BUCKETHEAD — Pike 269 - Decaying Parchment (review)

BUCKETHEAD — Pike 269 - Decaying Parchment album cover

Album · 2017 · Alternative Metal

3/5 · 2017-08-11
siLLy puPPy

BUCKETHEAD (as Bucketheadland) / Pike 269 - Decaying Parchment / 26th release of 2017 / All instrumental / Contains 6 tracks / Clocks in at 32 minutes 47 seconds / everything played by Buck-buck-buckethead 3: >

“Is” (5:11) begins things with a creeping clean echoey guitar but soon ratchets up the alternative metal fixin’s as a chugga chug riff creates a hard drivin’ groove. This is one of those tracks where the hard parts alternate with the softer parts but basically repeat the same melodic chord changes. The bass is extra special here as it has a distinct sub-groove to the guitar riffs. The drumming is adequate but sounds like it could have spruced up a bit

“The Maps Inside” (8:16) begins things calmly with clean guitar parts slowly ushering in a more upbeat distorted guitar riff. After a few normal measures, it chugs out a weird off-kilter riff before getting cold feet and cooling off into an echoey clean guitar mode again. It sputters on with jittery distorted riffs and cleaner passages in a mid-tempo range but also slows down from time to time. Eventually it picks up and a bluesy solo erupts while the chord changes get stuck in a loop effect. This part extends well beyond its predictable outcome

“Wings of a Dead Moth” (4:51) ah, poor little moth, no wonder you died. This track is a CRUSHER!!! Brutal metal riffing suddenly changes into a clean circus anthem but then the heavy blistering riffs return but then a slower less distorted riff. It’s one of those seesaw songs where loud and fast plays and then softer and crazy! I like these kinds of tracks :P There are a few Van Halen type riffs (“Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”) as well as just crazy off-kilter time sig riffs that are brutal. My favorite is the chicken clucking riffs but there are industrial metal riffs and crazed guitar solos on hyperdrive. This one is EXCELLENT!!! Creative, diverse and non-predictable!

“Pillar” (4:23) starts with a tinny guitar lick with a clucking lick and steady bass groove and cymbal action with percussion. Good mix of instruments. Pretty much an alternative metal groove track with a melody flying high through the lead guitar while a jerky riff chugs in the undergrowth. Unfolds in a rather predictable way but still sounds good and different in its approach

“Twister” (3:46) begins super chilled and echoey as a guitar slowly builds up tension with percussion and then finds a groove to latch around and creates a bouncy little distorted melody which picks up a little speed and then the treble guitar does jittery things while the bass parts stay bouncy. Kind of an overdone style in BH’s world

“Decaying Parchment” (6:20) is freakier and begins with a free form avant-garde guitar weirdness as the lead guitar goes apes.h.i.t. and gets hyperactive and bizarre. It sounds like the bass and drums live in their own world while two guitars are in their own separate universes but somehow are coming together in an unorthodox manner. Time signatures run amok despite a steady groove, sonic assaults as guitar weave around each other in mysterious ways. Cacophonous din erupting in a merry-go-round fashion. This is the type of BUCKETHEAD track i crave!

Only third and sixth tracks set me on fire. The rest are fairly overdone in the PIKE canon and like many of these, if you haven’t heard this a million times, you’ll think it sounds great but if you have then the unwarranted repetition is a little unfulfilling