siLLy puPPy BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 94 - Magic Lantern 53rd album out of 60 in 2014 and 123rd overall All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental This one clocks in at 29:24

“Magic Lantern” (6:29) starts with a feisty heavily distorted guitar riff chuggin’ along a rushed paced without being frantic. It picks up its alternative metal groove and becomes a little bouncy and then alternates with some distorted arpeggio riffs. The drums and bass are right on the rhythmic bounce with the guitar but they soon relax and let the guitar do some finger exercises that aren’t quite solos but more akin to some kind of bluegrass picking. It basically jumps around leading back to bouncy part and finger pickin’ with some other alternate performance thrown in while keeping the same melodic skeletal system throughout

“Cheese Roof” (4:05) starts out mid temp with grungy guitar riffs and heavy bass and drums. It alternates heavier and lighter passages but when heavy has a loud abrasive single chord stomp that then turns into one of those finger pickin’ extravaganzas for a while. It changes back into the ratchet it up riff with the drums getting faster and faster. The finger pickin’ parts have a catchy melody and are played extremely fast and proficiently. Pretty cool track

“First Corridor” (9:59) is another bouncy distorted number with staccato start up and is fairly energetic. While fairly accessible has some little off-kilter time sig changes and then slightly shifts to another mode of operand. This one continues for some time in bouncy mode and even the changes have the same underlying rhythm. As it continues it incorporates cool guitar slides and electronic noises and has somewhat jazzy chord structures and also has a flair of funk in its mix. This one is pretty cool actually. Everything is set up well and flows logically yet surprises are abundant. As it progresses through its near ten minute run it continues to change things up by throwing solos, jazzy guitar breakdowns all the while alternating with the ubiquitous chord stomp and even manages to throw a country twang feel in from time to time. Very cool track that juggles many elements and strings them together quite remarkably

“Wind From Where” (3:44) picks up steam a bit and creates a frantic pace with a similar stomping type chord structure but has a more free flow to it for a while and then kind of derails into strange off-kilter time sigs and then picks itself up and becomes sort of normal. This one is very weird. It’s like when you get up from a deep sleep and try to have a conversation. You know you’re hearing yourself speak but still halfway in a dream state. This one distorts everything just enough every so often to throw the listener off. Still quite heavy rockin’ even at its mellowest. Ends with a funky bass attack

“Land Of The Lanterns” (5:07) is quite the contrast as it begins with slow, dreamy, clean guitar tones. The bass and drum tag along like lazy sleepy-eyed tots arising after a sugar induced slumber. This is slow and breezy. No more in a hurry. Take it easy. The melody never really develops into anything OMG but it’s pleasant enough. Nice effects and a little more interesting than the average PIKE that has thirty minutes of this stuff. Tagged onto the end, it’s in a tolerable dose but not the most original of tracks.

I love this PIKE except the last track. It is quite the creative expression of experimental, progressive instrumental rock and metal. It is quite unique in BH’s canon as well and i’m not sure how to explain it. It’s one of those slightly off-kilter releases where everything seems like it was recorded on a different reality plane and doesn’t quite resonate the same in this dimension, hence the “Magic Lantern” effect. The first four tracks are keepers