siLLy puPPy PIKE 116 - INFINITY OF SPHERES is the 15th album released by BUCKETHEAD in 2015. This one is just shy of the half hour mark and clocks in at 29:09 and contains only two long tracks.

The title track is first and at 19:11 is roughly 2/3 of the album. After the very experimental and avant-garde “Pike 115 - Marble Monsters,” BUCKETHEAD does a complete 180 and reverts back to the “Electric Tears” type of slow, safe and cuddly sound of an extremely slow tempo, super simple melodic development and nice warm echoes and tones. However after about ten minutes of this when i’m about ready to drop the old one star bomb in frustration, the track actually turns into an alternative rocker. Although the first half of the track isn’t actually bad, it becomes monotonous and boring. The abrupt change into the rocker actually finds the melodies and rhythms sounding quite beautiful. It’s not earth-shatteringly original but there’s something about how the crunchy guitar chords, melodic slow-paced high notes, bass and drums are playing together that makes it quite pleasant.

Track two “Liquid Mantis” is ONLY 9:58 in length and is a fairly boring slow-tempoed bluesy rocker that has a melodic development that seems to loop into infinity with scant variations to warrant its existence. This sound was fine for one album twenty years ago but i can’t stand it any more. Yawn. Snooze. Full crash and burn.

Another PIKE that has some promising moments but bogged down by mediocrity. The more PIKES i encounter the less tolerant i’m becoming. Perhaps one day we can take the few magic moments that are in these albums and make a proper compilation that jettisons all the musical trash.