siLLy puPPy BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 91 - Sublunar 50th album out of 60 in 2014 and 120th overall All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental This PIKE was originally released with one only one long untitled track that was 29:14 In 2016 it was rereleased as PIKE 91 - SUBLUNAR and broken down into four tracks with titles

“Peculiarity of Fire” (8:03) begins with a fiery funk bass line and drums. The guitars are clean and subdued and after a healthy chicken walk the guitar finally dominates the scene with a sizzling little solo while the bass takes a backseat but shakes its head and is having none of that stealing the show nonsense as it has a hissy fit and throws the guitar off stage but ultimately the guitar comes back and the two continue to battle it out with each dominating for shorter periods of time. This one is pretty cool in how the bass and guitar play against each other and not WITH each other for most of the track. Nice dynamics and great funk rock style in action

“Dryness of Earth” (9:31) immediately demonstrates why this PIKE was originally considered one long track as it imperceptibly blends in with the first track although it does change things up slightly. The bass line takes a sudden turn into more complex pastures as does the overall song flow but the general take on playfulness between the bass and guitar remains intact, so think of this as “Part II” of the first track. It has periods of simple funk rock and then more sophisticated guitar runs and the bass playing is top notch

“Moisture of Air” (5:48) likewise continues imperceptibly and soon adds some frenetic guitar licks and then turns all proggy on us with angular time sig changes and then back to funk metal! As the funk rock continues to becomes more sophisticated and changes up riffs and increases complexity and then reverts back to simple accessible funky metal but then ratchets up the weirdness again

“Frigidity of Water” (5:49) also continues without missing a beat but it does change the riffs up a bit. The funk metal becomes even more frenetic and angular in its approach. The guitars and bass do all kind of little dances around each other. This is progressive funk 2 da max!

This PIKE is super cool! Progressive funk metal is hardly an overdone concept and as far as i know only BUCKETHEAD has tackled it in his many band participations like Praxis but this one is so well laid out and keeps things interesting throughout the entire run. The playfulness of the guitar and bass are the key points of interest here but it just has a good feel good vibe despite delving into pools of complexity