siLLy puPPy Another day, another egg hatchling for BUCKETHEAD as he leaves the sanctuary of the coop in BUCKETHEADLAND to unleash a slew of new PIKEs onto a world that hasn’t seen much activity from him in the last couple of years.

PIKE 279 - SKELETON KEYS is the third release of 2020 and contains a mere four tracks that just inch over the 29 minute mark. After the mindf.u.c.k of PIKE 278 with no comic book insignia and the question of whether it was a PIKE (not to mention it came out BEFORE Pike 277), the mystery seems to be over as PIKE 279 continues the now traditional comic book format.

SKELETON KEYS is pretty much a by-the-numbers PIKE in many ways however BUCKETHEAD has gotten much better unifying his disparate styles into his musical meanderings. This one is pretty much based in his usual alternative metal riffing however the funk is expressed in a heavier grooviness. The melodies are a bit more sophisticated than previous years and there are pseudo-proggy breaks that alternate between clean guitar space rock and crunchy metal madness. “Eyes of the Wind” is a fairly typical alt metal track whereas “Dancing In The Snow” is much more varied with heavy and softer transitions.

“Maskatron Roper Day of the Robot (Dedicated to John Saxon)” follows the alt metal path but also engages in those chicken strut type riffs. The production has become much more subtle in the last couple of years with eerie background atmospheres lurking beneath the heavy rock veneer. There’s some great guitar work in this one as well with different layers of riffing and more interesting than usual chord progressions and rhythmic breaks.

The title track is the longest at just shy of 13 minutes. Unsurprisingly it maintains the heavy alt rock guitar distortion and riffing frenzies although it starts off on the lighter side of the alt rock universe. This is basically a mid-tempo alt metal rocker that doesn’t deviate from the basic motif of metal riffing on slowmo. Not bad but not outstandingly brilliant either.

This PIKE is decently done but doesn’t get my BH juices flowing either. I guess i’ve become spoiled with the frenetic genre-jumping technical workout albums that i just find these to be a tad mediocre. Maybe it’s time to employ a vocalist to animate some lyrics. This type of music needs some counterpoint and a vocalist would be the perfect solution. Maybe this is for karaoke where you improvise the words! LOL.