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BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 51 - CLAYMATION COURTYARD

10th album out of 60 in 2014 and 81st overall

All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental

This one has 4 tracks that clock in at 30:15

“Claymation Courtyard” (5:02) begins with a heavy alternative metal guitar riff with bass and drums. It begins to alternate with slower arpeggios but wait! This sounds like one of those recycled tracks that’s been done a million times. It may be heavy and distorted and all but oh so familiar. It continues the same groove and has a little slow down with a lead guitar solo ripping around it but still sounds like the same old grunge track that has been done. It alternates again with a quiet passage. Meh

“Disintigration Mirrors” (14:01) the longest track that takes up almost half the album starts out as another alternative metal rocker with a quickly plucked riff, bass and drums with some arpeggiated sections coming into play. A solo erupts. And then the melody repeats on and on and the lead guitar dances around it and it goes on for almost half the album. This is another totally recycled idea done to death. There is absolutely nothing going on in the songwriting department. It’s merely a jam session with nothing new to offer. Meh

“Chainsaw Slide” (2:25) slows things down with a clean guitar arpeggio intro but quickly jumps into heavy crunchy metal territory. This one has a more interesting melodic development and riff tradeoff than the other two but it’s nothing special either. Tones and timbres are pretty much the same as well is the style. Mercifully it’s quick and to the point

“Eerie Canal” (8:47) begins with heavy metal chords sustaining with a guitar lick rambling over them and then bursts into a chugga guitar riff and then turns into anthemic type of melody and then turns into a lightning fast guitar riff and then thrashy metal riffage. This is already more interesting than the rest of the album combined. It stays thrash riffage for a while and then adds a solo and then jumps into the hyperdrive riffage again. As it continues it trades off heavy passages with mellow ones and the riffs recur but are different enough to make it feel like a real song instead of some canned jam session. I like this one!

Thank bleep for the last two tracks. I was getting pissed after the first two overlong filler tracks. Overall this one is average. Two weak tracks, two much better ones. Average is average and half of 5 is 2.5