siLLy puPPy Long, long ago before the infinite series of PIKEs became the new reality for BUCKETHEAD, there was a time when the chicken lover released only one album per year. However that trend did not begin with the PIKE series. Oh no. It started back in 2002 when a whopping four albums were released and BUCKETHEAD’s 7th album “FUNNEL WEAVER” was the first of the year which would spark a trend that would never let up and in fact only exponentially increase as time elapsed. To be fair BH was involved in many side projects and with other bands like Praxis, so to say he was merely sitting on a nest hatching his own eggs would be erroneous.

Right from the beginning it was apparent that BH had a love for DJ electronica as much as his passion for classic metal riffing and although the electronica had always been a part of the music, on “FUNNEL WEAVER” it becomes a key element of the it. This album is very strange in that it consists of an hour long play list of 49 tracks with each hovering around one to two minutes in length and the longest only a mere 2 min 54 sec. Despite the number of short tracks, they all share the same theme. These instrumental tracks are mostly based on heavy metal guitar riffs, licks and occasional solos revolving around electronic samples and drum machine loops with a few vocal samples dispersed randomly throughout.

Some of these are pretty cool with clever riffs spliced up with house beats and bizarre samplings of sound effects but i have to say that 60 minutes of it gets a little tiresome. On the plus side is that no track outstays its welcome since its a constant parade of guitars and electronic beats mixing it up. Overall this one presents lots of interesting ideas but in the end it all feels a little hollow like these are all demos for developing other tracks that never went anywhere. Not one i listen to often but occasionally break it out just because it takes me to a strange musical world that only BH could have come up with.