siLLy puPPy And although almost a week after Easter 2021, a new egg has hatch in the coop of the eccentric BUCKETHEAD who has taken on another weird trait of releasing his PIKE series out of numerical order with PIKE 291 - FOGRAY coming out before any sign of #s 290 and 291 not to mention that #s 285 and 286 are still missing from the cue. As with other album titles i have no idea what FOGRAY refers to as it’s probably some weird puzzle reference. This is the 3rd PIKE of 2021.

This standard 30-minute PIKE only features 2 tracks, the short less than 6-minute alternative rocker “Piston” which takes on that by now all too familiar style that BH has released on numerous PIKEs but doesn’t really add anything new to the mix. In other words it’s a throwaway track designed as a musical fluffer i guess.

The album is basically nothing more than the 24-minute title track that pretty much follows the opening tracks slightly faster than mid-tempo grooviness with rockin’ bass and drums and a few breakdowns for some guitar antics. There is a noticeable dark ambient atmosphere that sort of swirls around in the background while the chugga chug guitar parts create some nasty grungy sounds. The tones and timbres are quite well polished even if the music itself is fairly by the books. It’s yet another one of those familiar tracks that pretty much engages in a monotonous cyclical loop of grooves that adds a few guitar tricks here and there but doesn’t justify the playing time.

I’ve grown quite bored with most of BUCKETHEAD’s recent editions to the PIKE universe because as someone who has taken the time to listen to every single one of the near 300 installments, i have to say that dude has simply been recycling the same old tired ideas now for quite some time and clearly more interested in quantity over quality. Despite it though i still continue to check out every new PIKE because every once in a while the chicken lover pulls a diamond out of a hen’s arse and actually rocks my friggin world.

As for PIKE 291 - FOGRAY, this one is just one more instrumental reworking of countless tracks on numerous PIKEs from the past and although performed well and engineered perfectly i’ve long grown weary of this incessant cookie cutter approach. What happened to all that energetic passion from the early days? Dude doesn’t even crank out metal much any longer as this is nothing more than heavy alternative rock. Oh well. OK but certainly not a PIKE i will ever be revisiting for sure.