previous track. More frenetic and really frantic. The guitar shredding is just as off the hook and begins much sooner. The frenetic shredding is sometimes suppressed by an electronic industrial type of section but always comes back more feisty than ever with unbelievable finger workouts, wild off-kilter proggy time sigs and more than a taste for the avant-garde. The track keeps chugging along at full speed until the end and my fingers hurt just listening to this one. Whew!

This one i like a lot! Heavy as hell. Feisty and defiant. It’s BUCKETHEAD at his most metal magic and even the lengthy tracks don’t get old. There is a lot of interesting unexpected surprises and enough recurrence of themes to keep the listener from becoming alienated. Enough progginess to please the headier crowds and enough straight rhythmic drive to bang yer head most of the time. Another decent PIKE